The best 10 minutes of my week…..

…has absolutely nothing to do with flowers.

For the past few months, every Thursday night from 6-7, I head to a local community centre with 20 or so other like-minded women for yoga. I originally signed up thinking I would enjoy the social aspect and stretching exercises and maybe, hopefully build some strength to help when I am working in the flower field. I really was not expecting it to become the part of my week that I look forward to the most.

Why? One word…Shavasana. What is that? Shavasana is what our instructor calls the last 10 minutes of our practice. We lay quietly in the dark with our pillows and blankets while the soothing, calming voice of our instructor guides us through a relaxation exercise. Sometimes she reads to us, sometimes she plays music and sometimes we just lay there in the quiet…for a full 10 minutes!!

I tried explaining this favourite part of my week to someone once and said “I am not sure why I look so forward to it, I just do”. To which this wise person replied, “because it is a forced stop”.

And she was absolutely correct..that was it, that is what had me craving this small window of 10 minutes in my week. During that short period of time, I am at a FORCED STOP! I cannot do anything else at that time but lay there quietly, trying so hard to slow my brain and relax, listening to the soothing sound of my instructors voice. I am not distracted by screens or people - I am not able to jump up and leave because I just remembered something that I forgot to do and feel like I have to do it right at that second - I have been forced to stop!!

I have tried to recreate this time on my own at my home but no matter how hard I try I just cannot seem to allow myself a full 10 minutes of relaxation. There always seems to be something that seems more urgent and pulls me away after a couple of minutes. I find it so difficult to turn off my brain on my own…I seem to need the peer pressure from a yoga group to allow myself permission to just be still.

I think we all need to find our own Forced Stop. A time without the distraction of screens, job demands, family responsibilities and non-stop scheduling thoughts. A time to just lay quietly and relax - a brain reset. Even if only for 10 minutes a week.

So after a few months of learning the practice of yoga, I feel like I am building strength through the exercises, I thoroughly enjoy the social aspect and I feel like it is helping my flexibility through stretches….all of the original reasons I started on this yoga journey. But the Shavasana portion of the practice has been a wonderful surprise benefit that has made driving in the dark, cold wintery weather so very worth it.

I encourage you to find your own forced stop.