I’m studying to become a
certified Vinyasa Flow teacher. This
means that for six days a week, between the hours of 7am and 7pm I am engaged
in some form of yoga practice: breathing (pranayama), posture classes like the
Ashtanga Primary Series (asana), anatomy, chanting and philosophy. During the breaks in between classes I’m
usually either eating something with too high a sugar content (sigh) or
attempting to organize my notes in a pretty blue tome that I’ve purchased for
that purpose. Then it’s dinner, a little
more note review and bed.
As a consequence I have had
little time to explore McLeod Ganj and the neighbouring cities in the
valley. For the most part, my
understanding of the city revolves around where my next meal will take place. Hopefully when the course finishes I’ll be
able to fill in some of the many gaps, and maybe even write about it.
In the meantime, let me share
with you a bit about what I have been experiencing: yoga and people. I start my philosophy class on Tuesday, but
as a preliminary, beyond some supple bodies in spandex, yoga is a way of
life. An eightfold path, the asana classes
that are punishing my body are only one part of a series of practices that are
aimed at controlling and stilling one’s mind.
In fact, asana is only stage three on this path, so it’s fitting that
the other concept that I can relate my current experiences to is an aspect of
the second step, niyama, which sets
out certain disciplines to govern our actions and our attitude towards
ourselves.
Much of my free time is spent
either with others in my class or with people who are attending our morning
Ashtanga or evening Hatha classes. We talk
about our lives, relationships and work experiences and through that I’ve been exposed
to more alternative ways of living than at any other point in my life. How so? Well first of all, I’m one of the easiest
people to characterize: “former lawyer”.
That can be said in a sentence and well understood. Most people knew ‘my deal’ in the first
week. But what everyone else does ‘for a
living’ has tended to come out more slowly, over the course of many
conversations. Why? because very few of
the people are doing things that fit easily into a category. In fact, I would say that most of them are
mainly occupied with ‘living’, as opposed to ‘doing’.
Let me explain. Almost everyone I’ve met and spent time with ‘works’
between four and six months of a year.
They build stadium roofs, herd cows and make cheese, do farm labour and
so on. Then they take the rest of the
year to follow their own pursuits: yoga, travel, religious study, you name
it. Those that ‘work’ full time do many
things – create art, design hats, coach others through transitions and practice
alternative healing. Most of these
combinations of pursuits have never occurred to me. But
for those who have undertaken them, they work.
The freedom they’ve chosen in exchange for a category is a trade they
are happy to have made, and in that happiness they reflect contentment with
their lives and where they are at.
Reading one of my books today, I
came across santosha, the second of
the niyamas that I refer to above, and
my encounters with these new friends came to mind. From my limited understanding, santosha means something along the lines
of being satisfied with what one has, or put another way, not requiring more
than one has to achieve contentment. I
have been striving for this for a long time.
My exposure to so many alternative ways of being reminded me that this
is part of what underlies my impulse to try on new lives and experiences – to learn
of the ways that others arrive at this point of contentment and apply this
knowledge to my personal quest. As we
move beyond breathing and postures this week and learn about the deeper
philosophy of yoga, I know that I will necessarily begin to shift my attention
inward. But I am glad that in the weeks
that preceded this, I have once again had my eyes opened.
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