Spring and Symmetry

Happy spring, blogverse!

Spring, like fall, can cause us to feel a little shaken up out of our routine and as a result, feel a little less grounded.  Spring and fall (for me anyway) are always incredibly welcome - it's nice to feel like we have more mild, balanced weather than the extremes of hot and cold (not that our cold was too extreme here in NYC this year).  Though the weather can still bounce back and forth through its bizarre little dance to summer, it does the heart and soul good to see so much fresh new green, new buds, and feel the warm sunshine on our coatless, hatless, and (perhaps) scarfless bodies.

Unfortunately, my body isn't feeling quite so balanced these days.  Over the last couple of weeks I've been feeling a variety of strange little pains here and there.  One day my knee will hurt - and after 27 years of absolutely zero knee problems, that's a scary first - the next I discover I somehow managed to burst a blood vessel in my wrist in the middle of teaching a series of preschool classes.  This week, the part of me crying for attention is my left foot.  Yesterday as I limped home in my beloved flip flops, the top of my left foot was crying to be free of the long walk from the subway to my front door.

None of these are serious problems (knock wood), but almost certainly a symptom of an active job, a lot of hustling around the city, changing shoe styles from winter boots to spring Toms and flip flops, running around playing yoga with active kids, and, much to my chagrin, my body finally feeling the effects of over a year lugging around an obscenely heavy and large lululemon bag that serves as my survival kit every day.  I pack that thing with props for adults, kids, usually a book or journal, often up to three meals a day (saving money for those long dawn-til-dusk work days!), and the general purse essentials, and man does it get heavy fast.

For a yoga teacher who spends a lot of time preaching balance and alignment, I haven't been following my own advice too much.  Each and every day as I walk around, my left side is shouldering a heavy burden which effects my posture, the way I walk, and how strongly my left foot hits the hard concrete versus my right.  Even though I try to even myself out by switching sides from time to time, the left always somehow winds up winning (or losing, depending on how you look at it).

So starting this afternoon, I'm backpacking it at least until I leave next week.  This seems like an incredibly silly, trivial thing to be writing an entire blog about, but many women (and men, especially in New York) carry purses, diaper bags, duffel bags, gym bags, or monstrous bags that serve all three purposes, and feel the physical effects in their shoulders, hips, knees, and feet.  Something that seems like a fashion choice one day can lead to major consequences for your body in less time than you'd think.

Anyone else shouldering too heavy a burden?  If so, join me for my newly declared Symmetrical Backpack week and let's see if it makes a difference!