Day Three

We started the day with a presentation by Sundari about her miraculous story of healing. About two years ago she was teaching in Rome and was hit by a huge bus. Her lower leg was severely damaged (they wanted to amputate it) and she spent a month in the hospital there. She talked about her process of recovery through Anusara Yoga and showed slides of her injury. The story is one of the most inspiring testimonies about practice I have ever heard.

After she had been hit by a bus and her leg practically destroyed, as she lay on the street, her first thought was to go inward and to connect to The Source. I mean really- That is not a natural response. That is a response cultivated through dedicated practice over a long period of time. As she talked I just kept thinking- what would have happened if she had had this accident after 5 years of practice instead of 20? After her presentation she sat down next to me and I asked her that very questions. She looked at me and said, "I would have been dead."

So I kept thinking that we just do not always know why we are really practicing. Sure, the affects of a practice can be immediate and we can all feel the short term benefits of just reminding ourselves that we are good inside and that there is a connection inside of us to the flow of Grace itself. But after 20 years, that process of affirmation yields something that is unshakable. It yields the experience of the Teaching not just the philosophy of the Teaching. It yields the ability to take refuge inside ourselves. Her story time and again- all of the trials, ups and downs, depression, re-surfacing and down right grueling physical work it has taken for her to now be walking and dancing and practicing asana is a cultivated lifestyle and approach to life. She is such a true practitioner.

We spent the day on feet and knees mostly. That was fun. So interesting to eve see how working the feet can release the psoas.

And my class at the end of the day went swimmingly. I was pretty nervous in the beginning but settled into my stride as it progressed. One thing that was awesome was that Brigitte and Karuna were in the front row and so I just thought- this is just like teaching the gang from home. I mean there is Brigitte and Karuna. So great to have support like that. And Carol from BC came to class and I had told her she had to laugh at all my jokes. In fact, it was such a great group of people to teach all the way around. People were so open, supportive and fun to instruct. I really enjoyed myself.

And the other cool thing about teaching other teachers is that you get good feedback about your blindpsots. Like evidently I say "good" too much. Go figure. (This is hilarious as those of you from my early teaching days are probably thinking "She never told us we were doing good!") So John told me that other than that he had no suggestions about how to improve the class. He said the pacing, the sequencing, the theme and the message were all right on. He gave me some good tips about how to assist and how to work with flat thoracic spines and so that was a real boon of having the best teacher in the world in come to class. He even said the them could be made even simpler which was great training about how simple he really wants it to be because so many people had come up to me after class and said, "I love how you took a simple theme and just worked it..." But to John it could have been even more distilled. This is awesome for all of us to remember.

All in all, I just was floored by the level of support that was offered to me last night. So many people who had been in session ALL DAY LONG stayed an additional 2 hours for class, my friends who are certified teachers came to my class and my teacher came to my class and was the quintessential student. (BTW Leanne, he doesn't smile when he is a student. He is just very attentive. Disturbingly so, at times.) But the thing that really is with me this morning is that over the 9 years I have been practicing and teaching Anusara Yoga, some quantum shift happened inside me that is the deepest yoga therapy. At some point I could no longer deny how much support there was for me. At some point the crushing, constant, revelatory power of Love revealed to me that I am supported, loved and worthy of it all. WOW.