One week of the year gone already. No wonder a month, a year, a decade, a life can go by so fast. In the words of John Hughes (as spoken by Ferris Bueller): Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

Even early in the morning it’s easy to get caught in the forward momentum of the day. When this happens I tend to rush through my practice, or else feel rushed as I do it. There’s the feeling that I need to get on to the next activity. I found today that allowing myself some time really helped, to make this time yoga time and nothing else needs doing for a while. No, you don’t have to check your emails. Yes, the cleaning of the coop can wait a while. This allowed attention on what I was doing: the review day of all 14 postures learnt so far on the 28-day plan, and to breathe more fully. Yoga equals awareness and there’s no yoga without it. We don’t need to slow down, just see why we are speeded up.

Hittleman (selecting a short segment of his Thoughts for the Day):

The histories and conditions of no two bodies are alike and consequently there is to be no competition in the practice of yoga. You will receive the full benefit of each of the movements according to your particular structure.

Krishnamurti, Book of Life, 8th of January:

After all, you only learn when you give your whole being to something. … When you do not want to learn but are forced to learn, then it becomes merely a process of accumulation.