My favorite class of the week is Restorative Yoga on Wednesdays at the Y. I think by Wednesday everybody wants and needs a little restorative yoga session. There are some unique challenges that can be ... inimical to creating a deeply restorative atmosphere. Those who attend this class can speak to the frequency of basketballs hitting the back door and enthusiastic encouragements from the R.I.P.P.E.D class heard through the walls. This coupled with the wifi interrupting the music, thereby making us even more vulnerable, can quickly pull us away from our task of restoration. 

I find this to be the perfect habitat for practice and I welcome it. The process of restoration (as in home restoration) is never a quiet one really, but I digress.  

Yes, yoga class is a place to release the stresses and chaos of the day and a lifetime of residual tensions in our bodies, muscles, bones, and mind. Yes, our preference is most likely peace and quiet and not to have so many distractions. But, life isn't like that; we rarely get all of our expectations met. If you are a recovering perfectionist (Hi, I'm Kat, I'm a perfectionist), you are particularly vulnerable to disappointment and thrown by things going a different way.

So, what can we do for ourselves so that we can have an experience go, as intended, despite the inevitable possibility that it will not?

We can create boundaries.

Not a "stone wall" of protection, but a boundary that is both porous and impenetrable; one that keeps us held, safe, and strong, yet remains open enough so that we can stay in relationship - so that we aren't closed off, but remain receptive to energies and inspirations that are amicable and supportive. 

A really excellent example of how to do this is this video. Here Sally Kempton, a favorite meditation teacher gives instruction and protocol on creating boundaries to protect oneself from ... flying basketballs, unintentional R.I.P.P.E.D classes, screaming children, office noise, notifications, highways, television, social anxiety, and any other situation ... And, keep you grounded, strong, powerful, and in possession of yourself and your own energy.

Your energetic field is powerful and bright and naturally repels anything that is inimical to it. But it is also permeable to what is akin to it, to what is favorable and loving ... With your breath, feel yourself protected.
— Sally Kempton

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