I love all of our guest teachers/speakers! They all have so much to offer and I wish they could stay with us for an eternity! Today, Sam came for another asana lesson. He went over binds and jump backs/forwards. His teaching style is light, humorous, and contemporary. He reminds me so, so much of my brother. He's one of those people who you just want to be around. One piece of advice that he gave us tonight still resonates with me and I'd like to keep it! He told us to embrace our limitations and our possibilities so that we can transform our limitations INTO possibilities. This is beautiful. There is so much potential in all of us; physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally. Sam really brought this aspect of yoga, this potential for greatness and liberation inherent in all of us, to our awareness.
Later on, Lauren (?) came in for adjustments. We practiced entering into another person's energy space touching and feeling out another person's body. You body has a lot of potential energy When you give adjustments, you want to transfer this energy into your hands so that it can be transferred to the person you are touching. Touch is so powerful. I have a new appreciation for my mom and massage therapy! I loved this part of the program. I think I have a good awareness of energy spaces and of how to go about touching another person in a way that makes them feel comfortable and reassured because of my experience coaching gymnastics.
At the end of the day we go to practice taking someone through the beginning YTTP sequence into warrior II. I think that if we can be with the person that we are correcting, if we can really observe them and if we are there for THEM, not for ourselves, then we can be great, GREAT teachers. If we can do this, if we can transfer all of the knowledge, energy, and love that we have acquired from and though life and yoga, then there is nothing to be afraid of, nothing to fear but fear itself.
I love gymnastics, but it is something that you can really only do while you're young and able. I love writing and reading and inspirational stuff, but I can only sit in a chair and absorb all of it for so long before I want to move and apply it. I love yoga because it embodies both of these disciplines. It engages your body, your mind, and your spirit and I can;t believe I waited this long to discover its benefits, to discover my breath, to draw awareness to all of these esoteric spaces in my life.
In love,
Leila
Monday, March 24, 2008
Yoga! Day 8!
I have definitely, DEFINITELY learned not to expect ANYTHING, that expectations always shatter in the face of reality. Today, Greg shocked us into realizing this. Instead of our traditional Yoga class, we did something compeltely different, unexpected, and beautiful. I know it's something that I'll probably remember forever because I'm crying as I write this and think about it. So we were all instructed to stand on our mats facing forward with our eyes closed and our eyes down by our sides. Then, over the course of what was supposed to last an hour, we had to lift our arms up along our sides and eventually bring the overhead so that one palm met another. In the middle of the process, Greg told us to focus on our most painful experience and just be with it. How did we feel? Who was there? Who were we blaming? Who was hurting us? etc. etc. etc. It was another extremely emotional experience for a lot of people in the room. I found that all the painful experiences that came to my mind were ones that had to do with my parents not loving each other. When one parent hurt the other, this also hurt me more than anything else, more than any physical pain, more than the pain that my arms were feeling as the sloly levitated up along side me.
It only took about 30 minutes for everyone to experience that the exercise was supposed to allow us to experience. We all cried, alot. I found that I was crying not so much for myself, becuase of myself, but becuase of others. After it was over, we had to sit in two straight lines and just stare into the eyes of the person across from us. It was so beautiful. Your eyes are the windows to your soul. While I was looking deep, deep into the eyes of the person across from me I really, really felt their inner beauty, their inner light, their essence. But there was also that mystery. What is really going on inside this human being?
Then we had to sit in a big circle and trust each other fully and completely. We each had to stand up in the middle, look everyone in the eye, and sy" My name is ______ and what you don't know about me is ______." A deep, revealing secret. This really, really made me cry. I think that other's suffering has a bigger impact on me than my own suffering. During the arm exercise I was with my pain, I felt it, but it somehow seemed so distant and I was felt like I couldn 't really bring it to the forefront of my awareness. But seeing everyone reveal themselves, being with their saddness, their hurt, their suppressed secrets, really REALLY made me feel for them and for humanity.
Yoga is so cosmic! Life is so cosmic and we don't even realize it. you never know waht another person is going through, where they are holding their pain, their suffering, their hurt. Which is why, as teachers and as human beigns we have to always tread lightly into another person's sanctuary. I have a deep appreciation for everyone in this program.
