Yoga class tonight was what I describe as a middle ground class. Marvelous Meg was the teacher and had us giggling and singing throughout the class. The room was perfect – open doors and open windows. I was well-prepared with no muscle problems. Yet – I didn’t rock the class. I just floated through with no extreme highs or lows. I bent over in standing separate leg stretch and just eased my forehead slowly toward the floor and thought how this isn’t hard, but it’s not easy today either. My mind was empty – no thoughts racing and wrangling. I wasn’t hot or hurt or tired. I wasn’t counting the poses or the minutes. I wasn’t happy or jubilant. I didn’t feel strong or able. I just was. I did my yoga and went home.
A lot of my days mimic that yoga class. Lately I’ve been tuning in and paying more attention middle ground days. Some of our days we ride a nice high due to something happening. Some of our days we ride a real low due to something happening. Those up and down days are few and far between. What about the rest of our days? We can’t always have the adrenalin pumping. We can’t always be sad or depressed. Those days are the exceptions. What about the middle ground days? The days where we go about our business on an even keel, neither feeling high or low.
I used to have trouble handling these middle ground days. I’d look for something to boost my mood. Maybe I should read some meditative thing. Maybe I should go somewhere. Maybe I should talk to a friend. When I found myself trying to make a good day into something it wasn’t, I knew I had to stop that. Everyday can’t be a red letter day. I had to teach myself to recognize these middle ground days and appreciate the peace that’s found in being neither high or low. My middle ground yoga class was just that tonight – peaceful.
And so, as another day goes by, sometimes negotiating the middle ground is harder than the hurdling the extremes, for me, it’s a learned behavior, and…I have written.
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