Thursday, March 26, 2009

yoga with sam

I am obviously on a yoga kick lately, aren't I?
the snow is my excuse, as I find it difficult to get inspired about biking things when it is 28 degrees and cold and wet out there. (I also find it difficult to get inspired about sitting in the freezing rain, watching a lacrosse match that started 20 minutes late and lasted 90 minutes anyway, but that's an entirely separate story.)

yoga with sam.
that's what I experienced this morning.
something new for my list of "things I've done in my lifetime."

first, sam looks just a bit like ashton kutcher, and even sounds a little like him. not a bad thing in a guy.
second, there were yoga positions that even sam couldn't do well. what a relief!
third, sam even admitted that he's had "un-yogi-like" thoughts when asked to stay in certain positions for longer than he wanted.
fourth, he went so far as to say that he was close to tears from the challenge of certain positions.

woo hoo! a yoga teacher who admits his very humanness! whose body---though it was capable of a great many beautiful movements and poses---was not as supple as a rubber band, like entirely too many instructors I've experienced.

and this is not to cast dispersions on any of the other yoga instructors I've met: I have nothing but deep and profound admiration for each one of them. yoga is challenging in more ways than the layperson can even imagine, and is demanding, exacting, and only truly incorporated into one's life by a determined discipline.
yoga is not for lightweights.

thus, sam, who has a goofiness about him, must be deeply committed to his practice just as the other rubber instructors I've met are.
which helps me believe there's hope for me.

there's an anusara workshop this saturday for beginning/intermediate students at a local yoga studio, and I am halfway committed to attending it. which half of me feels which way? I'm not really sure.
I've been listening to a book on CD by matthew kelly, a book about being your authentic self and finding peace and happiness in that. something I heard him discuss yesterday suggested that one should not judge an activity by how one feels before undertaking it, but by how one feels after it is over.
eureka!
think how many more things we would do if we approached our decision making this way!

thus, I will now project myself into saturday late afternoon, after my hours at the yoga studio.
I will feel refreshed, relaxed, more in tune with my body.
I will feel a sense of community, having spent hours with like-minded people.
I will feel calm and capable of tackling anything life throws my way.
I will feel proud of myself for getting myself to participate in something that is not completely comfortable for me.
I will be glad.

problem solved,
and now you know where I will be saturday afternoon.

namaste.

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