Tamas...what's it all about?
As the days grow colder, we start to hibernate more, staying in the warm and perhaps hiding ourselves away. I enter a tamasic state of being during the winter months and find it hard to get going. My yoga practice fluctuates a lot between November and February with only spring really getting me out of the slump.
It's at times like this that I have to remember, and remind my students too, that it's OK to have lazy days where you stay snuggled under the blanket with a book. It's OK for your diet to have seen better days as we approach Christmas. This is all part of life and living in a tamasic state for a while can help to bring us back to a sattvic state.
I read a good article on tamas recently and tamas meditation. It pointed out the positive things about being in this guna. It can act as stability while we find the rajas to get us moving again. It can be our comfort zone and our state of relaxing in a different way from resting in Savasana or meditating.
So as you wind down for the Christmas holidays, enjoy this Tamasic state. Embrace how you feel in the present moment and remember, nothing is permanent. Tamas will be superseded by rajas leading you to sattva.
