Peace

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Peace

For out on the edge of darkness there runs the peace train. ~ Peace Train, Cat Stevens

A new instructor had arrived on the scene, and instead of bowing with a Namaste, he put his hands in prayer with something new to say.

“Om Shanti. Peace. Peace. Peace.”

After several years of practice I was surprised not to have heard these words before! In fact, I could hardly hear them now, because he seemed to murmur them more so to himself than to the rest of us.

I wondered what he knew that I didn’t, and so when I got home I looked up the chant on the Internet.

I’d already learned about the word, Om. We say it all the time. It represents the universe, and it means everything. It’s all the colors and all the sounds and even all the moments in time.

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Gratitude

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Gratitude

I was trying to make a late evening yoga class, and it was a bit bumpy getting there.

I am a suburbanite but have found some classes downtown and, in the evening when there is no traffic, I can zip down there fairly quickly.

The studio is hot, the people are warm, and the energy is high.

I love stepping in.

But, the other night, the road was literally blocked, and I had to take a detour.

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Religion

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Religion

I grew up in a fairly observant household.

My father’s grandfather was from Russia, and his parents raised him in an Orthodox Jewish home. There were strict rules on the Sabbath.

No driving, no work, no writing, no telephone.

And the men and women sat separately in synagogue.

But, my father was a bit of a rebel in his younger years regarding religion and its related rules.

As a child, the day he broke his wrist, my father was supposed to be sitting safely in Hebrew school and not falling out of a cherry tree where he had chosen to sit, instead.

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Sweat

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Sweat

Most often I practice yoga in the morning, but the other day, I practiced at night.

I arrived dressed in work heels, work make up and work hair.

I grabbed the keys to the changing room and peeled off the day, putting on my yoga pants and top and taking off the shoes I had been in since 7:30 a.m.

It had been a long day, but something was still missing.

I had not yet sweat!

Before yoga, I had never worked out. I was raised to be a lady, and being a lady and sweating never quite equated for me.

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Speech

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Speech

Some things we hold in our minds. Some things we hold in our words.

And, when there are no thoughts or words, our bodies speak for us. Mine speaks to me in the yoga studio.

Two weeks ago, my body yelled at me when I pulled what I discovered was my Quadratus Lumborum. A big name for a little muscle in my lower back. I had to roll up my mat and leave the practice early.

That night, I booked an appointment with my miraculous masseuse who had once before fixed up the same sore muscle. Then, I skipped my next yoga class.

Anxious to return but moving too fast, I attended a couple more classes before realizing I just needed to give it a rest.

I gave it heat, ice and Ibuprophen and then booked two more massages.

I was off my regular practice schedule for two weeks and, oddly enough, it felt as if I had lost my voice!

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Peacefully Unfolding

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Peacefully Unfolding

Sometimes, there are situations about which I cannot figure out how I feel until they are over.

I can have delayed reactions where my anxiety level skyrockets, and that never serves me well.

I wind up taking a break from everything, including yoga.

Anxiety never leads me in the right direction. And taking a break from yoga, however short, is always the wrong direction.

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Music

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Music

Certain songs carry me back.

Without a second thought, a song can make me remember a time, a place, a person, a feeling.

Music does this. It brings memories to mind in an instant, measuring out segments of times long thought forgotten.

I think music is what got me hooked on yoga in the first place.

Not every yoga class has music, but I was fortunate enough to start at a studio that was somehow plugged into my playlist.

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Breathe

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Breathe

In general, I am a pretty private person.

I keep things close to the chest and, even when I share, I proceed with caution.

I connect easily with others and have been trusted with many confidences.

But, it is only on the very rare occasion that I share mine.

The hitch for me is being okay with the natural flow of people who come in and out of my life.

If I had my way, I would keep most everyone who passed through, especially those with any of my confidences in tow.

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Sweet Spot

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Sweet Spot

Handstands make me happy.

Sounds odd, but it is true!

This month, I learned something new in yoga. We are incorporating Handstands at the start of our Vinyasas, the transition sequence of which we do many, moving from a low push up to a high push up and back to a downward facing dog.

For me, it is great fun, and I cannot believe how elated I get over it.

