Heh, I “get” embarrassment!
Okay, I have to admit, there have been some pretty embarrassing moments on the yoga mat. Like the time I was demonstrating crow pose, lost my focus and slid forward on my head. Oops, note to self, you can talk but don’t try to look at your audience while in a balance pose! Yes, I was teaching the class.
Or, like the time I demonstrated “Bat Pose”( or seated wide leg balance pose extending legs in the air out to the sides holding on to big toes with peace fingers pose) to the kids at Palm Beach Pediatric Hospital. Great timing for a photo taken by the founder of the program!
Or when I ended the class with the Universal sound of “Ohm” only to begin with my voice cracking, you know kind of like when your ca engine won’t start, ahem, hard to cover up. Okay Everyone, Ohm, Round Two!
Or when my mentor and master Iyengar teacher Karin Stephan, was teaching me to get in to handstand early on, paused to look at my eyes as big as saucers and asked if I was afraid, to which I could only nod my head in front of the other students, swallow and try to put on my big girl pants. Heh, I got up there with a bit of help, “light as a feather.”
Or more recently, when I took my SUP board out in to the ocean at the end of my street in Jupiter, FL and tried getting up on the board. Thank you my daughter who bought me a neon pink life vest which I had promised to wear. It really helped all the people on the beach locate me as I face planted in to the ocean over and over again! Ocean SUP is a bit different than the intracoastal waterways!
But Oh! Those “top of the mornin” moments… pardon me, but I recently vacationed in Ireland, so loved the brogue)
Like all the times I fell in to such a state of deep relaxation during savasana that I fell asleep and floated out of the studio on a virtual cloud of relaxation and utopia. Too bad you have to ruin the aura and drive home, there should be a magic bubble at your disposal.
Or the feeling of accomplishment during my first headstand against the wall; you would think I had just been invited to join the Olympics! But no one saw it, so I had to celebrate the happy dance alone.
Or, that Bird of Paradise, now that was pretty cool and awesome… or the side crow with a long hold, yeah, I was pretty pumped up after that!
But perhaps, one of the best moments is the realization that you have tools to overcome anxiety, fear, grief, anger and all those other emotions that seem to ruin your day. Yes, the numerous breaths of yoga, the introspection of what is going on in the moment and the subsequent letting go of the breath and the pain, or the hurt, whatever the negative was, begins to disintegrate, dispel and disappear.
And those moments that moved me, touched my heart…
So many such moments, but it was pretty special teaching yoga to children, enabling then with lifelong skills to calm anxiety, boost confidence and feel successful. Or those especially tender moments when I worked with pediatric patients at Tampa General Hospital and by using the tools of yoga: breath, postures and relaxation helped kids cope through some pretty difficult health challenges and situations (a blog for the future.)
Or simply taking my practice to the beach in Jupiter, Florida and watch the sun rise above the horizon of the water, as the waves wash up on the shore and help ease me in to my poses with a steady breath and stance. It’s the recognition of what is happening in my body and the freedom of my mind in the practice.
Yes, I Gotta Have Yoga in My Life for so many reasons, to laugh at the ludicrous, to embrace the beautiful, to steady the mind and to fill my heart with gratitude.
