…WITH BIKRAM YOGA AFTER ALL OF THESE YEARS. YOU CANNOT MAGIC UP 20 YEARS LIFE EXPERIENCE; YOU HAVE TO DO THE TIME ! THIS MONTH I’VE BEEN HAVING MY OWN PRIVATE ‘CELEB’IKRAM{SORRY 🙂 } MARKING 20 YEARS SINCE I TOOK UP THIS PRACTICE … AND WHAT A RIDE THIS HAS BEEN ~
SO MANY~WONDERFUL~MOMENTS~GIFTED~TO~ME~BY~STUDENTS AND THE CURIOUS INCIDENTS TOO ARE INTERESTING AND ALWAYS, WITH HINDSIGHT, SHOWING ME HOW I AM IN THE WORLD, SHOWING ME WHAT I NEED TO WORK ON ~ SO, A GIFT TOO THAT HELPS ME LEARN AND GROW. LEARNING WHAT DIFFERENT CHARACTERS RESPOND TO FOR THEIR LEARNING IS MY ONGOING WORK FOREVER AS THERE IS NO AVERAGE PERSON NO GENERIC SOLUTION, NO MATTER WHAT GENERIC PRINCIPLES ONE KNOWS; PEOPLE ARE UNIQUE IN THEIR MINDS AND BODIES AND IN THEIR REPONSES AND EXPRESSIONS OF THE YOGA POSTURE INSTRUCTIONS.
DEFINITELY GETTING MORE PHILOSOPHICAL AND MELLOWING TO THE MORE UNUSUAL {TO ME} SITUATIONS WITH EACH PASSING YEAR. STILL I CAN OCCASSIONALLY REACT WITHOUT THOUGHT! WHENCE I JUST SEEM TO HAVE TO TROT OUT MY FLAWS 🙂 OH THE WORLD IS FULL OF THE ‘INTERESTING’ AND I WILL CONTINUE TO WORK ON MY REACTIONS. THERE ARE NO STRAIGHT LINES IN NATURE. NO STRAIGHT LINES IN THE HUMAN BODY AND DEFINITELY NO STRAIGHT LINES FROM BEGINNING YOGA TO ENLIGHTMENT STATE. OTHERWISE THERE’D BE NO ROOM ON THE COVER OF YOGA JOURNAL FOLKS! CHITTA VRITTI SOMETIMES WINS. SOME TIMES YOGA CHITTA VRITTI NIRODHA WINS. STILL I BE PHILOSOPHICAL AND EVER GRATEFUL THAT SOOO MANY STUDENTS HAVE ENGAGED AND ALLOWED ME TO MAKE A PERSONAL CONNECTION WITH THEM. I FEEL PERSONALLY INVESTED IN THEIR PRACTICE JOURNEY WHILST THEY SEEK OUT THEIR ORIGINAL BODY/MIND BLUEPRINT AND IN THE PROCESS HELPED US BUILD A LOVELY COMMUNITY. REGULAR PRACTITIONERS AT YM KNOW THAT THEIR ‘YOGA’ IS IN THE MICRO-MOVES AND THE MICRO-SECONDS ~ THATS WHERE ITS ALL HAPPENIN’ AND WHEN A PRACTITIONER DOES SOMETHING FOR ‘THE FIRST TIME’ IN CLASS AFTER PROPERLY GOING THROUGH THE ‘PROCESS’ IT IS A REAL BUZZ FOR ME TOO; IN THAT WONDERFUL SECOND ‘THAT’ IS ALL THERE IS; THEIR VICTORY OVER THEIR BODY AND STILL THE CLASS AND WORK WILL CONTINUE AFTER THAT SECOND AS NORMAL (VERY *CHOP WOOD, CARRY WATER STYLIE* 🙂 , NO ONE, OTHER THAN THAT STUDENT AND MYSELF, AWARE OF THE VICTORY; SUCH AN AMAZING SILENT SOMETHING H~U~G~E IN THAT WONDERFUL SWEATY SECOND FOR ME TO BEAR WITNESS TO. THAT IS WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT. THAT SECOND. THERE ARE 5,400 SECONDS PER BIKRAM CLASS BURSTING WITH OPPORTUNITY AND POSSIBILITY FOR EACH OF YOU TO DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY OR BETTER THAN BEFORE AND ~ I GET TO SHARE EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM ~ IT TAKES ME 2 SECONDS TO SAY: ‘THANK~YOU~FOR~ALL~YOUR~SECONDS’. JAI.
* 🙂 the version of the old Buddhist story that I know: a student asks an old ‘enlightened’ monk what enlightenment was like. His answer: “Before enlightenment I chop wood, carry water; After enlightenment I chop wood, carry water.” Getting there (where you want to go) or being successful doesn’t mean that the necessary work that led you there goes away. Enlightenment is not an endpoint in itself. The work still needs to be done. It’s all about being and doing your best~each~and~every~second.