Can Tequila and Yoga live Side by Side......?

It is 5:30 a.m. and I am 2 days into a wicked hangover. The irony of it: my hangover is from a surprise party thrown in honor of my yoga certification completion/studio coup. All those gurus don't spend much time addressing hangovers, but I can imagine it is because when you look at the sutras - the study of discipline, cleanliness, non-harming, just to name a few, over-consuming tequila kind of blows those tenets out of the water. Furthermore, the nasty fight I had with my husband 2 hours before the party didn't bode well for setting the stage for a mellow evening. I was feisty and struggling with some conflicting emotions. Those fights are always about so much more than the egg I asked him to make Ellie that morning, and didn't. That old monkey on my back - resentment - was rearing its ugly head and I was bitter about spending my Saturday without attending my usual yoga class, while my husband went flying and completed his household chores, which of course weren't the chores I was hoping for. You have to honor what you need. The balance was off-set and that same fight - you get yours, when do I get mine? came to the surface. Marriage is hard work - worth every single blood, sweat and tear, but if you don't recognize your backsliding before it happens, then that escalating turmoil snowballs and the end result: throwing a cup of water at my husband. (it got his attention, that's for sure.) So, the stage was set for a non-yoga filled evening.

I needed those 3 shots of tequila. All the yoga in the world can't suppress those wild-side tendencies. I seldom let go like that anymore. For one: the repercussions of a hangover and parenting 3 kids is usually enough to stop me dead in my tracks. Secondly, it is rare that I don't have to teach yoga the next day and a hungover yoga teacher is so not appealing. Furthermore, I tend to air on the side of control freak and tequila makes me lose control. So, when a fellow yoga teacher offered to sub, I quite literally grabbed whomever's drink was at my side and powered it down. The tequila quickly followed and I let my hair down (and tried to go streaking and skinny-dipping, but thankfully the party died down.)

The reason we have close friends is so we can let go and step outside our everyday roles. They don't care what we say or do because they are our friends and family and love us no matter what. I had a few PDA (post drinking anxiety, acronym compliments of Amy Fackler) moments yesterday where I asked myself if I had done the right thing: slamming tequila at a party celebrating my yoga accomplishments. Had it not been close friends, I wouldn't have done it. Owning your own yoga business certainly comes with responsibility and if I am going to attempt to live and TEACH those 8 limbs of yoga, then I have to model them. But shedding that role and celebrating with friends (my good friend tequila, especially) is also living my yoga. I was filled with such gratitude that people would take the time to celebrate and was so touched and once again overcome with emotion for my good fortune - to be blessed with friends, family and...tequila.