Gratitude

Gratitude resides outside the words of "Thank you". Gratitude is about nourishment: mind, body and soul.

When I use the word "thank you", I want it to mean, "I don't know how I can support you in your journey today, but please know, should there be an opportunity for me to assist you, you can trust that I will take it".

A. I am going to get henna and tattoo on my hands the following Rules: 1. No Panic, and 2. No Cowardice.

B. I am extremely lucky today for a cornucopia of reasons, 1 being Lululemon (EEK!! wooohoo!!) and the other an opportunity to work with a student with a rare and curious injury. In the interests of sanity, however, I'll take up typing at a later time and dreaming at the present.

Nicci Gotto & Yoga at the Ashram @ Lululemon

Lululemon has complimentary classes EVERY Sunday at the Natick store. How ridiculously incredible is that?

This week, class was with Nicci Gotto from Yoga at the Ashram.

Someone asked Nicci what kind of yoga she taught.

"Hatha," she says.
"What's hatha?"
"Hatha is yoga...it is where all yoga comes from. It is the uniting of the sun and the moon, together into oneness".

There's an ethereal quality to Nicci's white-veiled arms, and her class is a series of meditation and long, slow holds. No one ever said hatha was easy. I found it easy to connect to a quality of emptyness, calm and peace through her teachings. She also gave me the best adjustment ever! She pressed my thighs down in baddha konasana and...they stayed there once she was gone. So liberating.

Free classes at the Ashram for lululelmoners this week!

Check out Lululemon Store in Natick.

Masaaki

Usually, the first thing I do when I walk into a hot yoga class is ask where the warmest spot in the room is. Usually, I barely break a sweat.

Masaaki Okamura's class was the hottest yoga class I think I've ever taken. Ever. At least since YTTP- I really thought no one heated their studio the way Greg Gumaccio did.

So wrong about that. Masaaki's class is packed, and with that, of course, comes the collective consciousness that aids one on the path to clarity. Seriously, did I mention it was hot? Was it just me? It was a very Baptiste-style flow, lots and lots of Sun A's and B's :). I liked the corework at the end, too. Pidgeon was quite a surprise, I hadn't expected it that late!

One of my favorite moments in Masaaki's class was his comment about how yoga enables you to step away from all the people that you have to be (mother, daughter, boss, employee, student, teacher, etc) and just, for a moment, be. That was why I fell in love with yoga and I crave that sensation when I step on the mat still.

So. Hot class. Hot studio! Hot Yoga and Pilates, Needham and Wellesley : )

Tom Hogan

A solid short post about a solid short class:

Tom Hogan has found the way to be knowledgable and confident without the slightest trace of ego, a sense of complete acceptance, respect and humility. I'd love to ask him, what's your secret? How do you impart such an accepting awareness with precise alignment?

I was also impressed by an energy shift he picked up on in class. "it seems like I'm picking up a vibe- you guys want to do core work". It's easy to imagine someone saying this sarcastically, I know, but this wasn't the case- Tom was not being sarcastic. There was indeed this restlessness pervading the front row- at the time, I felt the intense urge to go running. After some corework and pidgeon, I relaxed a little.

What I loved about Tom's class was that there was no throwaway pose, everything we did was imbued with such meaning. I never felt we did a single down dog as, oh you know, as an expected part of class. There were so many sun salutations, and some how each one felt completely unexpected. Energy liberated from the snow.

Down Under Yoga: Lunch Flow: Tom Hogan. Immediate post-class thoughts.

Shadow Work: Frivolity

Shadow Work: Frivolity

I've taken a few workshops of Kimberly Theresa, and she always discusses the concept of shadow work. Simply put, whatever irritates you in others is a part of yourself, or, alternatively, your "shadow" that you are not willing to look at and work with. So it just follows you around.

In one of the workshops, she asked for an example of an irritating quality, "Entitlement", called out one man. I thought that was such a telling trait, that with that one idea "Entitlement bothers me", that man just gave me enough information to craft him a life story, if I wanted to.

Mine is "Frivolous". The Frivolous bothers me. And let me define this with an example. It's important to note that by frivolity, I don't mean gaiety, or taking interest in life's details.

Here is what I mean:

A woman is giving birth. She's screaming, and doctors are running around her- her husband holds her hand. A nurse walks in "Oh, the sheets are tucked in wrong!".

Or:

You just climbed the top of Mount Everest. You are standing around with your buddies friends, looking at a sunset, and one of them goes, "Dammit, I got the strawberry chapstick. I always keep meaning to get cherry. By the way, I wonder if I remembered to pay my credit card bill".

