I remember having a semi breakdown in the final weeks of our yoga training program. I was sitting on my then frayed, purple mat, in the airy room that had become my home for those few lovely months in Venice. Sacred Movement, now EXHALE, hosted this certification program led by the truly larger than life Max Strom. He sat on his front perch in an attempt to help us synthesize all that we had learned. I listened to my cohorts talk about the new calm they had uncovered. They had observations about breath, and used words like “life changing” and “grounded” and “present moment” and suddenly I found my hand waving and nearly helpless, I called out, “But what about when we get OFF our mats? What happens to all this lovely STUFF we have found here when we are back in our real worlds??”
I knew my question was childish. And I knew it to be relevant. As most questions from children are. I am struck again by this question on a day like today. The holidays are officially over. Traffic is back with a vengeance. Tasks and homework and meetings resume, and with them the, illusory feelings of urgency to accomplish. The idea of taking time to unroll your mat, let alone FIND it, as some may have hidden it from HOLIDAY LAND, can seem virtually impossible!.
I will not be so California groovy as to spell out what it might truly mean to unroll your mat, because you probably know what I am really talking about. The cool yoga person you might be on your mat when you are really showing up for yourself might just fall apart in the face of the other stressors. How can your car, house, family, career and all the messiness feel as open and filled with potential as your yoga mat does?
Of course, the first, and maybe only real answer is practice. Truly, “practice and all will follow” becomes most relevant during times of transition. Even if it IS just rolling out your mat and sitting on it, daily. The Pavlovian response of a deepened breath, an inward turn, a pause from thought may follow. You may get to detach from your senses if only for a moment, and who knows where that can lead? Perhaps to a questioning of what you think you need or want, and maybe then to a different answer. Maybe an extra hour of Netflix would get traded for an earlier bedtime on occasion. Or maybe an earlier wake up call with a stretching toward the sun. Pretty soon, maybe, all that stuff you found on your mat, you are finding again, and then you are finding invariably more ways to use those things anywhere. Everywhere. You are practicing again, and maybe this even fortifies you in the face of temptation and stress.
We just don’t know what can follow from daily practice. But we know it is there for the taking.
So come. Practice with us. We try our new schedule. We work and we try.
mondays 8:15 am-9:15 am
tuesdays 9:00 am-10:00 am
wednesday off
thursday 8:30 am-9:30 am
@Temple Emanuel, 300 north clark drive BH 90212
BONUS EVENING CLASSES THIS MONTH
WEDNESDAY JAN 14 AND 21nd AND MONDAY JANUARY 26
5:30-7:00 pm U STUDIO 5410 Wilshire Blvd. 90036
In peace,
michelle
