So- I am having my tea and milk out on the porch this morning which is quite lovely, I must say. It is a beautiful sunny spring morning here with a definite promise of more heat on its way today. After this entry I am going to go practice asana before lunch, then I have some things to help Kelly with and then I will get myself ready to go up to Austin to teach.
Last night's classes down here were fun. We worked with the theme of Consciousness being conscious of itself (thus its name, after all) which is the second attribute of The Absolute according to Anusara Yoga philosophy. Last week, as you may or may not remember, we worked with Essential Goodness, the first attribute.
The 5:30 class worked a lot upside down- headstand, handstand, pinca and shoulderstand with some surya namaskar, some twists and some forward bends. The 7:00 class worked a lot with rooting principles and shoulder principles. They learned up dog and ustrasana and practiced shoulderstand which has really come a long way for that group. In fact, at the rate that the 7:00 class is progressing the difference between 5:30 and 7:00 is really going to diminish quickly. That will actually be great because then we can join the two classes perhaps. Too soon to tell.
Mostly what is on my mind these days is practice and how anchoring it is to have daily practices. When I was up in Idaho for a list of reasons, I made my plane reservations home on Monday a lot later than I usually do. Usually after a weekend of teaching I am pretty darn ready to get home and so I book an early flight home to try to get back as early as possible. In this case, because of the later departure time, I had time to do my morning practices and an hour-long asana practice before leaving Karen's house. So as I was in the midst of all of that I was so enjoying myself and this feeling of "home" washed over me. (this is the best way that I can describe why I like to practice asana and meditation- this feeling of "coming home" always - always; never fails- arises. Anyway, it occurred to me that my practice is as much home as my house and all of those external things I tend to think of as home.
Now do not get me wrong, I love my house, my things, my hubby, my dogs (not necessarily in that order, mind you) but I felt so great getting on a plane having seated myself in practice first. It was a totally different kind of experience. I may experiment with that as I travel and see what this yields. That is really the thing with practice for me. It is not something I have to do, or something I should do, but something I get to do, that I want to do and in many ways, really need to do. Sometime over the last several years, the yoga police stopped watching me and I realized I was practicing for me. I realized that I love a life that is steeped in practice and in the Teachings of yoga. It is a gift to myself (and frankly my practice is a gift to others because I am not so nice without it!!!) to live a sane life where I make wholesome choices and endeavor to respond according to the dharma. Is there a more loving thing we can do for ourselves?
Anyway- enough on all of that for now. Time to change gears and do something other than write on this blog.
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