In love,
Leila
It only took about 30 minutes for everyone to experience that the exercise was supposed to allow us to experience. We all cried, alot. I found that I was crying not so much for myself, becuase of myself, but becuase of others. After it was over, we had to sit in two straight lines and just stare into the eyes of the person across from us. It was so beautiful. Your eyes are the windows to your soul. While I was looking deep, deep into the eyes of the person across from me I really, really felt their inner beauty, their inner light, their essence. But there was also that mystery. What is really going on inside this human being?
Then we had to sit in a big circle and trust each other fully and completely. We each had to stand up in the middle, look everyone in the eye, and sy" My name is ______ and what you don't know about me is ______." A deep, revealing secret. This really, really made me cry. I think that other's suffering has a bigger impact on me than my own suffering. During the arm exercise I was with my pain, I felt it, but it somehow seemed so distant and I was felt like I couldn 't really bring it to the forefront of my awareness. But seeing everyone reveal themselves, being with their saddness, their hurt, their suppressed secrets, really REALLY made me feel for them and for humanity.
Yoga is so cosmic! Life is so cosmic and we don't even realize it. you never know waht another person is going through, where they are holding their pain, their suffering, their hurt. Which is why, as teachers and as human beigns we have to always tread lightly into another person's sanctuary. I have a deep appreciation for everyone in this program.
In love,
Leila
yoga! Day 7!
Another breath workshop today. This time it was conducted by a yogi named Yogi Ish. I get a kick out of his name every time I say it! He was one of those esoteric yogis who come and go like the wind, who offer us something in their fleeting time with us, then leave it up to us to decide how we are getting to let it effect ourselves.
Something that Yogi Ish said is something that I think I'll keep with me and use in my own practice and in teaching others. He told us that some yogis believe that we are only allotted a certain number of breaths per lifetime, so if we breath longer, deeper, and fuller breaths then we'll live longer, deeper, and fuller lives. Whether or not this is true really doesn't concern me...I think it's a great way to practice your yoga and live your life. I never really understood the importance of breathing. The beautiful thing about these breath workshops is that they are drawing awareness to this aspect of our beings. We breath from the day we are born until the day we die. It is the prana force that guides us through our lives, the force that allows us to live in the first place, so we might as well embrace, live, deepen, learn about, bring awareness to, and realize the potential of this sacred, sacred aspect of our beings.
Yoga Ish had a very subtle, light, beautiful presence. He wasn't forceful at all. He was completely peaceful and you could just tell that he had spent a considerable amount of time in nature, getting in touch with his inner self. He gave a small talk in the beginning about the power of your breath and made us laugh a deep, deep belly laugh that felt so, so sweet. Laughter is always sweet. Sometimes I think it's the only reason worth living!! Well, maybe not the only one, but an extremely important, refreshing, beautiful one. Then we went ito some of the same breathing techniques that Yee-Ching had shown us, except with Yogi Ish we weren't allowed to move.
This breath workshop was extremely different then the last one. Last week was like a roller coaster of emotions. I laughed, I cried, I was sad, happy, nostalgic, (not really angry), etc.etc.etc. In the end, I laughed it all away and ended up in a beautiful place. During this breath workshop, I felt frusterated the entire time. I felt like I wasn't connecting with my breath in the way I wanted to be. Then we laid down in savasana and that whole spectrum of frusteration and loneliness that i was feeling just melted away. I don't even remember falling asleep and I don't know if I did, but when i awoke Lauren and Kristin were rubbing my back. I really really thought they were angels (both blonde, smiling, beautiful, kind, just what I needed. it was really REALLY perfect that they were there and I really had no desire to be anywhere else in the world but with them, talking, laughing, and being.
Yogi Ish didn't cover us with blankets. He didn't ask us to circle around him at the end and talk about our experience. He didn't name his breath workshop or make us sign waivers. He just was. And then, at the end, he was gone, like the wind. Gone with the wind.
I loved him. I loved Yee-Ching. Both breath workshops were so different, but so so beautiful in their own unique ways. Yee-Ching was there from start to finish and even the day after when she called each one of us on our self phones to ask us how we were doing. Yogi Ish's presence was enough. He wsa there to guide us and make sure we were moving in the right direction and then he let us be governed by ourselves, by our senses. He was like the wind. Yee-Ching was like a mother. i loved them both. No expectations.
