As the new season starts up and I am getting together information about my classes, I am forced to ask myself - what is the essence of my yoga, what is it that I connect to most?
At the beginning it was a completely physical pursuit and has evolved over the last 20 years - I'm a bonified middle aged lady now at 45. But it is also constantly changing.
Right now, (if I was forced to choose one word) I would have to say that it is
exploration.
I have chosen a few pictures of animals stretching as they are so inspiring - their bodies are free, they don't look like they're thinking too hard.
So as I embark on a new year of yoga, that is where I'm headed - a free body through exploration, and naturally the not thinking too hard part would be great too!
Exploration is related to many other words - noticing, awareness, playfulness. So while we hold the yoga poses and follow our breathing, we're asking ourselves - what's going on? Am I bored, energized? Where do I feel tension? Where do I resist? Where do I let go? Where am I holding? Where am I loose?
The other side of this, is that we're not looking at our neighbour or putting too much stock in what the teacher is saying (!?). We're treating ourselves as the expert about ourselves. And depending on the day, we might bring seriousness, spontaneity, playfulness or any other emotion to this exploration. It's a journey, an adventure that never ends. Just like a pose, you can release into it infinite amounts.
Through the querying, we hopefully gain knowledge about ourselves, and isn't knowing ourselves the biggy that everyone keeps talking about?
Look at that dude - he's happy, extremely flexible and definitely not thinking too hard!
