spring cleaning...and fixing

i taught a whole yoga class thursday based on spring cleaning.  no, i didn't have my class help me sweep, mop, and straighten up the studio...although, that could be somewhat meditative ;-) for me maybe more so for them. haha

instead, we did some cleaning from the inside out.  and what better way to initiate that than with some juicy hip openers.  ooh, the HIPS.  they hold so much tension!  i can personally say that I have cried multiple times in hip opener yoga classes.  (try a class with elisa at CPY south loop...maybe it's just me, but i'm pretty sure she is specifically skilled in the area of encouraging crying ...ridiculous).

so, one hour later, my class was sitting in prone frog on the floor in the yoga studio...hips OOOOPPPPEEEEENN.  it was delicious :-)  it was a great class, and we all clapped afterwards.  :-)

but, i woke up the next morning sore; my inner thighs screaming as if I had BROKEN them open!  the spring cleaning I had been so craving really dug in to my support system- my hips, the most stable and load bearing part of my physical body, felt broken down.  and it made me think of my spiritual body "spring cleaning".  in some of my most expansive spiritual moments, my recovery afterwards has often felt slightly broken down...raw...exposed.

today, i spent the morning tending to and pruning plants.  removing the dead leaves, the bulky weight of things no longer of use to the plant.  they looked slimmed afterwords, slightly exposed, fragile...but...healthy :-)  i felt joy in their release of things unneeded and was reminded of my own spring cleaning yet again.

after a long winter of beating on my body and storing physical, emotional, and spiritual stressers in any place possible, i begin to feel the need for spring cleaning...for the opening of my body to cleaning and fixing the bruised and battered parts that need letting go of...

and as i shed things no longer needed...as i let go in my physical body in my hips...as i let go of oppressive emotions and patterns...my raw and pruned body emerges healthier and ready to grow.

and as if my bike is an extension of my physical body, the glaring need for spring cleaning (and fixing) slapped me in the face today as i actually lost my lock out the SIDE of my basket.  the straw that broke the camels back, one last bump, and the basket literally burst open, spilling the contents of my basket onto the pavement below...

it is TIME.  let's clean...let's fix.  let's expose the burdens of winter and uncover the raw and healthy portions underneath...let's spring :-)