In love,
Leila
Something that Yogi Ish said is something that I think I'll keep with me and use in my own practice and in teaching others. He told us that some yogis believe that we are only allotted a certain number of breaths per lifetime, so if we breath longer, deeper, and fuller breaths then we'll live longer, deeper, and fuller lives. Whether or not this is true really doesn't concern me...I think it's a great way to practice your yoga and live your life. I never really understood the importance of breathing. The beautiful thing about these breath workshops is that they are drawing awareness to this aspect of our beings. We breath from the day we are born until the day we die. It is the prana force that guides us through our lives, the force that allows us to live in the first place, so we might as well embrace, live, deepen, learn about, bring awareness to, and realize the potential of this sacred, sacred aspect of our beings.
Yoga Ish had a very subtle, light, beautiful presence. He wasn't forceful at all. He was completely peaceful and you could just tell that he had spent a considerable amount of time in nature, getting in touch with his inner self. He gave a small talk in the beginning about the power of your breath and made us laugh a deep, deep belly laugh that felt so, so sweet. Laughter is always sweet. Sometimes I think it's the only reason worth living!! Well, maybe not the only one, but an extremely important, refreshing, beautiful one. Then we went ito some of the same breathing techniques that Yee-Ching had shown us, except with Yogi Ish we weren't allowed to move.
This breath workshop was extremely different then the last one. Last week was like a roller coaster of emotions. I laughed, I cried, I was sad, happy, nostalgic, (not really angry), etc.etc.etc. In the end, I laughed it all away and ended up in a beautiful place. During this breath workshop, I felt frusterated the entire time. I felt like I wasn't connecting with my breath in the way I wanted to be. Then we laid down in savasana and that whole spectrum of frusteration and loneliness that i was feeling just melted away. I don't even remember falling asleep and I don't know if I did, but when i awoke Lauren and Kristin were rubbing my back. I really really thought they were angels (both blonde, smiling, beautiful, kind, just what I needed. it was really REALLY perfect that they were there and I really had no desire to be anywhere else in the world but with them, talking, laughing, and being.
Yogi Ish didn't cover us with blankets. He didn't ask us to circle around him at the end and talk about our experience. He didn't name his breath workshop or make us sign waivers. He just was. And then, at the end, he was gone, like the wind. Gone with the wind.
I loved him. I loved Yee-Ching. Both breath workshops were so different, but so so beautiful in their own unique ways. Yee-Ching was there from start to finish and even the day after when she called each one of us on our self phones to ask us how we were doing. Yogi Ish's presence was enough. He wsa there to guide us and make sure we were moving in the right direction and then he let us be governed by ourselves, by our senses. He was like the wind. Yee-Ching was like a mother. i loved them both. No expectations.
In love,
Leila
Yoga! Day 6!
So a grafiti artist-turned-established-painter came in to talk to us and share his artwork with us today. It was an interesting experience. I really REALLY believe that everyone has something to offer us, that we can learn something from every single human beings and the struggles and joys that they experience. However, it is also important to balance learning from others, absorbing what they offer us, with letting go the lessons that they offer us that don't resonate with us.
I really REALLY think that Greg can have anyone in the world sit on the bench in the front of the room and be our guest speaker and we'd take something valuable away from the experience. De La Vega was extremely different from all of our previous guest speakers. He wasn't warm, he wasn't friendly, and he really didn't seem that caring, yet he was 100% DE LA VEGA and he wouldn't sacrifice himself, his identity, his beliefs for anyone. His strength of character was what made him so beautiful. He paints from his heart, what he believes in, even if it comes off as offensive or unorthodox.
I was reading about ethical systems the other day. I came across 4 big ones; duty ethics, utilitarian ethics, care ethics, and...one more whose name currently escapes me. It made me wonder if one ethical system was better than any other or if two or three or even call could coexist in one person. Can you allow care ethics to be the driving force behind your actions whil still retaining your identity and being true to yourself? Or is it your duty to stand by your convictions no matter what? De La Vega seemed to allow his life to be governed by duty ethics and that's beautiful. He was charming because he spoke his heart and mind and didn't seem to get offended by questions thaat might have seemed offending to some.
