101 - Back to Basics
101st Edition
Happy Spiritual Monday!
Never one to pass up a word play, I felt to share on a synchronous releasing of this 101st edition. So, here we go, back to basics!
101
When I was in school, the entry level class for any subject held a suffix of “101” which indicated it was the entry level education on the topic - the basics. The appending of “101” became a joking dig at someone who seemed clueless with regard to a specific topic, as if they had missed the basic education element in school days.
In the movement world, there used to be plenty of “handstand 101” workshops and similar titles referencing the basic nature of the content covered. I believe the sentiment is universal to the point of not needing to explain it, but for those who are not savvy to it, that was 101, 101!
Why it seems so pertinent to me right this moment, is what I decided to dive a bit more into in the following pieces, and I will begin with where the idea started.
Stretching
Today marks 4 months since I have taught a group class of yoga. In these past few months, I haven’t really practiced yoga, per se, in the way many people would see it. I have moved, exercised, meditated, but nothing that I would describe as explicitly yoga. Most of my practice has been dadding and resting.
This past week, we returned from a trip to and from the other side of the earth, and upon landing, our timings were a bit of… So, on the first night back, when bedtime came, but sleep didn’t, I stayed up to read, and practice.
In honesty, it wasn’t really my intention to set about a practice, but more to stretch my body out in a way I knew to. Naturally, after immersing in the world of yoga for the majority of my adult life, it was a sort of yin practice I put myself through.For those not familiar with Yin Yoga, it generally refers to soft practice, and more specifically to gently stressing the connective tissues of our joints in order to rearrange energy in an otherwise over yang - worked - body.
I tucked into my book, and got into a shape that was guided by my body’s desire to release more than it was my mind’s decision to “do a pose.” You know what happened? It felt great! My body released as I stayed still for a few minutes at a time, and I felt the tingles that likely got me hooked into the practice in the first place. (As I am writing this sentence, I am currently holding a shape that is releasing my thighs in a stretch, and it feels good.)
Then I realised something: Towards the end of my teaching career, I felt a sense of disapproval inside me aimed at those who were ”just coming for the physical sensations.” In this way, I silently held judgement over many of the beautiful humans who would come through the doors to my classes. Perhaps I had been doing it too long, and started expecting people to show up for the deeper aspects of the practice, without considering I entered the practice through the same avenue…
Baby with the Bath Water
As I was experiencing this beautiful revelation as well as glorious physical and physiological release I had another aha moment, an awakening to my actions. It became aware to me that in some ways, I had thrown the baby out with the bath water when it came to yoga.
I’ll explain how I saw this. When I left my post as a very regular facilitator of space for people to explore their yoga practice, I had tainted my mind a bit with the aforementioned judgements, directed externally and internally. There was a sense that I had reached the end of a particular line, and needed to split completely from this path I had been on for so long.
Some of my great teachers used to say that sometimes the best yoga is no yoga. I always felt this was just a reassuring sentiment for my students when they would “take a break” from their practice, it made perfect sense to me, but I hadn’t truly experienced the wisdom behind the statement.
This evening stretch session I embarked on felt like the rekindling of an old love. A little like the realisation that I had held onto something out of spite and therefore wouldn’t let the beautiful other (in this case, the practice) back into my life. Simply out of spite!
In the first pose that I held I started to feel all the processes I had spent so much time learning, practicing and teaching in a new way, like it was the first time. The beauty of the practice came back to me!
This put a smile across my whole being, and allowed me to release any sense that I needed to distance myself from the practice, and rather how I could integrate it back into my life. I felt gratitude for the practice, my body, life and more in a way I hadn’t for awhile. I remembered the feelings and experiences which had fuelled my teaching for so long.
It was exciting. And most days this week, often initiated by sleeplessness, I have returned to this element of the practice - the physical as a gateway to the depth. But really, just appreciating the sensations of being in the practice of asana - refinement of general posture. Posture took on a deeper tone in my life, as did many other concepts, as I had a reawakening to the power of “how you do anything is how you do everything.”
And in this way, a sort of reintegration of yoga has occurred in my life. So now what?
Refinement and Delivery
In my time at home, spending the majority of my waking hours with my son as current lead guide, I interact with few people. Previous to this, I would spend my weeks interacting with up to 600 people in the format of classes that I taught and guided students through.
This was my socialising, and I never was a big fan of social media and that form of networking.
As someone who has been maybe too staunch on their stance against the constant streaming of new content at rates that nobody will ever be able to catch up to or consume, I realise that I have kept my cards close to my chest in a way.
I rarely market myself, and when I do it has tended to be cryptic, which means there are a majority of people out there with no clue of what I do.
This is good as I like a private life, but I am also a social creature and love interacting with people in real life.
This is also bad as I keep to myself the fun aspects of what I do and offer, and this doesn’t allow me to share it with people as much as I would like.
This leads to the last aha moment I had during that first stretching session, which was a refinement of the Vibrational Realignment sessions I have offered, albeit softly, for the past 4 years. I work with sound and vibration in ways that I don’t feel I could accurately explain without tarnishing the beauty of the experience.
My whole life has been musical, but I never proclaim it as I know there are many out there who are hungrier, more skilled, more bent on creating a name for themselves. Some strange relic of guilt in my psyche validates this action in a way declaring that “they deserve to do it more than I do.” Kind of preposterous, as all I wish to do is share what I feel to, and let those who receive tune in.
My sessions usually involve some gentle movement, qi gong inspired, then stillness and rest as the sound waves pour over. I have decided that the addition of a yin practice would not go unwelcome.
So the next session I will be sharing in 3 weeks time, will be the unveiling of this new offering which I’m calling Meditaxin - Med • e • tay • shyin. A blending of soft movement, yin, deep meditation and restorative rest, which has all come from the inspiration of sitting in a posture for a few minutes.
The moral of the story?
Do what feels good, and repeat. Inspiration comes in all the nooks and crannies of life, so don’t discount a single moment of it. And more importantly, be open to shifting. I recall recently hearing comedian Jimmy Carr share an interesting sentiment directed towards engaging in conversation. He roughly said “When I meet someone and they ask an engaging question, my first response to them is another question: Are you open to the possibility of changing your mind?”
This was a litmus test as if the other would reply no, he would simply ask, “Then what’s the point of conversing now?”
Stay open, be well, stretch, move and treat yourself to the beauty of life.
And so it is, with love.
101 - Back to the Basics