19 Days In November
I am currently reading Guruji A Portrait of Sri K Pattabhi Jois Through the Eyes of His Students. It is such an inspirational book about the meaning of ashtanga yoga and the importance of doing your practice. It has got me thinking about what motivates us as students of this practice. This is unique for each of us, but the common thread that we share is that we continue to come to our mats and have faith in the process. With that I would like to pose a challenge of sorts to our mysore students. This is NOT a physical challenge, but rather a commitment to explore your practice more deeply and hopefully, offer insight to each other.
There are 19 mysore classes in November. I invite you to make a commitment to attend all 19 classes with the intention of revealing something new about your practice and maybe about yourself. The subjects are endless......
- attachment to a posture or perfection in a posture
- following the breath/vinyasa for the entire practice
- observing what goes on in your mind (and ego) when something is difficult, painful or injured
- how is your practice different if you practice everyday or maybe it is not different at all
- what constitutes a practice for you
- is this a lifelong practice for you
- are you able to access the meditative qualities (or stillness) in the practice
- how does your practice affect your home life
- how does your practice change with age (both physically and mentally)
- does your practice bring you joy
The idea is to commit to a daily practice and focus on something that is meaningful to you. When something comes up, comment about it. I feel that by sharing this information, we not only learn about ourselves but we learn about each other. This is as much a learning experience for me as it is for you.
Commitment.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to see how explicitly making this commitment to practice all 19 days has slightly changed my attitude when I wake up at 5:30. Most every week day that is not a moon day I come to the studio and so it would seem I was already committed. But almost every morning I have an internal dialogue about whether to get up and go. I remind myself that I never regret it and, most of the time, I go. But there is the occasional overly late night, too much wine, too much work -and I miss a day. But I have not needed to remind and convince myself these past five days - I made a commitment. Today is a day I would normally have taken off- a womanly moon day - but I came in, did sun salutations and then did my first sitting mediation in many many months. For a while I was sitting regularly but lost the commitment. It is good that this november invitation is helping me recover it.
-Miriam