When practicing yoga this morning (which I've only recently started), I was especially stiff and achey. I'd played golf yesterday for the first time in months, and naturally I'd overdone it - pushed to hard and strained everything. I was a little worried about trying to do yoga with all my aches and pains.

As I moved into the postures, and reached the edge between 'not enough' and 'too much', I noticed the areas of strain. Instead of my usual thoughts of how much it hurts, and "can I stop now?", I accepted the strain and the ache as part of what I'm going through due to age, lack of activity and overuse. Once I accepted the feeling and stopped fighting it, I was able to release the tension and relax into the pose, holding it much longer than usual.

I realize that this can be applied to every-day situations. I can stop fighting what is happening ("Why is this happening to me?", "I don't want this to be happening", "I can't wait until this is over"), and accept that this is simply the way it is right now. This allows me to release the tension and anxiety that I'm feeling, and frees me to act in the most appropriate way for the situation. In essence, it allows me to relax and make the right choice.

Accept, Release and Relax......