Ahhh, this is my first weekend completely free from yoga. It’s not that I’m celebrating being free from yoga chains (that’s silly), it’s just that the chaos that surrounds me being away from the house and the baby for nearly 8 hours is a little overwhelming. Baby Summer is still adjusting to Daddy and Big-Sister Winona taking care of her for long stretches. She almost has it, but not without drama.
I spent yesterday hiking through the New Jersey Pine Barrens with friends and family (I’ll be blogging about that in the next couple days), and it was completely glorious. This morning is a blissful mix of waking up with the chickens, sipping fresh brewed organic coffee, and nursing the baby while blogging on my iPad with my new bluetooth keyboard (woo hoo!!).
Ok, back to yoga. It feels like I’m saying the same thing every Sunday – Yoga teacher training is amazing. It’s changing my life. Blah, blah, swoon. Well, it is, but what’s happening each week continues to be as surprising as it is predictable. What?
I expect to get “better” at yoga. My asana practice is coming along just fine, thank you. I also expect to grow my understanding of the history, culture, and language of yoga. All cool. Got it. But there’s so much happening that I didn’t expect. First, I’m becoming a better student. I am the world’s LAZIEST student (how’s that for satya). I study just for the test, just do enough to get the “A”, and forget most of what I learned almost immediately. Don’t ask me anything about calculus. But it’s completely different with yoga. It may be that I’m older and more mature than I was in college, but I actually want to learn and retain this stuff – like, I’m actually nervous that I won’t retain it. I’m trying to suck it all up like a sponge. So far, so meh.
But I’m getting off-track here. There’s one thing I really want to talk about that happened this week (or that’s happening this week). I think that I’m getting what yoga is supposed to do. Yes, my asana practice is getting better, I’m breathing better, I’m linking my breath to my movement, I’m allowing myself to “be here now”… but something more is happening. I think I’m actually getting the benefit that people seek. It feels like it’s working. Werk! Every pose and movement seem to be doing something. And I don’t think this is wishful thinking. I think it’s about wanting it for real, doing the work, and opening myself up to receive the information (like, the information from the universe, not just the text books).
I have no idea if any of what I’m saying is making sense here, so I’m just going to post a little video I shot on my iPad on the way home from Thursday morning’s yoga class, instructed by my teacher, Beth.