Practice, contemplation, and insights
I wholeheartedly agree. Thank you Betsey for speaking and reaching out (from Florida) on the importance of voting as part of our yoga practice.
Dear Friends ,
As I went through the airport in each direction last week on my way to and from San Francisco to play and to visit with friends, I thought about how much our experience even of something as relatively ordinary as a trip through the airport can change by the difference of 15 minutes. On the way there, we got to the gate just as the flight was boarding. Had we been earlier, we would have sat in a crowded area, perhaps wondering whether the flight would actually leave on time or whether we could leave from home a little later next time. If we had been 15 minutes later, we would have been among those frustrated and harried late boarders whose bags end up over some seat 15 rows farther back.
We each have our own tolerance for sitting and waiting or being at the last minute, respectively. We go through life more easily if we pay sufficient attention to what makes us feel challenged and what makes us feel secure and grounded with regard to how we navigate time and space and figure out how to act in ways that are most supportive (without dulling awareness or denying how we could benefit from change and growth).
An important aspect of meditation and asana practice is how they can deepen our understanding both of how we tend to relate to things in our time-space continuum and how to optimize those relationships. For example, part of learning to sequence a practice is learning how the parts of our body fit together and how to change the order of movements to expand our strength and flexibility beyond what might otherwise have been possible in a safe and joyous way. In all my classes, I emphasize how to structure and sequence your own practice because I think it makes such a difference on and off the mat.
What triggered all this thinking about what a difference 15 minutes can make was that students have been asking for a later time for the Friday night gentle/therapeutics class at Willow Street Takoma Park. Starting this Friday, September 14th, class will begin at 5:45pm and end at 7:15pm–15 minutes later than it has been in previous sessions. The extra 15 minutes later start time can make all the difference in being able to get to class without feeling pressed. Ending only 15 minutes later still leaves open much of the evening. The class is a lovely way to transition from week to weekend–a Friday yoga happy hour and a half that is designed to heal and nourish. Although it is best to sign up for a class to get all the benefits of the progressive teaching method at Willow Street Yoga, drop-ins are always welcome. Do feel free to invite friends or family to join you.
New students of all experience levels are always welcome at the Tuesday night, William Penn House practice. Come by some time and join a wonderful, welcoming group of yogis. For more information, please check the classes page of the website.
Hope to see or speak to many of you soon in person or in the ether. And remember: spending even 15 minutes a day in meditation or yoga practice can make quite a difference in your relationship to life in time and space.
Peace and light,
Elizabeth
Any true exploration and study of the self (svadyaya) looks not just to the light, but within the shadows.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Do you have anything to make music in your yoga practice space? Can you create a sweet and vibrant call to the space of meditation? Do you have a rattle or a drum to shake things and clear out energy? If you haven’t played with music as part of your practice, give it a try some time.
Do you ever pause and think about how amazing it is to be able to get jet lag. It is, after all, the result of moving so quickly through space that one becomes disoriented in time.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
The texts speak of the siddhis–beings with great powers from the steady dedicated fire (tapas) of practice (sadhana).
One of these powers is bi-location — that of being able to be in two places at once. A friend and fellow practitioner once said to me that I shouldn’t want to be able to bi-locate. What that is called, she said, is schizophrenia.
The resting in two places at once that I think we do want, is always to be able to rest in the vast, peace-filled, and gracious space of meditation while we are fully going about the daily business of living.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
The other day I was doing a computer search on contact improv jams in the Bay Area to see if it was possible to fit one in during my upcoming vacation in San Francisco.
The website for one of the jams said for a class that preceded the weekly jam that beginners and advanced practitioners with a beginner’s mind were welcome. I loved that statement.
The idea of beginner’s mind is one that is mentioned often in the yoga world and was taught as an integral part of the principle of “opening to grace” in the Anusara system.
What I think is meant by practicing or bringing to the mat or to the dance a beginner’s mind is approaching each practice, every step, every pose, every aspect of alignment and technique with wonder, openness, and an ever-growing willingness to learn.
When we are new to a practice or a style, discovering our own capacity to express and experience the form is exciting, as is a growing mastery of body and mind in the language of the form.
Being advanced, though, is not just about physical or intellectual prowess. It is about developing a nuanced relationship between ourselves, the practices, and our fellow practitioners. Being freshly open to new insight and learning even from beginners helps us deepen our practice and experience ever greater enjoyment (bhoga).
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Some of the paradigms of yoga practice do not resonate with my iconoclastic, Quaker, feminist, progressive self, one of which is the idea of prostrating oneself at the feet of the teacher. I do, nonetheless, choose to study with teachers whom I respect and love.
