ॐ
I don't think I've ever aumed sincerely. For some reason I will happily lead a room full of singing strangers through a round in German but I just can't take an aum in a yoga class seriously. I've dabbled in yoga classes for years: ashtanga, where you hop around constantly, acro yoga, where I felt like there was just enough of each to not be strongly either, punk rock yoga, which could simply be described as not the advertised product, groovy calm yoga where I resented not even getting a good stretch and I still had to sit through the dorky aum. I really like stretching out, but I've never been able to get past the nauseating grooviness of it all to make yoga worth the goofy. And yoga zealots make me want to slather them in LSD and metal filings just to watch them cry.
Last night I went to the moderate yoga class at Samarya Center and I have to say: I get it now. I see what the hubbub of yoga is about. I went to the class with leenerella , that divine HxWare sister of mine with whom I've shared many firsts. We arrived to a packed studio with just enough room for us to squeeze in our mats on opposite sides of the room. The teacher, Stephanie, is funny, knowledgeable and totally unpretentious. The class started off with a couple of aums-- red flag, but oh well-- and quickly moved into ab-quivering twists and stuff. Now that is more like it. I started to get into the stretching.
I worked up a good sweat. Pretty soon my wounded shoulder started making noises like a chicken being torn apart in a pillow case, but in a good way. The injured tendons and muscles opened up and it felt worked and fragile, but really, really good. I realized that this was the perfect thing to get me back on the path of fitness: moderately challenging and therapeutic, and fun. I started to feel great about the movement and the workout. I even managed a quick back bend and didn't smirk when she called it an upward-facing something or other.
They feature an idea each month and build on that idea in each class. This month is aparigraha, or non-possessiveness. I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to it at first, but Stephanie did a great job of weaving the concept of non-possessiveness and the path to realizing what you're clinging to into the stretches and balances. She told funny stories from her own experience. She had us try things that we maybe had been convinced we couldn't do. I was having so much fun that I was open to the idea, and I felt great about doing the right thing for my shoulder. As the class started to wind down she offered that we let go of ideas that we had been grasping for, and in that moment I felt a kind of release. I imagined my fist opening and letting go of a whole bouquet of balloons, and watching them float away into the sky.
When I open up my head like that all kinds of ugliness can sneak in. I found myself thinking about one of the horrible things that has happened to me, and realized that I was not present and staring blankly at the ceiling. I forced my head back to the present, wrangling my awareness and trying to catch up to everyone else sinking into the floor, or whatever it was we were doing. After a few moments Stephanie suggested that now we could choose which ideas we wanted to pick up and carry, since we had let them go. Imagine that now you have a choice of what you want to shoulder. This choice was so liberating that my eyes began to prickle and sting with tears of relief.
I've never been that affected by yoga. Usually I snicker inside at the grooviness, but the class was so sincere and down-to-earth and actualized that there was no denying the goodness of it. I didn't even realize I'd been feeling bad-- not in any tangible way, anyway. We aumed again, at the end of class, and while I don't think my heart will ever be in it I felt so much better that I didn't mind a bit.
Last night I went to the moderate yoga class at Samarya Center and I have to say: I get it now. I see what the hubbub of yoga is about. I went to the class with leenerella , that divine HxWare sister of mine with whom I've shared many firsts. We arrived to a packed studio with just enough room for us to squeeze in our mats on opposite sides of the room. The teacher, Stephanie, is funny, knowledgeable and totally unpretentious. The class started off with a couple of aums-- red flag, but oh well-- and quickly moved into ab-quivering twists and stuff. Now that is more like it. I started to get into the stretching.
I worked up a good sweat. Pretty soon my wounded shoulder started making noises like a chicken being torn apart in a pillow case, but in a good way. The injured tendons and muscles opened up and it felt worked and fragile, but really, really good. I realized that this was the perfect thing to get me back on the path of fitness: moderately challenging and therapeutic, and fun. I started to feel great about the movement and the workout. I even managed a quick back bend and didn't smirk when she called it an upward-facing something or other.
They feature an idea each month and build on that idea in each class. This month is aparigraha, or non-possessiveness. I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to it at first, but Stephanie did a great job of weaving the concept of non-possessiveness and the path to realizing what you're clinging to into the stretches and balances. She told funny stories from her own experience. She had us try things that we maybe had been convinced we couldn't do. I was having so much fun that I was open to the idea, and I felt great about doing the right thing for my shoulder. As the class started to wind down she offered that we let go of ideas that we had been grasping for, and in that moment I felt a kind of release. I imagined my fist opening and letting go of a whole bouquet of balloons, and watching them float away into the sky.
When I open up my head like that all kinds of ugliness can sneak in. I found myself thinking about one of the horrible things that has happened to me, and realized that I was not present and staring blankly at the ceiling. I forced my head back to the present, wrangling my awareness and trying to catch up to everyone else sinking into the floor, or whatever it was we were doing. After a few moments Stephanie suggested that now we could choose which ideas we wanted to pick up and carry, since we had let them go. Imagine that now you have a choice of what you want to shoulder. This choice was so liberating that my eyes began to prickle and sting with tears of relief.
I've never been that affected by yoga. Usually I snicker inside at the grooviness, but the class was so sincere and down-to-earth and actualized that there was no denying the goodness of it. I didn't even realize I'd been feeling bad-- not in any tangible way, anyway. We aumed again, at the end of class, and while I don't think my heart will ever be in it I felt so much better that I didn't mind a bit.