Busy as a Bee -- or not?
Yesterday, I attended an online webinar/town hall meeting about things to consider as yoga studios begin to reopen and offer in-person classes once again in this still-Covid-affected-world. One of the things mentioned, was the importance of communicating any changes very clearly on your website. Of course, the presenter was referring primarily to a yoga studio’s website – but, it made me realize that it also applied to me and my Essential Journey Yoga website.
Since Covid-19 started, and all my in-person yoga classes were cancelled, I hadn’t even looked at my website, let alone made any revisions to it. There didn’t seem to be much point. But I guess communication is the point.
And, in my case, I have now very recently started teaching one online Gentle Chair Yoga class each week – so, making even just that one addition would be important!
And so, after the webinar was over, I dutifully went to my website and started to add notes about Covid-19 and details about my new online class.
I also looked at my blog page on the website, knowing that it had been a long while since I had written a blog post. To my surprise, it had been almost exactly one year! I had been trying (and mostly succeeding) in writing one blog post each month for a few years. But I didn’t think many people were reading the blog – and, after a while, writing it fell very low on my priority list. Perhaps sadly, it is likely to stay low on my priority list, at this point.
One paragraph in that last blog post, written almost exactly one year ago:
“I’m trying very hard to slow down this summer – to be fully present and truly savor each and every day. I’ve purposely not scheduled any workshops to teach during the summer, I’ve given up a couple of my regular yoga classes, I’ve said no (or not yet) to a several new teaching opportunities – all very difficult things for me to do. As any of my friends will tell you, I’m a recovering workaholic – but I’ve not recovered very far. I’m trying to do better, especially during these lovely summer months.”
I somewhat succeeded in slowing down and enjoying the summer last year, but I was still working way too much and playing/relaxing/enjoying way too little. It is the story of my life.
Eight months later, enter Covid-19…
By mid-March, all of my yoga classes had been cancelled. This was true for all yoga teachers – unless they were already teaching online, or quickly transitioned to online teaching. I did not.
I still work my part-time Trader Joe’s job – but to not have to prep for, travel to/from, and teach 6-8 yog classes each week – that has freed up a fairly large chunk of time for me.
So, what have I done with that time?
started a major (and long-overdue) decluttering project – decluttered and organized every room in the house, then the potting shed behind the garage, then the garage itself; sorted through (literally!) mountains of boxes of things, some of which had not been opened in the 16 years I’ve lived in this house!
planted and tended to my gardens (not that unusual) – but also started clearing/trimming overgrown tree branches, bushes, etc. that had gone a bit crazy after years of neglect
took lots and lots of online classes/workshops/webinars – many of them yoga-related, but also many of them not!
listened to 15+ audio books (most of them on decluttering and minimalism!), still readily available from the library through the Hoopla app
picked up my knitting again, after a long hiatus (since one way to declutter a large stash of yarn, is to actually knit with it!)
started focusing more on my meditation practice
started learning about how to teach yoga online, and fought with myself at length about whether or not to actually do it
finally, recently, started doing it – but only one class/week
spent a lot of warm-weather time hanging out on the screened-in back porch, with my kitty – which is where I sit as I type these words
So, it has been both a productive and comparatively relaxing several months. And although my finances have definitely taken a hit, this pandemic-induced slow-down has been incredibly good for me in so many ways.
I have no way of knowing how Covid-19 will affect the yoga industry – and my yoga own teaching – in the long-term. But I do know that I have tasted the sweetness of being less crazy-busy – and I don’t ever want to go back. It remains to be seen, how I will navigate that…
