7/7/2019 This week's theme is: Satya (Truthfulness) /Authenticity. Being in training this past weekend, the memories came flooding back of just starting my yoga practice with a class. I wanted so much for my body to turn, twist, balance, and stay in a pose as the others. My observant teacher came over to my mat and said softly, "If you are twisting your expression, and not fully breathing in a pose, you might be trying too hard." The wisdom of this statement has stayed with me not only in yoga practice, but in life. The truth of the words was further deepened in training this past weekend. Watching a video "Anatomy for Yoga" by Paul Grilley, with the added visual support, it was clear to see exactly how we are all built differently with varying length of bones, varying points of compression until bone meets bone in poses, and the wide range of body proportions which affect our yoga practice by degrees of ability of being able to get into poses regardless of how long one has been practicing yoga. I almost always say in class, "We are all built differently from birth," and that point was beamed into the sky like a Batman bat signal this weekend. More importantly, when we try to "make" or "force" ourselves into a preconceived idea of how we should be, or how someone else is looking on another mat (either literally or figuratively,) there is always energy lost, a little bit of disappointment, and maybe a feeling of "falling short." Deborah Adele writes in "The Yamas and the Niyamas" speaking of Satya (Truthfulness,) "When we habitually silence and distort ourselves, we begin to lost our lust for life and look towards other things to fulfill us....There is a settling for less than we had hoped for, a kind of resolution to things as they are." So this week, we are learning to find out exactly where we are in our poses, and embrace with love that we are exactly where we need to be at this time. Being authentic and accepting is not "settling," it's looking at ourselves with compassionate eyes and a warm heart, and loving ourselves for who we are and where we are so that we can redirect our energy to living and loving with more vitality.
