Bliss Dog

Why do I blog? This question has been popping up a lot his week. I’ve been cruising other blogs; a few yoga blogs specifically looking for inspiration, as well as a friend’s and friends of a friend’s in search of their under lying themes or…something! Then I got scared… I mean what if I’m only blogging out of some self centered desire for digital ego stroking?! Isn’t that what this whole blog-o-sphere is all about? People throwing up their opinions and commentaries on life as they know it, eagerly checking their entries several times a day to see how many comments have accumulated? It seems all so… I don’t know pointless? And then this happened:

I was driving home from a neighboring town with my dog, it’s a long 2 lane road surrounded by forest on one side and the odd house or farm store on the other. I had the back windows down for my pup because all the plants are starting to bud and she loves to stick her head out the window and take in all the new smells. From my side mirror I could see her black and white (and yes, slightly graying) face; her eyes were closed and I swear she was smiling. For a dog like mine the winter must be remarkably boring, everything good is buried under feet of snow that is cold on her paws and has no real scent. So these first few weeks of spring weather must be very exciting and from my position in the driver’s seat what I saw in the mirror could only be described as bliss.

And for some reason that stuck with me. I wanted to write about it or “blog” about it. And yes, I could have made a connection to finding out bliss in contentedness, my favorite yoga sutra actually “by contentment we gain ultimate joy.” But the whole situation felt much simpler than that; I didn’t want to teach that I just wanted to share it. And that’s when it hit me, that is how “teach” my classes. I’m not there to school my students in the ways of yoga I simply think it’s really cool and I want them to experience that coolness. My goal is not seeing a student master a difficult asana (though I am thrilled to the core when I do see it), my goal is walking with them on their journey. The goal is the practice, the practice is the yoga and that’s why I write; it’s a practice. My spiritual practice and when things like my dog sniffing the air at 60 miles an hour touch me so sincerely that I am moved to share it than no, I don’t think its ego driven. It’s just my way of saying “hey look at this cool way I found to feel connected and blessed by all the things around me. What are some of the ways you’ve felt that?” if you have some why don’t you share them.

Namaste!