Life lesson at Yoga

I managed to go to Yoga tonight for the first time in a couple of weeks. There was a new teacher tonight subbing for the Tuesday night instructor.

For the most part, I didn't like the class tonight. It was really hard, my legs were burning. Ouch!

I remember thinking I am not going to go to her Thursday night class.

It is interesting that when I seem to be the least open to learning, I encounter someone who has something that to teach me.

We were doing a pose called Dancer which is a balancing pose. You reach forward with one hand while grabbing your back foot. Sarah said this is a pose to teach you about the past and the future. Lean to far backwards(toward the past) and you fall. Lean to far forward(to the future) and again you fall.

Life is about being present. That is really all we have so one might as well be present.

At the end of the practice, she had us place our hands at heart center, at our lips and our thumbs at our third eye center.

Peace in your heart, peace in your words and peace in your thoughts.

I really liked that message.

She reiterated that we always close the practice by saying Namaste.

The light in me acknowledges the the light in you.

I have heard this countless times at the end of Yoga class. Tonight I listened.

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Ha Ha Ha Yoga

I went to a Yoga class last week that was quite interesting.

The instructor has been teaching Yoga for 30 years and has taught all over the world. I am not sure if he is a regular instructor at this new 24 HR fitness center. This was the first time I have seen him. I hope I get to take another class with him.

He told us that there are 8.4 million different Yoga poses. 1 pose for every species above and below ground. I don't know who did the counting and documentation for that. Trivia to impress your friends.

We spent quite a bit of time on stretching hamstrings. He kept coming over to try and correct my pose. No bending your knee he admonished me. It was quite funny as my body doesn't move that way...

At the end of the class, he had the small group of people(12-15) get into a semi circle and we ended the practice, practicing laughing. It is the first time in my brief time as a Yogi(11 months) that the practice didn't end with a Shivasana pose.

It was interesting to watch the people in the group as he instructed us on the laughing "pose".

Some people totally got into it, didn't hold anything back.

There were two people that felt a bit uncomfortable with this and watched rather passively.

The instructor was undaunted and kept extolling the virtues of laughing. Deep belly laughing, he would throw his head back and laugh and laugh and laugh.

Even the reluctant Yogi's had to laugh a little bit and overcome their fear of letting go.

One obvious observaton about laughing.

It is impossible to feel depressed and sad when you are laughing.

I have a friend at work that must be the world's happiest person. She is always laughing.

Children laugh all of the time. They are not prone to hold on to their feelings of sadness.

I have always envied adults that have the ability to be child like. They seem far happier, still open to the wonders of life.

I hope I see this instructor again as I really need to perfect this new Yoga "Pose".

I was one of the two in the class that need help with this pose. I think this is far more important than keeping my knee straight.

Ha, Ha, Ha!

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OORD-vah MOO-kah shvon-AHS-anna)

urdhva mukha = face upward (urdhva = upward
mukha = face)
svana = dog

This is one of the most frequent poses you might do during a Yoga workout. It is usally done as a sequence of poses where you move with your breath usually culminating in Downward facing dog.

I rarely see my dogs practice this pose, but I routinely see them practice Downward facing dog.

I started practicing Yoga earlier this year and every teacher has a slight variation on how to do this pose. There isn't a cookie cutter approach to Yoga. The one thing I have found is every day I do Yoga is different. Someday the poses feel great, other days it just feels awful. Somedays I have great balance and think I am finally getting the hang of it only to be completely humbled at the awkwardness as I struggle through the next practice.

Actually one of the best ways to learn Yoga is by watching my pets. They know exactly how to get the most of the poses. They are truly Yogi's. I have learned from my pets that I don't know much about Yoga.

One of the things to take away from Yoga is to be mindful. There are many different teachers we encounter in life. Some of the smartest have four legs :-)

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