De La Vega is probably someone i'd enjoy hanging out with, but no someone I'd typically spend significant amounts of time with. his presence was beautiful and wonderful and I found it refreshing to know that I could weed through what I wnated to take with me and what I wanted to leave behind about the lessons that he offered to us. Such is life; taking the good with the bad, discerning the good from the bad, maybe living with both, not judging the bad, just letting it GO!
In Love,
Leila
I really REALLY think that Greg can have anyone in the world sit on the bench in the front of the room and be our guest speaker and we'd take something valuable away from the experience. De La Vega was extremely different from all of our previous guest speakers. He wasn't warm, he wasn't friendly, and he really didn't seem that caring, yet he was 100% DE LA VEGA and he wouldn't sacrifice himself, his identity, his beliefs for anyone. His strength of character was what made him so beautiful. He paints from his heart, what he believes in, even if it comes off as offensive or unorthodox.
I was reading about ethical systems the other day. I came across 4 big ones; duty ethics, utilitarian ethics, care ethics, and...one more whose name currently escapes me. It made me wonder if one ethical system was better than any other or if two or three or even call could coexist in one person. Can you allow care ethics to be the driving force behind your actions whil still retaining your identity and being true to yourself? Or is it your duty to stand by your convictions no matter what? De La Vega seemed to allow his life to be governed by duty ethics and that's beautiful. He was charming because he spoke his heart and mind and didn't seem to get offended by questions thaat might have seemed offending to some.
De La Vega is probably someone i'd enjoy hanging out with, but no someone I'd typically spend significant amounts of time with. his presence was beautiful and wonderful and I found it refreshing to know that I could weed through what I wnated to take with me and what I wanted to leave behind about the lessons that he offered to us. Such is life; taking the good with the bad, discerning the good from the bad, maybe living with both, not judging the bad, just letting it GO!
In Love,
Leila
YOGA! Day 5!
Yoga is liberating in so many ways and it really is so so true that everyone comes to the mat for a different reason, maybe expecting something different, all seeking a different place, direction, goal. yoga is about sharing and being and fearlessness and liberation. Today Katherine taught our afternoon class. Greg read her application to us. It was completely open, honest, and beautiful.
We often don't expect certain people to have experienced the things that they have. We enter into new relationships sometimes with preconceptions, sometimes without, but these always change along the way. Katherine's openness and willingness to bear her heart to all of us for the sake of teaching us all how to be fearless and that liberation is achievable for us and for our future students was so inspiring. There is that quality in all of us, the ability to inspire, the ability to allow our inner beauty, our inner light to shine. Katherine proved it wonderfully today.
You really never know what another person is going through, what inner dillemmas they are trying to sort out, what is going on inside another person's head. This is why judgement and preconceptions are so misguided. Empathy is really always the best option.
In love,
Leila
We often don't expect certain people to have experienced the things that they have. We enter into new relationships sometimes with preconceptions, sometimes without, but these always change along the way. Katherine's openness and willingness to bear her heart to all of us for the sake of teaching us all how to be fearless and that liberation is achievable for us and for our future students was so inspiring. There is that quality in all of us, the ability to inspire, the ability to allow our inner beauty, our inner light to shine. Katherine proved it wonderfully today.
You really never know what another person is going through, what inner dillemmas they are trying to sort out, what is going on inside another person's head. This is why judgement and preconceptions are so misguided. Empathy is really always the best option.
In love,
Leila
Friday, March 14, 2008
YOGA! - DAY 4
We did a breath workshop tonight with Yee-Ching. She is this tiny, delicate little Asian woman who has traveled all around the world teaching her "Breath of Change" workshop. When Greg tried to describe it to some girl who missed it he called it "unlanguageable." This is exactly what it was. It was one of those experiences that you had to be there and really feel to experience. This blog really does nothing in the way of reconciling words with experience.
So far, all of the guest speakers who have come to share theirknowledge with us have been so different, but they've all had this quality of goodness, something about them that made you want to listen and be in their presence. Yee-Ching was the tiniest litte thing, but she ahd such a commanding presence. She had direction and she made us feel safe and comfortable in a situation that was definitely uncomfortable for alot of people.
Closing our eyes was a vital part of this breath workshop. With out eyes closed, we created a safe place, a palce that was all our own, where we had to sense to see. We went through fast breathing then slow breathing and medium breathing and Yee-Ching would guide us through each level of breathing in a sublt yet commanding manner. It was beautiful to listen to myself breath and to listen to the people around me breath to. It was beautiful being in the midst of my own internal experience and also in the midst of so many other internal experiences.
