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Perfect Moment Monday: Vitamin D’asana

Views from my yoga mat this week:

 

The floors of the gym I go to were being resurfaced so the yoga class was kicked outside. Fortunately, the weather cooperated and during a mid-morning of perfect temperatures, we saluted the sun and the earth as we honored ourselves.

It was in the low 60s — normally too cold for me, but not when I’m doing chaturangas and sun warriors. It was too early in the season for mosquitos, and there was just a slight breeze — perfect conditions. And so much color! The emerald green of the astroturf (OK, grass might have been better), the cornflower blue sky, and the citrus-y orange and yellow of my mat. Plus the patchwork of color from the mats of my fellow yoginis.

The sunlight warmed our muscles in a way that indoor yoga doesn’t (unless you’re in a hot yoga studio). And being outside felt incredibly grounding. In fact, I finally did my first free-standing headstand. Yay, me! Salamba sirasana, you are mine.

****

Now here’s the backstory.

There might as well have been a neon sign flashing as I walked up and saw the class setting up outside. PERFECT MOMENT ALERT: YOU ARE ABOUT TO HAVE ONE. And a tour-director voice in my head saying, “In the event of a perfect moment, please make sure to have your camera ready for emerging photo ops.”

So while it was nice of the Universe to hand a perfect moment to me on a silver plate, the way I received it was not so perfect. I spent the hour not reining in my thoughts to the confines of my mat, not opening my heart, not focusing on the here and now —ย  but thinking about documenting the moment.

And in doing so, I missed it. The narrative above is accurate, but it is devoid of the awareness that is the essence of a perfect moment. With awareness, one could have a perfect moment shackled in a dungeon sitting in one’s own excrement; without it, blessings galore cannot compensate.

During the yoga class my thoughts were all over the place, my heart was unengaged, my focus was in some time in the future when I would write and publish this post. In fact, I took those photos while the others were enjoying savasana, the meditative pose that closes the practice, the capstone of relaxation and letting go and sealing in the benefits of the practice.

This episode is part of a bigger issue for me. Remember how Perfect Moment Monday is “about noticing a perfect moment rather than creating one”? I feel as if lately I’ve been seeking them, even forcing them, sometimes just to check something off my ToDo list — the writing of my weekly PMM post.

Posting a perfect moment every week (because I’m the host and feel I cannot bow out once in awhile) has become a chore, an antithesis of itself.

In addition, I have a summer to spend with my children. I intend, for awhile, to let the perfect moments flow without trying to catch them. For these reasons, I am putting Perfect Moment Mondays on hiatus. Expect to see it back sometime in the Fall.

Don’t be surprised, through, if you see me talking here about perfect moments. I reserve the right to do that when they arise (and I notice them) organically. But I’m feeling like summer is the time for me to turn off the alarm clock of a weekly post.

May we all, in the meantime, practice awareness and being present. I encourage you to continue to post your perfect moments when you observe one. And I do hope that you’ll join me again in linking when I’ve refreshed myself and am able to reclaim the original intent of Perfect Moment Mondays.

Let the summer begin!

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Perfect Moment Monday is about noticing a perfect moment rather than creating one. Perfect moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between.

Once a week we engage in mindfulness about something that is right with our world. Everyone is welcome to join. [EDITED: Perfect Moment Mondays is going on summer hiatus.]

To participate in Perfect Moment Monday:

  1. Follow this blog.
  2. Between Sunday night and Tuesday night, write up your own Perfect Moment.
  3. Use LinkyTools below to enter your name (or your site/blog name) and the URL of your Perfect Moment.
  4. Visit the Perfect Moments of others and let the writers know you were there with some comment currency.

Once you make a Perfect Moment post , you may place this button on your blog.What Perfect Moment have you recently been aware of? Visit these moments of others and share your comment love.

22 Responses

  1. I love this post, Lori. As always, your honesty and thoughtfulness are so wonderful, and so wonderfully *you*. I tend to resist ever doing any kind of weekly thing, no matter how drawn to it I might be (as is the case with PMM) because the very notion of it being a commitment sets off my inner teenager and I just want to rebel! That said, I do tend to notice perfect moments quite often, and more so when I read your posts and those of others who participate. And so even if I’m not writing them down, your goal of spreading mindfulness is working!

    Have a wonderful summer just letting those perfect moments come and go as they will.

