The best practice days aren’t necessarily the ones where you are flying or when you’re so limber that tying yourself into a knot is as easy as tying your shoelace–though I suspect those days are pretty darn good too.

For me, the best days are the days that are just plain loving. It’s the day you love yourself enough to be kind to your–at times poor, tired, beaten up–body or spirit. They are the days that you look around loving the people you practice with, how they awe and inspire you with the gracefulness and graciousness. They are the days you get to bow and be grateful to your teacher, as he/she watches carefully, choosing just the right moment to guide you. They are the days you realize that you are simply in love with your practice–not attached, but truly in love, and really, really grateful. 

No matter what it looks like, no matter what it feels like, if it’s full of love, it is full of that integrating light of yoga.

PHOTO: I am feeling full of love and gratitude to the practice and to the path as I get ready to fly from Manila to San Francisco, where I will be teaching starting May.