Category: Yoga

My first ‘official’ yoga class

Today, August 4th, 2010, I taught my first ‘official’ yoga class- to strangers- who don’t know the sequence- who have never set foot inside a yoga studio.   My dear friend set it up at her office and I had three students.  They struggled through the poses.  I modified as best as I could and took a few tricky ones out (crow and floor bow).  My ipod didn’t work, so we had no music.  

Here is the email I got a few hours later:

Hi,

Just wanted to send you a Thank You for setting up the Yoga Class. It was my first time doing yoga and I was a little anxious about whether or not I was flexible enough to try it. I am glad I went to the class! I am feeling great this afternoon, definitely less stressed and my back is not tense and feeling very relaxed – ahhhh 🙂 . Please pass along my thanks to your friend she was great at moving us first timers through.

Thanks!

I am in tears.  This is EXACTLY what is supposed to happen.  Sharing yoga with as many people as I can.  Especially new people, who struggle with their weight, and over-eating and stress.  The people (like me) who need it the most.  This makes it all worthwhile.

I love this path.  I love feeling my body getting stronger, my mind expanding and my heart opening with every class.  Even the days when I feel like crap and I spend most of class in childs pose.

I am proud of myself for following this healthy path.  Signing up for teacher training, even if I was the largest person in the room, again…  Just keep showing up.  Keep moving.  Keep getting finding more peace with every hour of practice.

I will be back tomorrow, yoga mat, and we will spend some quality time together once again.

Namaste

Lotus Flowers

Sure, I always thought they were pretty, but I recently learned the symbolic nature of the lotus flower:

The lotus flower represents the struggle of life at its most basic form.  It starts as a small flower down at the bottom of a pond in the mud and muck. It slowly grows up towards the waters surface continually moving towards the light. Once it comes to the surface it blossoms into a beautiful flower.

As the lotus flower grows up from the mud into a object of great beauty, people also grow and change into something more beautiful.  Like the flower they have been at the bottom in the muddy, yucky dirty bottom of the pond but have risen above this to display a life of beauty.

The lotus flower is often seen as a symbol for awakening to the spiritual reality of life and can also represent a hard time that has been overcome.