My yoga asana practice has been rough lately. I’m experiencing discomfort in my left hamstring and glute, and in my neck. This morning I had to drag myself to the shala to practice. The little kid inside my head kept trying to convince me to skip. To keep myself on track, I directed my thoughts to Amma and mentally chanted her name - the name of the Divine Mother.
When I got there, I sat in the lobby, as we students do until Sharath calls the next student. He shouts, “one more... two more” and we fill in the spots where the previous students have just finished their practice.
Today, for the third day in a row, I got a place near the mens’ locker room.
“Awesome,” I thought, “by the mens’ locker room again.”
“I don’t want to practice today, I don’t want to practice today,” the little kid inside me repeated.
Then the thought occurred to me, “there are probably close to 100 practice spots in the shala. Maybe there is some deeper reason why I keep 'randomly' ending up in the same one.”
I remembered something I read about Guruji, the late founder of the style of yoga I practice. When asked about a particular drishti (gaze point) in one of the postures, he replied, “There is only one drishti, that is God.”
On this advice from Guruji-voice-in-my-head, I redirected my thoughts to the Divine Mother, and mentally commenced chanting, “Amma, Amma, Amma...” again.
As I scooped my hands upward into warrior posture, I gazed heavenly and saw a poster-sized picture of Guruji’s late wife, also named Amma, and herself a beautiful embodiment of the Divine Mother. The picture is on the wall, near the ceiling, directly over my spot by the men’s locker room
Then it hit me: there is a reason I keep ending up here, right underneath this beautiful picture of Amma.
Again I was teary-eyed. Its been that way ever since meeting Amma a few days ago. I let the tears come. The little kid inside that didn’t want to practice succumbed, and the practice was quite healing.
Check out my new and improved website: www.theyogalawyer.com
When I got there, I sat in the lobby, as we students do until Sharath calls the next student. He shouts, “one more... two more” and we fill in the spots where the previous students have just finished their practice.
Today, for the third day in a row, I got a place near the mens’ locker room.
“Awesome,” I thought, “by the mens’ locker room again.”
“I don’t want to practice today, I don’t want to practice today,” the little kid inside me repeated.
Then the thought occurred to me, “there are probably close to 100 practice spots in the shala. Maybe there is some deeper reason why I keep 'randomly' ending up in the same one.”
I remembered something I read about Guruji, the late founder of the style of yoga I practice. When asked about a particular drishti (gaze point) in one of the postures, he replied, “There is only one drishti, that is God.”
On this advice from Guruji-voice-in-my-head, I redirected my thoughts to the Divine Mother, and mentally commenced chanting, “Amma, Amma, Amma...” again.
As I scooped my hands upward into warrior posture, I gazed heavenly and saw a poster-sized picture of Guruji’s late wife, also named Amma, and herself a beautiful embodiment of the Divine Mother. The picture is on the wall, near the ceiling, directly over my spot by the men’s locker room
Then it hit me: there is a reason I keep ending up here, right underneath this beautiful picture of Amma.
Again I was teary-eyed. Its been that way ever since meeting Amma a few days ago. I let the tears come. The little kid inside that didn’t want to practice succumbed, and the practice was quite healing.
Check out my new and improved website: www.theyogalawyer.com
I love these little signs. Very nice! btw, this is Monica. Xxx
ReplyDeletelol, Monica, I was wondering for a sec who this cool chick, OmGirl was! Glad you like the blog ;)
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