At the end of all the emotionally charged breathing we had to lie down in savasana. Yee-Ching and Greg came around and coverd us all in a blanket. I noticed that feeling warm makes me feel less lonely. This is what happens when we breath full yand deeply; we get relly really warm. So savasana was the fun part. It felt like I went through an entire life-cycle during the course of the experience; there were highs and lows and I cried, laughed, got frusterated, get sad, nostalgic. It was like an emotional rollercoaster, but it went by in a flash. This breathing exercise mirrored life and all its emototional ups and downs. It ws extremely beautiful to experience it for myself and with so many of the other beautiful people in this program.
I never really got that Marianne Williamson quote until today. I mean, i understood it, but we can understand and know alot without really ever experience what we know. Marrianne Williamson wrote:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Tonight, all the crying, the laughter, the silly noises, the weird sounds, and the loud breathing were all so liberating. The idea that we could all experience the same thing, yet have so so so many differennt emotional reactions to it was so powerful. It was a fearless night. And an important one. Because yoga and especially translating it must be a fearless endeavor.
In love,
Leila
So far, all of the guest speakers who have come to share theirknowledge with us have been so different, but they've all had this quality of goodness, something about them that made you want to listen and be in their presence. Yee-Ching was the tiniest litte thing, but she ahd such a commanding presence. She had direction and she made us feel safe and comfortable in a situation that was definitely uncomfortable for alot of people.
Closing our eyes was a vital part of this breath workshop. With out eyes closed, we created a safe place, a palce that was all our own, where we had to sense to see. We went through fast breathing then slow breathing and medium breathing and Yee-Ching would guide us through each level of breathing in a sublt yet commanding manner. It was beautiful to listen to myself breath and to listen to the people around me breath to. It was beautiful being in the midst of my own internal experience and also in the midst of so many other internal experiences.
At the end of all the emotionally charged breathing we had to lie down in savasana. Yee-Ching and Greg came around and coverd us all in a blanket. I noticed that feeling warm makes me feel less lonely. This is what happens when we breath full yand deeply; we get relly really warm. So savasana was the fun part. It felt like I went through an entire life-cycle during the course of the experience; there were highs and lows and I cried, laughed, got frusterated, get sad, nostalgic. It was like an emotional rollercoaster, but it went by in a flash. This breathing exercise mirrored life and all its emototional ups and downs. It ws extremely beautiful to experience it for myself and with so many of the other beautiful people in this program.
I never really got that Marianne Williamson quote until today. I mean, i understood it, but we can understand and know alot without really ever experience what we know. Marrianne Williamson wrote:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Tonight, all the crying, the laughter, the silly noises, the weird sounds, and the loud breathing were all so liberating. The idea that we could all experience the same thing, yet have so so so many differennt emotional reactions to it was so powerful. It was a fearless night. And an important one. Because yoga and especially translating it must be a fearless endeavor.
In love,
Leila
Sunday, March 9, 2008
YOGA - DAY 3!
There's a quote from our Yoga anatomy book that resonates deeply with me and that I think sheds a whole new light on the practice of yoga as well as the practice of life.
"The moment you're born, your confronted by two forces that were not present in utero: breath and gravity. The practice of yoga can be seen as a way of consciously exploring the relationship between breath and posture, so it's clear that yoga can help us deal with this fundamental challenge."
Sometimes, we take life for granted. We take it for granted that we can walk and breath and forget that there was a time when we were first developming when we couldn't do either. It's ironic that we have to re-learn how to succumb to gravity in our asanas when there was a time when we couldn't do anything BUT succumb to it. We even have to learn how to breath because oxygen is no longer supplied to us through the umbilical chord. We have to learn how to sustain the weight of our own head and eventually learn how to maneuver a spine that develops both primary and secondary curves. All of this is so amazing! yoga helps us come to grips with all of these taken-for-granted human phenomena that we have become to accustomed to. Yoga brings our awareness to them and helps us consciously perform essential functions correctly!
