April: National Month of Hope and the beginning of Spring

With April comes spring, making April the month of renewal and hope. Here in the Sonoran Desert, the Palo Verde trees are blooming, the Hedgehog Cactus are putting out their beautiful purple/pink flowers, and even some Saguaro Cactus have started to bloom. In the spring, we shake winter off, welcome more sunlight, and we tend to have more energy. Many of us revisit our goals set at the beginning of the year, climbing outside is more accessible, and spring breaks are upon us.

In yoga, we practice renewal and hope every time we step onto our mats.  In the beginning of practice, we set an intention (hope) for our practice, whether it is a word or a phrase; it is something we chose in the beginning of class to remember throughout the day. We tend to set our intention in Child’s pose or a seated position. At the end of class, we practice Savasana (pronounced shah-VAH-sah-nah), also known as corpse pose. We lie on our backs to allow our body to absorb the work from the yoga practice. This posture allows us to integrate the benefits of our yoga practice and calm the nervous system.

When it comes to yoga, climbing, and our seasonal change, it is important to keep checking in with yourself, your mind, your body, your emotions, and see how you are feeling.  Hope and renewal come into play with climbing often. We climb, we rest, we reset, and climb again. We have hopes for grades, routes, or places we want to go explore. Sometimes, climbing can discourage us; I’ve had my fair share of hardships while climbing, and this is an ongoing process, but I always try to hold on to hope for my future of climbing that I will be able to continue to explore, develop my skills, and climb better.

However you are feeling with your yoga practice and your climbing skills, step back into that place of hope and renewal.  Take some time to meditate, go for a walk, do something that is just for you, no one else. Check out some yoga classes, go for a climb with a friend, and just allow yourself to be present. Notice the flowers in bloom around you, the trees have leaves, and the birds are chirping.

As always, feel free to reach out with any comments or questions. If you are looking for some help with your yoga practice, I offer online or in-person (location dependent) private sessions.

Remember, take everything one step at a time. Tune into your needs and take care of yourself.

Happy climbing!