Maximalist Or Minimalist?

I've always been an avid reader and frequently have multiple books on the go - see the small selection above (and that doesn't include the pile next to my bed!). I'm always reading a novel, but if it's not gripping me then there'll be at least one more I've got going at the same time. I also like to have a spiritual tome in my current reading stack, plus what I call a 'snippety' book - something like the 'What I Know For Sure' by Oprah Winfrey (a gift from a lovely friend, you know who you are!). Then there's the reference books - yoga, tarot, recipes....I'm what you might call a parallel rather than a serial reader. A maximalist rather than a minimalist.

Then this week I read (yes more reading) an article by The School of Life about how to read fewer books, which really got me thinking. It made me wonder, why do I read so much? And do I actually absorb what I read? Is this just another form of FOMO, disguised as an intellectual pursuit?

What I came to realise was something quite unrelated to reading. I realised that I used to be a yoga maximalist. I would charge around the glittering playground of yoga chasing after shiny new distractions - endless classes, different styles, exciting overseas teachers, cool new yoga studios. Nowadays I'm a yoga minimalist. I've simplified my practice and slowed it right down. My default these days is to get on my mat, listen to my heart and do what feels right in the moment - NO self judgement (that's the kicker!). It might be a handful of salutations, or a simple breathing practice, sometimes I simply roll around! But the fact of the matter is that it feels authentic, it's mindful and I fully absorb what it brings me. And that's important. As soon as we do something to tick a box, without true commitment, we lose what we stood to gain from it.

So, as always, I learn in the crucible of my yoga practice and take that out into my every day. I'm definitely not going to stop reading. But I am going to be reading more mindfully.