I’ve started boxing again.

In my 15 years as a fitness instructor, trainer and yoga teacher I have spun, stepped, kick-boxed, weight trained, boxed, danced and stretched with the best of ’em.

Once I was “sold” on yoga I began to let the other things go. Yoga covered all the bases for me. Mind, body, spirit. It can be vigorous or restorative. It’s strengthening and stretching. And it’s spiritual practice.

So why do I find myself wrapping my hands again?

Why do I love the sound of my gloves hitting the target mitts,

the skin being ripped off my knuckles,

and the muscle fatigue of a long round of punches?

I had a regular practice of picking a Louise Hay Power Thought Card every day at one time. If you do that for a while a trend shows up – like all of the cards about forgiveness, or letting go… or in my case one recurring card. The one card that I picked at random more often than not said “I balance my masculine and feminine sides,” with some affirmation on the back about being in perfect balance, blah, blah, blah. That’s how I felt about it. Blah, blah, blah! What did that even mean?! Was I being too feminine… too masculine?? What could I do practically to “balance” the sides?

However, I know it is true for me… that a lesson in this life for me is harmony, and masculine/feminine balance. My senior show for my BFA degree was an exploration through photography of masculinity and femininity. I have been exploring this issue, the roles, and a path to wholeness for decades.

As a woman, a yoga teacher, a minister, and a mom my role is feminine in nature much of the time. It’s about light, and love, and nurturing.

And I have worked to love and accept the shadow part of me – the dark, the anger, pushiness, stubbornness, the critic, the boss, and the boxer.

That, too, is spiritual practice.