Sam taught us how to do the Sun Salutations today and did some more Bikram Yoga with Katite. A good rule of thumb I learned from both of them was if it feels good, do it. If it doesn't back off. The Sun Salutations are so simple, yet so profound. Latetly, I've been starting each morning off with them. What more can you ask for? Great morning stretches and a clean, clear mind to start the day! I've also incorporated Katite's bridges into my daily routine. Her bridge pushups are killers, but I love every one of them! Today I discovered that my shoulders are less flexible than I thought. I'd only been stretching them in one direction, but Katite made us twist our arms around and grab the inside of our feet - a variation of bow pose. There are so many tension points that can be discovered through yoga and each one is different for every student. Knowing your body -when it needs to relax and when it has the capacity to be strong - is extremely important. Another cool tip from Sam: bend your arms and rotate your entire hand towards the back of the room in order to close your shoulders! This is great for people who have trouble relaxing their shoulders (like me)!
I am so blessed to be inspired by so many fountains of knowledge. Meg is so humble and so teeming with medical information. I can tell she really loves what she does and that makes me love what she is teaching me!
I want to absorb everything that's being given to me in this program like a sponge!
In love,
Leila.
"The moment you're born, your confronted by two forces that were not present in utero: breath and gravity. The practice of yoga can be seen as a way of consciously exploring the relationship between breath and posture, so it's clear that yoga can help us deal with this fundamental challenge."
Sometimes, we take life for granted. We take it for granted that we can walk and breath and forget that there was a time when we were first developming when we couldn't do either. It's ironic that we have to re-learn how to succumb to gravity in our asanas when there was a time when we couldn't do anything BUT succumb to it. We even have to learn how to breath because oxygen is no longer supplied to us through the umbilical chord. We have to learn how to sustain the weight of our own head and eventually learn how to maneuver a spine that develops both primary and secondary curves. All of this is so amazing! yoga helps us come to grips with all of these taken-for-granted human phenomena that we have become to accustomed to. Yoga brings our awareness to them and helps us consciously perform essential functions correctly!
Sam taught us how to do the Sun Salutations today and did some more Bikram Yoga with Katite. A good rule of thumb I learned from both of them was if it feels good, do it. If it doesn't back off. The Sun Salutations are so simple, yet so profound. Latetly, I've been starting each morning off with them. What more can you ask for? Great morning stretches and a clean, clear mind to start the day! I've also incorporated Katite's bridges into my daily routine. Her bridge pushups are killers, but I love every one of them! Today I discovered that my shoulders are less flexible than I thought. I'd only been stretching them in one direction, but Katite made us twist our arms around and grab the inside of our feet - a variation of bow pose. There are so many tension points that can be discovered through yoga and each one is different for every student. Knowing your body -when it needs to relax and when it has the capacity to be strong - is extremely important. Another cool tip from Sam: bend your arms and rotate your entire hand towards the back of the room in order to close your shoulders! This is great for people who have trouble relaxing their shoulders (like me)!
I am so blessed to be inspired by so many fountains of knowledge. Meg is so humble and so teeming with medical information. I can tell she really loves what she does and that makes me love what she is teaching me!
I want to absorb everything that's being given to me in this program like a sponge!
In love,
Leila.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
YOGA - DAY 2!
There's a scene in a movie called "What the Bleep do We Know" in which an old Indian shaman is standing on the shore of an Island looking out into the water at a fleet of ships (Columbus' ships) coming in. He sees the water begin to ripple, but he can't see the ships, not because they aren't there, but because he has never seen a ship before. He doesn't have an idea of "ship" either in his cognitive nor semantic vocabulary. He can't see the ship because a "ship" is not a part of his reality. After staring out to sea for quite some time, however and committing to step outside the realm of the reality that he had become accustomed to, he was eventually able to see the ships coming in and go back to his tribe and tell them about the ships. His tribe trusted him as their leader and thus trusted that these ships were real.
Today, The Shaman was Katite and the ships were Bikram Yoga.
When Cindy and Greg introduced us to this training program yesterday, they told us to "trust the process." They assured us that we wouldn't like everything that we had to do, that there would be some days when we would want to quit and some things that would come easier to us than others. I've never done yoga outside of Yoga to the People. Granted I've spent my entire lifetime in gymnastics/dance, I move pretty fluidly and am strong and flexible. Bikram Yoga, however, was astonishingly difficult. At first I was annoyed at the rapid pace that didn't allow for meditation, at the new form, the 45 degree angle of the back foot in the warrior poses, pushing up instead of the fluid, slow, transition from plank into up-dog. But then I began to embrace it, to let it all go. I let Katite fulfill her role as Shaman... she was doing it before, but I let her do it for ME! This is the "intent," the Sankalpa that I think Sam was talking about yesterday. When I resolved to allow Sankalpa to guide my practice, a whole new world emerged.
