On the way to teaching today, I happened to be on the bus with a student. Ian* has been coming to the student since September and has been quite regular in coming to my classes. His energy as a student is intent and focused. He seems very open to receive what I have to offer: the quality of student who takes a step towards you as a teacher and you can step in closer from their invitation and offer them more.
On the bus I asked him what brought him to yoga and why he stuck to it. He said that he started because of his mother’s encouragement as a way to help with stress in university. He loved it from the beginning. He noticed improvements in his health: better sleeping, better digestion. As he’s continued the practice for several years now, he feels that yoga has helped him deepen his capacity to be present with everything- including stressful and difficult times. The yoga he described is not a practice that transformed him to be “different” or “better” but a practice that has taken him on an inward journey into a more spacious way of being with what is and recognizing that that is enough.
In a society that is constantly asking us to be more and get more- be more fit, be more beautiful, get more stuff, get more education- seldom do we step back and pause long enough to realize what we already have and explore that more deeply rather than a way of acquiring more or being more. Ian’s story beautifully illustrates my theme this week of moderation. Through this practice we learn to listen and we grow in our capacity to see what is and see how we truly are. We learn to accept and respond to that rather than pushing beyond our limits to be something we’re not or try to change situations beyond our control. (Or in an asana push ourselves to open more than we have the integration and strength to support). We learn to say no so that when we say yes its authentic. From this more genuine grounding we can open up to the abundance that life has to offer us and we learn to abundantly offer back to life our gifts.
(*names on this blog changed for privacy)
