Revelation of Kindness

I had a great revelation during my practice the other day...

My lower back was really stiff over the weekend and when I would walk, it actually felt like I was walking around with another (less mobile) person's spine. A very weird experience to actually WANT to hunch over because it relieve pain. And I skipped practice on Monday to "rest" I told myself.

And then I went back to practice on Tuesday, not promising myself anything, and to my surprise - my spine felt GLORIOUS after practice.  

Okay, maybe this picture of a "happy spine" is a little more creepy that it is illustrative, but regardless, it made me realize that sometimes we practice because we feel good and we want to celebrate that...but we should practice too when we feel like utter crap in order to start to feel better for ourselves. It's easy to be nice to your body when you feel great about it and what it can do, it's a real practice to be kind and loving and gentle with your body when you want nothing more than to hang out on the couch all day and moan about life.

I remember something someone told me when I worked as a camp counselor: the kids who are the hardest to love, need to most love. I am starting to realize that this applies to ourselves too: the days when we are the hardest to love are the days when we need to take care of ourselves the most.