Really, I never would have thought that I would be happiest upside down, but this is so, and the feeling lasts once I'm upright again.

Incorporating Handstands changes up the same old, and now the Vinyasas offer up an opportunity and a challenge as opposed to their normal reprieve from the practice.

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Carl Jung

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Carl Jung

Yoga can either improve your mood, or “let loose a flood of sufferings of which no sane person ever dreamed.”

This, according to The Washington Post, is what psychiatrist Carl Jung thought about yoga.

I look at my yoga as a workout. It keeps me in shape. In fact, I only started yoga because a studio opened nearby, and I lost my last excuse to not work out.

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Movement

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Movement

From one day to the next, I look forward to yoga.

It has been more than a year since I first stepped into the studio, and I never tire of it.

I like preparing to go. I like being there. I like the workout.

And, in turn, I like whatever it is I am doing afterwards.

The after effects of each class stay with me until the next class, and so I go as often as I can.

It is a good place, and it puts me in a good space.

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No Regrets

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No Regrets

Trust that all that was needed to be done, was done. Everything is okay.

These are the closing words of an instructor whose class I have taken several times.

At the end of each practice, we roll onto our right sides into a fetal position and rest there for a minute, eyes closed.

And each time she says these words.

The comforting words wash over almost 30 of us who are each lying separately on our mats but together in the studio.

How is it that, at any age, it can be so reassuring to curl up in a fetal position and hear the words most of us heard as babies?

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Pruning

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Pruning

The other night, I heard a story about a man’s life.

He told it in 10 minutes flat through a metaphor about his favorite tree.

He was a generous and engaging speaker, conversational in tone and easy to hear.

He used his Japanese Maple as a metaphor, describing its canopy of leaves in the spring and summer, and its inner core of twisting branches revealed when bare in the winter.

He has had to learn how to tend the tree so that it lives year round.

This involves cutting back the branches and, while the pruning oftentimes leaves scars, he explained that this is what facilitates growth in all sorts of new directions.

Yoga has sort of pruned me.

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Satisfaction

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Satisfaction

Scrambled eggs, toast and butter and a cup of coffee.

For me, this is a meal of satisfaction.

Simple tastes, I know, but this is truly my most satisfying meal, and often it is my breakfast, lunch or dinner.

The other night, this was the meal on my mind as I landed in my first Downward Facing Dog at my six o’clock yoga class.

In my inverted “V”, I was looking at the back of my mat, staring at my toes and realizing I had not eaten enough that day for the 90 minute practice.

Far from being in a state of satisfaction, I was in what I call a state of “shaky hungry”, and I get in trouble with those who know me for being so.

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A Child

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A Child

Am I supposed to heed a message when I hear the same thing more than once from two unrelated sources?

I am thinking so, even if it is a message I do not want to hear.

The message today: In many respects, I am like a child.

At my age, how can this be?

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Warrior

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Warrior

We were standing in Warrior II, a pose that at one time was my favorite pose.

Arms extend front to back, the legs lunge forward, and the hips open to the side.

At one time, Ihad thought this pose was easy. Now, I beg to differ.

95 degree heat. Sweat dripping down every part of my body.

The class is an army of warriors, and the instructor is our commander, pointing out minor adjustments to everyone in the room.

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Standing Tall

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Standing Tall

Standing on your hands in class does not make you a better yogi; instead, standing on your feet in the chaos of the street is what makes you better.

These were the words of the New York City yoga instructor one summer morning when my daughter finally, triumphantly, nailed a Handstand.

Surroundings can impact us.

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Cinderella

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Cinderella

Once upon a time I believed in only good things.

I just assumed that I could anticipate what might be coming next, that it would be positive and that things, whatever they might be, would simply just fall into place.

It’s a fair assumption that I grew up pretty much thinking I would lead the life of Cinderella. Prince Charming, and all.

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Into the Heart

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Into the Heart

I attended a yoga class yesterday evening, even though I had practiced that morning.

I arrived with my mind busy from the day, and it felt good to enter the hot room, pin back my hair and lay out my mat.

Everything about entering the room and setting up helped me to step out of the day and into the moment.

It was a quick and welcome transition.

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