And Now, A Laugh at Yoga

Offered by the folks at Lululemon:

Shit Yogis Say

Poetry: The Importance of Being True to Self

Yesterday I remembered this poem that I'd written a few years ago. It dawned on me that it is along the same lines of what is – or should – get hammered home in yoga: it's most important to do your own yoga. Listen to your body, see what works best for you, make adjustments as necessary, don't do someone else's yoga.

Life as the Desert

Many a person has said to another:

“I miss you like the desert misses rain.”

or some form of this,

but what if we have it wrong?

What if it doesn’t miss rain at all?

Maybe it already tried being Caribbean beaches

or the Andes Mountains

or the snowfields of Greenland

and it just felt too strange –

somehow so wrong.

So it chooses to be arid

and to harbor cacti and lizards

and pebbles and rocks

and oases and the occasional mirage

and rainfall is simply its common cold

as it finds its bliss in being The Desert

instead of living a lie.

Wringing It Out

Over the past couple of years in yoga I've heard and read about emotional release happening in classes. With the emotionally heavy events of the last year I've been wondering if I would ever have this experience and if this year would be it. I started to think that maybe my stubborn, immersing way of working through emotional things flushed out enough pent-up emotion to reduce any such release.

Then yoga certification class happened this Tuesday.

The class was an alignment class centered on twists. I love twists. I love the way it feels like I'm wringing out tension and tightness. The first major relief came as the instructor had us twist in a wide legged forward bend. This first release was a big, happy "Aaaaaaaah!" My body had been wanting that, but I didn't know until we were in the posture. I felt a flood of gratitude.

We did a couple of more twists and counterposes and then it happened: my release. During one of the counterposes I started feeling so relieved I began to chuckle softly. The next counterpose led to more chuckling until I found myself fully laughing while on my back. I thought I would cry or something. I've had frustration arise. But laughter? It made me laugh all the more. I didn't expect that my release would be laughter.

It figures. I've raged and cried a bit and have felt like crying, but laughter makes everything better.

Laughter and gratitude. It would figure.

Humor From the Shadow

In writing an introductory letter in the hopes of landing a blogging job, I came up with a descriptive sentence for myself:

"I'm an improvisational actor, professional clown, and a 38 year-old recovering Type A personality. Fortunately, the word "asana" has three of them. As they say: live in abundance."

I'm not sure how straightforward that is, but I like it. I'll keep it in mind for retooling.