Lately, I have been bothered by neck pain. At times the pain goes straight to my head resulting in a hammering headache. So what to do? A careful and precise massage definitely helps, though before I know my vertebral segments jump back in their misalignment. Fortunately, I am surrounded by a lovely family who are able to provide me with some good advice regarding my body aches. First advice: take it easy with your yoga practice and listen carefully to your neck. In other words don’t turn you head to the ceiling in Trikonasana (triangle pose) if your neck is screaming: ‘NOOOOO!’ Also keep on looking at your feet while practicing Salamba Sarvangasana (supported shoulderstand) or rather don’t practice shoulderstand at all for a while.

Most importantly, I am learning the lesson the hard way; stay focused on my own practice during a yoga class. I realize that I often look around to see who else is in the class, what they’re wearing, how they are doing their poses and so on. I thought that I was doing quite well with staying focused on my own practice, but my neck is telling me otherwise. I usually try to roll down my mat in one of the front corners of the room, so I just have a wall space to look at. Although, Adho Mukha Svanasana (downward facing dog) is a perfect pose to spot other yogi’s and yogini’s behind me. It looks like my neck tries to tell me: stay with your own body! I consider myself as curious, but now I am actually asking myself is it curiosity? Or is it more my ego, trying to compare myself with others? That girl in the back is wearing a beautiful top today, I’m wondering where she bought them. That guy is amazing; he is able to hold handstand for a few seconds. Should I buy a bandana as well to keep my hair out of my face? And so on. As you see, I am far from a focused, stable, (almost) enlightened yogini. I’m just trying to look cool, healthy and flexible and check others out. My resolution for 2013 is to focus on myself! And not only in the yoga class, but also in my everyday life. This includes not getting lost in all those beautiful and funny facebook photos of people I barely know and once again comparing myself with others in terms of career, relationships, friends and financial situation. Instead focus on my dreams and goals. What kind of person would I like to be? What does really matter in life? My intentions for 2013:

–          Stress less and smile more

–          Complain less and appreciate more

–          Question less and trust more

–          Plan less and flow with life more

–          Judge less and love more