Water

So how great that it is water week and it was raining tonight! So from the openness of the ethers to the firm resolve of the earth we move to water. The water element informs our studentship by reminding us to be fluid, responsive, reflective and receptive.

This is a great lesson for me today as I had some interesting interpersonal/political situations get called to my attention this very morning. Evidently things are going on I did not even know about that are nothing more than ignorance and confusion, joined with projection directed at moi. Ugh. One yoga siddhi (power) I have yet to cultivate is the ability to "suffer fools well." I just really suck at it. Truly. It is a big weakness of mine, I think. And while it sounds harsh since you do not know the story (and it is not at all appropriate for sharing in this forum) that is really what is at issue- a handful of people acting foolish. By foolish I do not mean that they are bad people. By foolish I mean that they are making assumptions about me, my motives and my actions and then projecting the worst on to each (me, my motives, my actions) and then making a big drama out of it. This is foolish behavior. Understandable, but nonetheless, upsetting. Heart-breaking, really.

My first impulse, as you might guess, is more in the fire domain. But since water was on my mind, I cultivated it consciously in this very long phone call I had this morning. Anyway- what it brought me to think about was how important each element is in dealing with life and choosing our responses to circumstances rather than just reacting to them. Water is a responsive element and a reflective element. Think about how water reflects light or an image. Well, when we can be reflective, even under stress, then we can actually choose a response that is more optimal, rather than just simply react out of our conditioned habits.

So after this phone call this morning I did a great practice which brought me back to just how much I love practicing yoga and how good it is for me and what a blessing it is to have yoga. And as I thought about water and as I practiced I also realized that water will often just go around obstacles. In this case "going around the obstacle" is largely internal, which is awesome. Whenever I can find the solution to an issue within my own way of looking at something or working with something I am so psyched because I am in charge of that process and there is a much better chance of changing myself or my attitude than changing an external situation. Pretty much always.

So back to classes- we worked on Inner Spiral a lot in both classes. The flow class did a fun flow of twisting and turning and simply "riding the wave of the breath". And we did mega-hip opening in the 6:00 advanced class. It was a fun evening which brought me back to the simple joy it is to teach yoga. I was so happy to see the folks that were there and as usual, teaching brought me out of myself, which is another blessing of teaching.

The only sad news to report is NO DOUBLE DIPPERS!

We have EYE OF THE TIGER THIS WEEKEND. Sunday. January 27. 12-5. Potluck to follow.