Too Much (Atyadhikam in Sanskrit)

If you are anything like me, you started out loving watching the snow come down.  Come on, I know some of you did.  But, after a day of snow followed by a day long blizzard you were most likely thinking this is too much. 

Enough already!  Please stop. 

Seriously, I’m done with wanting snow and having to shovel it over and over again. Great exercise but, yes, the joy of watching it come down has lost some of its appeal.  I’m done.  This is atyadhikam snow and I have no desire to go shovel again this winter.

As I was getting ready for the day, I was reminded that too
much actually is connected to yoga philosophy.   

Have you ever had fresh berries that tasted like candy or
peaches so sweet and ripe they tasted like heaven.  Give either of these to a child and if they like
it, they will eat and eat.  They just
can’t stop until their stomach says that is too much.

We do this same thing with all aspects of our life, too many
movies, too much travel, too much exercise, too much work, too much time in the
sun, too much sleep, too much use of our phones/technology, etc. 

So why do we keep doing this just like the little kids when
we know better? 

When something feels good and meets a need within us, we
tend to want more of it.  We want to
recreate feelings that quite frankly feel good. 
In the process we abuse that feel good until it tells us we have done
too much of a good thing.  We have gone
past our level of tolerance. 

So how does this all relate to yoga?

It comes down to living your life from a mindful place.  Granted, we can’t do anything about mother
nature but, we can be a little more mindful in our day to day activities.  The best way to do this is to slow down, step
back and reflect.  Most yogis do this
through yoga and meditation.  If you find
yourself slipping, don’t judge, just take action to bring yourself back to a
place of not too much…to mindfulness.