In yoga, believing is seeing. Elsewhere, seeing is believing.
yoga is love! This shapes the way we see the world, the way we practice, and the way we will eventually help others practice. When we see with our hearts instead of our minds then we are able to see so much more. When I stopped getting annoyed at Bikram yoga, and just went with the flow, even though i percieved it as a tumultuous flow, my practice went a lot smoother.
This exercise was SO IMPORTANT! It reminded me that I was a beginning yoga student once, too. That at one point in my life, I had no clue what downward-facing-dog or plank or cat/cow even meant! It reminded me that I used to get annoyed with the flow that is now so second-nature to me! Everybody has to start from somewhere and as eventual teachers, we will inevitably have to deal with students at all levels and from all backgrounds who will hopefully embrace the yoga that we offer them as their own ships and the teachers as their Shaman.
In Love,
Leila
Today, The Shaman was Katite and the ships were Bikram Yoga.
When Cindy and Greg introduced us to this training program yesterday, they told us to "trust the process." They assured us that we wouldn't like everything that we had to do, that there would be some days when we would want to quit and some things that would come easier to us than others. I've never done yoga outside of Yoga to the People. Granted I've spent my entire lifetime in gymnastics/dance, I move pretty fluidly and am strong and flexible. Bikram Yoga, however, was astonishingly difficult. At first I was annoyed at the rapid pace that didn't allow for meditation, at the new form, the 45 degree angle of the back foot in the warrior poses, pushing up instead of the fluid, slow, transition from plank into up-dog. But then I began to embrace it, to let it all go. I let Katite fulfill her role as Shaman... she was doing it before, but I let her do it for ME! This is the "intent," the Sankalpa that I think Sam was talking about yesterday. When I resolved to allow Sankalpa to guide my practice, a whole new world emerged.
In yoga, believing is seeing. Elsewhere, seeing is believing.
yoga is love! This shapes the way we see the world, the way we practice, and the way we will eventually help others practice. When we see with our hearts instead of our minds then we are able to see so much more. When I stopped getting annoyed at Bikram yoga, and just went with the flow, even though i percieved it as a tumultuous flow, my practice went a lot smoother.
This exercise was SO IMPORTANT! It reminded me that I was a beginning yoga student once, too. That at one point in my life, I had no clue what downward-facing-dog or plank or cat/cow even meant! It reminded me that I used to get annoyed with the flow that is now so second-nature to me! Everybody has to start from somewhere and as eventual teachers, we will inevitably have to deal with students at all levels and from all backgrounds who will hopefully embrace the yoga that we offer them as their own ships and the teachers as their Shaman.
In Love,
Leila
Friday, March 7, 2008
YOGA - DAY 1!
The first time you try anything new, whether it be an experience, person, food, place, artform, article of clothing, or sport, is always both frightening and exciting. I'd been eagerly awaiting this day, the start of this new quest ever since I first learned that I'd be included in the journey back in February, trying not to get too excited, trying not to create the experience or the emotions that I anticipated feeling before I actually got to genuinely feel them. I've discovered that this is harder than it seems. My mind is constantly chattering and I never noticed it before yoga. So while I sat in class, in my internship, on the subway, while I walked through the hours preceding the start of the program I tried to stay committed to silencing this mental chatter. I didn't want expectations to cloud the experience.
I was introduced to some wonderful people today. I got to interview Cheu (pronounced Chow) who lives in Brooklyn, works in finance, rides horses, and recently attended to the American Gymnastics Cup at Madison Square Garden. She, like everyone else in the room, was a beautiful presence. This introductory day sort of felt like one big love-fest wherein everyone genuinly cares about each other because we all genuinely care about yoga. It's nice to share commonalties with people, to be able to relate to people about things that you all care deeply about. Being in a room filled with people who are so devoted to their yogic lifestyles, who each bring a different personality, a different light to the room is so refreshing. I love everyone in this program because I love yoga and yoga is love.
