Podcast junkie that I am, I was listening to some recent episodes of To The Best Of Our Knowledge while working at the studio when I stumbled across one called “The Uses of Enchantment.” It featured stories by Neil Gaiman, Salman Rushdie and one about fairies of all things. It was more entertaining than thought provoking but in this current time of struggle and ongoing winter I found the levity of the hour refreshing. The controversy in Madison is felt very strongly here in my tiny town that combined with the rollercoaster of weather that is late winter/early spring in Wisconsin there does seem to be an air of discontent afoot. We all seem to be just trudging along waiting for something to give, before a morning class students discussed the protest at the Capitol and the winter pledge drive for Public Radio, which just saw its funding slashed by budget cuts and we all seemed a little exhausted. So after class when one of the students said how glad she was for yoga because she was struggling to find some peace in all of this turmoil I was overcome with gratitude. Peace of mind is one of the biggest reasons people come to the mat and as thankful I was that she had found some I was also thankful for another thing that happened in class today; we fell on our faces. We fell on our faces and we laughed.
It wasn’t any special class but I found myself moved to bring lightness to my teaching which I try to do especially when practicing arm balances. We were working on Parsva Bakasana, side crow, in which you sort of scrunch down into a little ball, turn to the side and then balance on your hands, for most beginners (and even myself) you don’t wind up to far off the mat so as I was demonstrating I felt my balance falter and all to willingly tipped forward and let my forehead hit the floor, “and then you fall on your face and laugh.” And we did, and it’s one of those things that happen in a yoga class that when you are all working on something challenging together your efforts are shared, supported and celebrated. A brief up draft in a time of heaviness.
That evening back at the studio as I cut and pasted paper print outs onto pieces of cardboard, listening to stories of fairy worlds, forgotten deities and even Neverland I felt childlike for a moment. It was like being 8 years old working on a school art project and just knowing the teacher was going to love my creation. When in reality I’m a pretty fully formed adult and hoping my DIY signage doesn’t actually look like an 8 year old made it. But that's just one of the lessons yoga has taught me, that even though the outcome is important the effort is the yoga and the effort should be joyous. Yoga can be a very sacred practice and it can offer profound peace, but it doesn’t have to be solemn. It can also teach us how sacred laughter is and reminds us that when you look at the world through the eyes of a child there are countless things to smile at.
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