Yogic blogging

Recently, a friend asked me why I blog.  It's a good question. I blog because I've always enjoyed writing and blogging is a good outlet for it. Knowing others may read what I write forces me to be more thoughtful about the messages I communicate and more disciplined in the way I express them.

The other reason I blog is the same reason I practice yoga - because it often helps me make sense of what I'm thinking and feeling.

In the 15 years I've done yoga, I've come to realize how much emotion is stored in my body. For example, fear typically lodges itself in my left shoulder and neck, grief and sadness in my chest - somewhere between my breast bone and the hollow at the base of my throat - and worry in my belly. As I move into yoga postures that open up those parts of my body, the trapped emotions are exposed and become more difficult to ignore - making it more likely I'll acknowledge and address them.

Blogging does the same thing for me. Even if a post begins with a single thought or idea, exploring it often involves uncovering layers of meaning or connections I've not made before, and acknowledging their emotional and psychological content so that I'm better able to deal with it.

In the course of both practices, feelings can get intense pretty quickly and, when that happens, I'm sometimes tempted to "roll up the mat" and go looking for something else - anything else - to distract me.  Fortunately, experience has taught me that it's when emotions become that intense that I most need to get back on the mat - physically and metaphorically - so that I can figure out what's causing them and decide whether I can do anything to fix the problem or simply need to "let it go".

In short, blogging - like running - is a form of yoga for me - and it's one I highly recommend to anyone else trying to figure it out.