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May 31, 2003
The Opportune Moment To Pee
When I walked into class last night I was preoccupied with getting my husband's attention from the window of the yoga room without simultaneously allowing my daughter to see I was there otherwise surely there would be a very tormented scene regard her desire to stay with me for yoga. I noticed someone in the room but I wasn't paying much attention at first... until I saw, out of the corner of my eye that the person was a) male and b) able to do lotus. There is only one man that regularly practices with me that can do lotus and I was certain it wasn't him. Stranger in the mix... until it popped into my head that OKGR had mentioned taking a first series class with a student of Tim's. Then, you know, you kinda wonder "Do I walk up to this person and say 'Hey, are you OKGR, you know the person from the Internet?'" Now, I've met quite a few people over this little box of mine. In fact, some of the people I feel get me the most in life I've met via this box. Some I've never even met in person and others I've actually taken family vacations with not having met them BEFORE said vacation (what a wierd experience to take a family vacation with someone not knowing who they were before you got to the hotel and yet knowing it was them when they surprisingly walked off the elevator just as you were waiting to go up)! For some reason, the ashtanga board seems more daunting to me. I'm out of my element somewhat because I am still very new to ashtanga and certainly not of the caliber that OKGR and others at the ashtanga board are in my practice. So I wasn't sure what to say until someone else broke the ice, so to speak. Regardless, he's a very nice person with a beautiful practice I can only aspire to in the future.
This week of yoga has been a very meaningful lesson. While taking 2.5 weeks off hasn't hurt my flexibility much (and, why is it that during a practice when someone chooses to compliment or exclaim about my flexibility they always seem to do it doing Mari D... it isn't easy to respond during that posture but I don't want to seem snobby by not saying anything either) it impacts my strength dramatically. Who knew you could lose so much strength in such a short period of time! So while the week has been one of good practices, they certainly haven't been my best and, to some degree, that bothers me.
Then this morning I received an email from my first ashtanga teacher thanking me for popping into class this week and mentioning that having me in her class helped her other students to push their edges. I was pretty stunned to receive the email. I know exactly what she means. Going to the Ashtanga Center or having OKGR in the same room, I will push my edges further just vibing off the energy that they bring into the room. But I wouldn't put myself into that category.. I guess it depends on the experience of those around you. Anyway, it was a nice compliment and it made me remember that I've only been doing ashtanga for 1 year and 3 months and I've made tremendous progress both physically and spiritually in my practice... there is so much more to come.
Posted by shanti at 2:31 PM | Comments (4)