I’m a public transportation girl. My favorite time of the day (well, after my morning coffee and my yoga time) used to be my morning bus ride. I’d look out over the beautiful San Francisco Bay as I crossed over the bridge, listening to podcasts or Pandora, tweeting to my heart’s content. It was my me time, you know?
This week, however, I’m driving to work for at least an hour each way in my car. My husband, who used to make a similar commute, warned me that it would be horrible. Stop and go for 40 miles. I thought it wouldn’t bother me. “I’ll be fine,” I told him. “I’ll take deep breaths, think happy thoughts, and let the aggressive drivers out there just roll on by.”
It took all of 10 minutes for Chill Yoga Girl to start yelling at SUVs. “Don’t you get in front of me, you boring, personality-less WHITE vehicle!” It didn’t help me get there any sooner, but it did make me frazzled for the first day of a new job. So for tomorrow, I have to really extend my yoga practice into my commute. This is my plan.
1. I will leave early enough that I won’t stress out about being late.
2. I will send blessings and acknowledge the Divine in each driver who cuts me off. “Namaste, Jackass!” (I do believe that even though we all have a spark of the Divine in us, we also have a spark of Jackass… especially when we’re late to work.)
3. I will sit to meditate at least for a few minutes immediately before I leave, setting an intention for a safe and happy commute for both me and others on the road.
4. When I start to feel flustered, I’ll remember my mantra. “I am blessed. I am content. I am happy.” Even in traffic.
5. I will look forward to this time next week, when I’m all settled into my new place and my commute will consist of walking 2 blocks.
How do you live your yoga during your commute?
See also:
What’s Your Mantra
Meditation Minute
Driving is what introduced me to extended meditation. I used to love driving to NYC from Milwaukee in one day. I found my mind going to places it never went otherwise. I started to just sit and see what my mind would do if I just watched it. Then I tried to see where I could take it if I tried to gently guide it. Etc.
Eventually I realized I had happened upon advanced meditation. I started to read stuff, and that eventually led me to Yoga.
On a short drive in the city one can't let one's mind wander so much without being dangerous. But I still find it quite easy to plug into a delicious meditative state while driving anywhere. Often it's just what I call "task meditaion", which is full concentration on the process and sensation of driving itself–total relaxed focus on the task itself. This not only makes for extremely safe driving, but effortlessly puts me in a wonderful state of mind as well.
(I can picture your commute because I lived in the Bay Area for seven years, three in Oakland and four in Palo Alto. My very favorite part of the world, especially Mt. Tamalpais and Stinson Beach.)
Bob Weisenberg
http://YogaDemystified.com
I'm glad to hear this traffic hell is going to be short lived. Just reading about yours brought back nightmares of commuting from the East Bay to SOMA. Even on the bus I had road rage.
My commute is really short – about 4 miles – and there is almost no traffic however people still manage to sometimes be Jackasses. Whenever I find myself clenching the steeringwheel,I turn of the radio and spend the rest of the drive repeating a lovingkindness mantra.
It does make a big difference in how I feel when I arrive.
Wow comments already! And they're not about how horrible I am for calling people Jackasses! 🙂 I am trying to focus on the good parts …
I like to drive, too, Bob.. but I hate HATE traffic. I'll try to use the whole thing as a meditation exercise.
OK.. off I go. 🙂
Hang in there! Only a few more days to go. Does puppy Penny get to come with you?
This didn't work AT ALL, by the way.
Thanks, Hannah. And, no, Penny is staying with her God parents this week… 🙂
Love the post and the word Jackass. Driving in traffic not so much 🙂
I was thinking about this article as I was doing involuntary "bridge" poses in the dentist's chair today. It didn't work for me either … (gawd I hate cleanings)
However, I will say yoga has made me aware faster when I was tensing up and I was able to immediately relax. Ewww (mentally reliving it)
Frenzy36