Apart from the myriad of beautiful personalities that I took with me out into the real world after this first day were some vital pieces of information that I think will make this process (and life!) much more fluid. Two pieces of advice particularly resonated with me:
1. Trust the process...... Each one of us is bringing particular strengths and weaknesses to the table. I think it's important to remember that balance is what we are striving for in yoga and in all areas of our life..... the balance of prana and apana, of mind, body and breath, balance in our poses, and, here, balancing our strengths and our weaknesses. Yoga is all about "waste management" and our strengths can be vital resources for rooting out our defects - we can use our strength to transform our weaknesses into strengths. The conversion of weakness to strength is a key component of yoga.
2. Don't be afraid to fail! - fail, fail, fail, and then fail some more. We learn from our mistakes. It's only by making them that we can grow stronger, wiser, better, more flexible, more caring, loving - whatever it is that we strive for. Failure is a part of the process! In this sense, not being afraid of failure becomes a subcategory of not being afraid to trust the process! I once had a gymnastics coach who told me "don't get intimidated, get inspired!" Intimidation is fear; fear of failure, fear of being "less" than someone else, than not living up to other people's or our own standards. Inspiration is humbling. It is seeing the beauty in someone else and not feeling like we can never be "as good" as someone else, but that we can reach our greatest capacity for good by using them as a channel of inspiration. Getting inspired means admitting that there are others who possess qualities that we can learn from, that we can use in our own lives to grow and to love. It's like Marianne Williamson says....
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
What can be more beautiful than liberting others BY liberating ourselves? It's sort of a no-brainer! Be the best you can be so that others can be inspired to be the best they can be!
Yoga is love and this process is abounding with so much love. I am so grateful to be here, to be surrounded by so many inspiring people, to be blessed with with this experience that is already so incredible even though it has barely just begun.
In love,
Leila
I was introduced to some wonderful people today. I got to interview Cheu (pronounced Chow) who lives in Brooklyn, works in finance, rides horses, and recently attended to the American Gymnastics Cup at Madison Square Garden. She, like everyone else in the room, was a beautiful presence. This introductory day sort of felt like one big love-fest wherein everyone genuinly cares about each other because we all genuinely care about yoga. It's nice to share commonalties with people, to be able to relate to people about things that you all care deeply about. Being in a room filled with people who are so devoted to their yogic lifestyles, who each bring a different personality, a different light to the room is so refreshing. I love everyone in this program because I love yoga and yoga is love.
Apart from the myriad of beautiful personalities that I took with me out into the real world after this first day were some vital pieces of information that I think will make this process (and life!) much more fluid. Two pieces of advice particularly resonated with me:
1. Trust the process...... Each one of us is bringing particular strengths and weaknesses to the table. I think it's important to remember that balance is what we are striving for in yoga and in all areas of our life..... the balance of prana and apana, of mind, body and breath, balance in our poses, and, here, balancing our strengths and our weaknesses. Yoga is all about "waste management" and our strengths can be vital resources for rooting out our defects - we can use our strength to transform our weaknesses into strengths. The conversion of weakness to strength is a key component of yoga.
2. Don't be afraid to fail! - fail, fail, fail, and then fail some more. We learn from our mistakes. It's only by making them that we can grow stronger, wiser, better, more flexible, more caring, loving - whatever it is that we strive for. Failure is a part of the process! In this sense, not being afraid of failure becomes a subcategory of not being afraid to trust the process! I once had a gymnastics coach who told me "don't get intimidated, get inspired!" Intimidation is fear; fear of failure, fear of being "less" than someone else, than not living up to other people's or our own standards. Inspiration is humbling. It is seeing the beauty in someone else and not feeling like we can never be "as good" as someone else, but that we can reach our greatest capacity for good by using them as a channel of inspiration. Getting inspired means admitting that there are others who possess qualities that we can learn from, that we can use in our own lives to grow and to love. It's like Marianne Williamson says....
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
What can be more beautiful than liberting others BY liberating ourselves? It's sort of a no-brainer! Be the best you can be so that others can be inspired to be the best they can be!
Yoga is love and this process is abounding with so much love. I am so grateful to be here, to be surrounded by so many inspiring people, to be blessed with with this experience that is already so incredible even though it has barely just begun.
In love,
Leila
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