Mondays in Chicago can hit hard. Especially if you find yourself without your Jeep because of some weird electrical issue. So to public transit I go. I do dig the Metro and it was super easy to jump on the train and transfer to get up north to my morning class at 8:15AM. But somewhere between the Red Line’s rumble and the morning rush, I realized I could treat my commute as a form of practice. No mat. No incense. Just me, my breath, and the sounds of the city. It’s fairly quiet today with it being Indigenous Peoples Day as well as the day after over 50,000 people raced across Chicago.

I prefer people not touching me, and I spent all of the previous night preparing myself to be closer to strangers on the train and the bus. If I ever needed to use my practice as a yogi it was this morning. I stopped with the spiraling of all of the things that could go wrong. It isn’t as though this anxiety comes from nowhere. I was attacked on the bus stop some years ago and robbed. I’ve been followed before and I have an unhealthy fear of people behind me while I’m standing on the curb or waiting on the train. I use to love being around people, but my experiences have shown me I’m not as vigilant as I thought and I’m easily distracted and not paying attention. I face those fears every time I take the CTA. So I figured let me use my practice instead of pretending I’m uber peaceful. Also before you say “why not just Cath an Uber?”, you got Uber money??? LOL

A day pass for the Metra and CTA was less than $15 and an Uber just one way was $25. Sometimes our budgets create the ideal conditions for mindfulness. I could pay to escape the tension but I couldn’t afford to evade all day or all week. While I could have bought myself some time…I decided to live it up and practice being grounded and present.

This Week’s Mini Practice: The Commuter Flow

Pose: Mountain Pose (Tadasana) — standing tall, grounded, and alert.

Try this while waiting for the train or bus:

1. Feet planted hip-width apart, feel your weight evenly across your soles.
2. Draw in a deep breath, lift through your spine, and soften your shoulders.
3. Exhale slowly, noticing how your body balances even amid the movement around you.
4. Set an intention: “I move through this day grounded and present.”

(Optional variation: seated version while on the train — feet flat, spine long, shoulders relaxed.)

Where in your daily routine could you bring more presence? Is there a “waiting moment” (the red light, the elevator ride, the walk to your car) that could become mindful time instead of wasted time?

Yoga isn’t just what happens on your mat — it’s how you breathe through your day.
From CTA to Tadasana, every stop, every pause, every breath can be practice.

xoxo