Saturday, February 5, 2011

Sage, Swaha and Savasana

Dear diary,

Today I am at a yoga workshop. The smell of sage is everywhere because the room had to be purified with burning sage before we began.

I have been practicing yoga for almost 3 years and I love it.
I tried yoga one day at the request of my girlfriend. We went to a class at the gym across the street and the instructor told us when and how to breath and then guided us through some contortions. I remember thinking, "I will try this one time with an open mind."

I loved it. I wrote in my MySpace blog about it. I loved how with just body weight, balance and stretching it is possible to focus the mind on one thing only, the task at hand.
I love how when you lose focus one what you are doing in the moment, you lose your balance. I would relate that to life, but when that concept is put in words it sounds super cliche.

I will say sometimes it is necessary to put the outside world aside for a second and focus on something as simple as breathing. Or something that is not as simple like lying on your stomach, grabbing the feet behind you and straightening the legs until you are in a colossal backbend, then chanting the om sound. Try thinking about your to-do list in that moment.

"Press the pelvis into the earth."

Let's see, I need to go to the cleaners and pick up that tie that my wife dropped off three weeks ago, pick up snacks for work because i have no time EVER to make snacks, and then call my client's doctor to get that fax number so I can fax a medical release form. That thought never entered my mind today in that hippie back bend. Not once.

"Let both the upper body and the legs come up equally from the floor."

I was actually thinking, This is SO DIFFICULT! And my junk is getting smashed and I need to adjust it, but how do I do that without looking like I am playing with myself? So much for being classy.

"OOOOOOOOoooooommmmmmmmmm."

The woman who is teaching the workshop is cool. She keeps making jokes out of different situations, letting people know that if they have to fart or go to the bathroom that she is not stopping them. she taught the class how to have a Mr. Rodgers moment as she put on her wireless pop star microphone, drawing an analogy between fumbling with a mic and taking off your shoes and jacket and donning a cardigan. She had us making pretend digeridoo noises just for fun and and got everybody to do a silly dance and then made a joke about seeing people at church speaking in tongues. After that we all chanted a mantra.

"Om Srim Hrim Klim Glaum Gam Ganapatayei Swaha"

Good thing they passed out these books with translations in them.

When we were about to break for lunch and went into savasana, she said " Now it's time for a little Shavvi." I thought that was awesome, because a lot of yoga people can be very serious and weird. Not that this isn't weird to some people.

For those who don't know, Savasana is the best part of yoga. You have just worked up a major sweat and now it is time to lie on your back and do nothing but breathe. It comes at the end and it feels like you have just been born. I have never been so thankful for something as simple as breath. If you practice yoga, you know exactly what I am talking about.

Which brings me to the question a lot of people ask. "Isn't that some weird hippy new age stuff?" to which I reply, "Probably, but who cares. Somebody call the police!"

So I have a few more hours of sweaty contortioning and hippie chanting to do after our lunch break, so I better sign off.

BTW the teacher's name is Shiva Rea and she is really famous and awesome so look her up. Some of the people here audibly peed their panties when she walked in the room.
I did not, but she has made a fan out of me. Excuse me while I go try to find her on Facebook.

P.S. I have been on a burrito kick today and yesterday so I bet you I will fart in class before the day is over.

The name of the yoga studio putting together this amazing day of prana flow is Give Yoga Memphis
check out their website and go to a class. I am not being paid to say this, but it is run by an amazing bunch of people. If I was being paid to say it I might come up with a tagline like Yoga that will rock your face off. Link below.

www.giveyogamemphis.com