  2. I wondered how hard it was to find those perfect moments, and then I assumed it was because I’m so cynical. Enjoy your hiatus…

  3. I too appreciate your honesty in this post. It is interesting, having gotten into the routine of participating in PMM, to truly try to notice and not to create the perfect moment. I respect and admire your wanting and needing a hiatus. I will certainly continue to try to notice perfect moments in the days and weeks to come this summer. If the spirit moves me I will post about them, either way I am grateful to you for getting me to be more aware of and alert to how common these perfect moments are/can be if we are truly paying attention to our lives. I look forward to participating again more formally in PMM again in the future. But again, I am proud of you for realizing that you could benefit from taking a break and doing so. I know that we all understand your decision. I wish you too many perfect moments to count, document or remember this summer for you and your loved ones my friend. ๐Ÿ™‚

  4. This makes me think of several things.

    1. group exercising in a park will from here on out make me think of Bridesmaids.
    2. no need ever to force Perfect Moments.
    3. I share Perfect Moments verbally with people around me far more than I ever write them down and…
    4. if you want to check out or even leave Perfect Moments anytime, stop by The Perfect Moment Project. We’ll still be sharing.

    Enjoy the summer, Lori.

  5. Enjoy the hiatus!

    Psst… for future reference, we will also accept PMM posts that don’t have accompanying photos. In case that helps you live in the moment. That’s what I did with my post for this week — lived it instead of photographing, even though I knew it would make a good post.

    1. It’s not just the photos — it’s also that I’ve begun composing in my head when I should be experiencing a perfect moment — unlike what happened with your predicament this week, where you just decided to be present.

      Loved that, by the way.

  6. Thanks for another great post. I was especially inspired when I read “I intend, for awhile, to let the perfect moments flow without trying to catch them.” I am heading into the summer with our 6yo with a lot of planning and dread. I need to remember to just enjoy the time instead of focusing on the potential chaos.

    This is only my second time participating in PMM, but I wish you a rejuvenating hiatus. I’ll look forward to when and if you pick up the series again in the future.

  7. HAPPY Monday Lori!!!!

    I feel the same way sometimes too…like I “have to find one” and I often feel like I don’t have any moment that just happened….I like how you are giving us a break, and taking one for yourself, SUMMER is a ime for recharing and relaxing , let’s enjoy all of it!!!!!!

    xoxo

  8. Ack, I can’t link and I even have a Perfect Moment this week! I’ll try again later…

    Anyway, ironically, mine is about yoga too. And headstand. Crazy, huh?

    Enjoy your hiatus! I too wondered how hard it was to find Perfect Moments week in and week out without forcing them. Hence the reason why mine are so sporadic…

  9. Maybe noticing your PMM’s aren’t always so perfect is what made this such a perfect moment! Embrace your hiatus! Who knows…maybe a PMS (Perfect Moment Saturday or Sunday) is in your future! LOL!!!

  10. Wonderful reading this- makes me want to take some time off from work …. but alas, I return to routine tomorrow ๐Ÿ™ Enjoy your hiatus and hope to see you soon!

  11. I can so relate to your yoga story and how writing in your head takes away from the moment. I find myself doing that so often now that I blog. In fact, my PM is going to be about a moment I failed to write about just because I didn’t have pictures to share! How dumb is that?

    Your description of doing yoga outdoors was divine. I would love to experience that. Hope you get to again soon and now that you’re on hiatus, have a transcendent experience!

  12. I loved your honesty about this. I always wondered if you felt pressure every week to come up with one…I’ll miss the forum, but totally get why. May you have a hiatus filled with perfect moments!

    PS: Bridesmaids was hilarious, a must-see ๐Ÿ˜‰

  13. We went to a botanical garden in Salt Lake City where they had a morning yoga class. I thought it had to be the most peaceful and perfect place to practice!

    Have a great week!

  14. It is completely understandable that even the great guru of PMM needs to step back every now and then.

    I love the photos of your yoga moment. Hopefully your break will help you be “in the moment” of your perfect moments. Enjoy yourself this summer with your kiddos!

    xoxo

  15. And, this my friend is why I love you. You are honest enough to fess up to a mistake (not absorbing the perfect moment as one should) and wise enough to know when to take a step back.

  16. Will miss the PMM posts over the summer, but hear you on the idea of living in the moment rather than trying to document. It’s a fine balance between collecting keepsakes and standing too far outside the moment to truly be a part of it.

    Though congratulations on the headstand!

  17. I agree with your decision!! Perfect moments happen so often with your kids but then are gone so swiftly. Enjoy them while you can… and be IN your moments not writing the post before it happens. ๐Ÿ™‚

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