Moving the Stagnant Chi

    Each morning I rise and feel my body groan with being upright and moving for the first time. I feel like all the joints and muscles are stuck. I have decided that this is the stagnant Chi which has collected in the body while sleeping. My yoga teachers have, over the years, tried to describe how it feels to move Chi, the Chinese word for energy, around in the body. I didn't get until lately. After doing yoga for 30 minutes these stuck places become lubricated and they start moving more smoothly. My right knee, which has little or no cartilage left, seems to buzz with energy. The pain is gone and with that, a new feeling of gracefulness emerges.

    I find it yoga amazing. I crave the stillness it brings to my soul and the balance it offers to my body. When I roll out the mat my body knows it will be gifted with release. The only slightly sad side is that I must do it everyday to get the joy. No days off for good behavior and no promise of arriving at the pinnacle of perfection and never having to do it again. I learned that lesson years ago when my daughter took a ballet class at PNB one evening in the summer. It was a walk-in open class. I watched through the window and saw one of the principal ballerinas taking the class. Afterwards I asked my daughter why she would be in a open class. "They take class every day, Mom." What? After years of practice they haven't arrived in the Land of Perfection?
    Note to my body: I love you enough to do this everyday. The Yoga Journal's 21 Day Challenge starts Monday. We are onboard!!