Found Exhortation

I did not go to the women’s march. I was attending the first day of the second weekend of a two-weekend yoga teacher training for those recently post-trauma.
I did meet others on their way with a good reminder about power.

The nuns were out practicing again.

In recognition of Durga Ashtami.

A regular reader of this blog commented on the consistency of my practice of taking photographs. Thinking about this practice, reminded of something I recall John Friend having said. We have a steady hatha yoga practice (asana, pranayama, meditation), for two reasons. When we’re feeling full of joy and gratitude, we practice to make offering in thanks. When we are feeling disconnected or off-balance or sad, we practice to remind ourselves of our connection in spirit. This pretty much means there is always a reason to practice.
With the photographs, sometimes the sweetest moment of my day was noticing a flower or a cloud. I practice doing so, especially when I’m feeling too caught up in the tumult. In the moment (and on reflection later when I review, select, and edit an image to share, I remember, as I do when I do my hatha yoga practice, my current well-being. Sometimes there is more about yoga practice I can say with a photograph than I could with a paragraph.

What does it mean to practice yoga asana? Who gets to do it? What does it mean to be good at it?

@ Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, 9/19