Setting boundaries

My recent yoga practices have revolved around a very consistent theme these past few weeks.

Boundaries. 

Boundaries mean different things to different people. Setting a line that you can't cross socially, such as telling someone you don't know at a tram stop that they need to floss, no matter how many visible cavities you can spot from two metres away. Knowing when to tell a friend to stop unloading all their personal problems onto you, because you soak their pain up like a sponge without any hope of squeezing it out later. Just learning to say no. 

There are many other boundary situations in life that you could probably think of, ones that are more relevant to you. My own boundary story is this... knowing when to stop. The truth is, I don't think I have an off switch. When I decide to do something, I'll be damned if I don't go through with it, and don't you dare stand in my way. If it's challenging, even better! 

All sounds good, until you start physically hurting yourself because you simply don't acknowledge your edge. Or when you start losing every semblance of having a life and forget to look after yourself due to work, relationship, and friendship commitments. I mean, really... when your dentist asks you if you're allright, and that you need to start looking after yourself just based on the condition of mouth splint (I cracked mine in 6 months), you may have a problem. 

We have this practice at work of stating weekly commitments, 1-3 per week so that they are achievable. The belief is that stating your commitments make you more accountable. While pondering how I can incorporate more of a focus on setting up these boundaries in my life, I came up with three commitments: 

• Not working past 7pm (unless I really, really have to...) 
• Taking at least an hour every day to dedicate to hobbies (not including yoga) 
• Yoga for at least 30 minutes everyday 

These are my weekly commitments for the month of April and probably May. 

Before ending this post, I would like to take some time to spread some love for Fightmaster Yoga. I've been following the 90 day program to re-establish my yoga practice at home, and it's truly amazing. Lesley's free program is better than most of the paid yoga classes in my area, and it brought back so much love for the practice that I had lost when I left SomaChi Yoga. Please subscribe to her Youtube videos, or donate to her very worthy cause of bringing yoga to everyone and anyone.

Till next time spiritual warriors.