Or:

The president is giving a speech. It's about the economy. You and your three brothers just lost their jobs. Your uncle is watching the speech with you as well. He remarks "I can't believe the President is wearing blue, everyone knows black is in nowadays, what is he thinking?"

This is not to be confused with humor. I love humor, particularly absurd humor, and the pattern of contrasting the serious and meaningful with the lighthearted and absurd. It does not bother me when someone *intentionally* comments on the President's mole, as a way to contrast with the "seriousness" of the event. That strikes me as funny.

Frivolity, however, drivers me crazy. Frivolity occurs when someone does not at all appear to notice that anything meaningful is taking place, and is genuinely convinced that the mole, the sheets, or the chapstick, are a worthy topic of conversation at the moment.

Why does frivolity scare me? Because I'm scared of solipsism, that what strikes me as meaningful (birth, death, choice, kindness, courage) is as relevant to someone else as chapstick. That I am alone in this type of experience and exploration.

Also, it irritates me because it steps upon my ego, or my meaning-generating narrative self. I am in the middle of a narrative, I am experiencing attachment and emotional up and downs, an adventure, a story....and instead of sharing this experience with others, BAM my story turned into an absurdity by a simple "I can't believe the bedsheets aren't tucked in". Dude, you just ate my meaning. Not cool.

If I wanted to go deeper into an authentic, non-defensive self, I think I can begin by finding meaning in absurdity, not away from it, and also by having faith in my own experience. If it is meaningful to me, it is so, without need of another's opinion. If a woman is giving birth, she is not going to stop giving birth because a nurse made a frivolous remark about the sheets. So I need to have faith that I am not going to stop being, becoming and experiencing because of a frivolous remark, too.

.....dammit, I think I just assigned myself some homework. Especially working with this in terms of yoga.

Inner Voice

My mom and I had a plan today: Yoga Down Under for a noon class, lunch, wandering, and another heated class at 5 or 6. Our lovely luncheon ran late, however, and by the time 6 o'clock rolled around, our stomachs weren't empty enough for inversions. So we went home and watched a Stanley Kubrick film instead. Now, I'm not saying it's poor Stanley's fault, but my attention strayed, I got fidgety, wanting to move. This is one of those times you have to balance between the ability to calm and relax agitation, and the rallying cry "to the gym!". I tried my mat again, but after my fifth handstand, it was clear I craved a different flow. To the gym!

I needed to swim. Hot pride to battle the icy repression of winter (the last thing I one wants to do when coming from the cold is undress). I had my contacts out, so I didn't notice see who my lifeguard was. I just saw an white-and-red blur man.

Just as I was about to leave, the blur man wishes me goodbye and I recognize him- Ryan. Last week I got into a conversation with Ryan and another swimmer about how I felt I was missing true meaning in my translation of the Bhagavad Gita. (I felt that some words, when translated into English, such as sin or duty, carry historical and emotional baggage that the translator may not have intended, but the reader cannot shake off). Ryan was a religious studies major, particularly Indian religions. As I apologize for not recognizing him right away, he says he could not find the version of the Gita he meant to bring in for me. He does, however, have The Heart of Understanding by Thich Nhat Hanh and Psychology and Religion by C.G. Jung, both of which I should enjoy reading. He says, as he hands me the books.

Wow. Just wow. What a wonderful, kind and thoughtful action. I'll have to think of a way to reciprocate: Pema Chodron, definetely, and Love without Conditions, perhaps? An existential text?

Double Luck

I wonder how many posts I could write about Chanel before the temptation to title them with her last name as a pun over whelms me. Lucky again? Double Luck?

Waves come in three, so of course I get hit again with a strong and gorgeous dose of flow yoga, which I am convinced is the perfect cure. I'm a bit sad that I waited to write this post instead of blogging immediately, because although the impression the class made on me was profound, it is difficult to pinpoint the precise points. I think what's more telling is the way that I've been incorporating the hip and shoulder joint mandala into my daily morning practice, and how I've found freedom in mandalas. I also want to use the child's pose shoulder manadala in my opening sequences- I'll ask about that Saturday. I like asking permission and crediting inspiration, yes,I know no one "invented yoga", but it's nice, you know.

Again, my love of Chanel's seamless sequence, that tricky lunge where the top of the floor remains on the floor while you lift the knee. I take every opportunity to become more fluid in a pose, to get a little bit uncertain. This time I got the savasanah I wanted. And so much more : )

Taking class Saturday morning again. I'll write down the details right away next time.