No Mat...

A friend tried to post this the other day...

"Yoga is all about you and your mat..." I would have agreed with you wholeheartedly Bob, had I not this very day attended a studio operated by a great teacher here in Seattle, Katerina at Yogiway. (www.yogiway.com) She has dispensed with mats, and says that she believes we are constrained by the mat. The class had me somewhat disorientated, and there was a tendency to float around the space but I could sense that I was liberated from something. Her entire floor is padded to the depth of a little more than two regular mats. It feels very comfortable and very safe, although you do feel that if another practitioner were to stray in your direction you have no right to exclude them or any artificial boundary to indicate 'your space.' She mops up and sanitizes after every class. I have clung to my mat, and the Ashtanga rug that covers it as representing the place where I do my practice and take care of myself, but after today I wonder if its only real value is as the sponge for my sweat.

Vermont Mountain Air...

Woke up in Middlebury, Vermont, at the Bread Loaf writers' conference. They've got a yoga class scheduled for 5:30 tomorrow, so I'm on my own until then.

I woke up at 7, the air was cool and crisp, but as the sun came up over the verdant hills, the heat warmed my body. After three sun salutations, off came my sweat shirt. I only did a forty minute routine, but it felt great to be outside.

The air was still, all i could hear was the sound of my breath and heart...

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Earlier this week I got to take a class with someone I'd met at SummerSongs -- it was great to share a class with her. I think it inspired her to seek out more once she gets home.

Yoga is all about you and your mat, but sometimes it's nice to have someone next to you that you care about... i don't know how real yogis feel about that, but it works for me...

Drifting from the mat...

Three weeks on the road and my routine is out of whack.

Although I'm not trained as a teacher, I taught yoga at summarizing last week. It's quite challenging to lead a class. I know just enough to get me in trouble, so leading a class could be dangerous, but I've taken close to a thousand classes over the past three years and so I know enough keep the class simple even if it means losing the more experienced.

Several folks were surprised to learn that I wasn't certified, and I must admit, I did enjoy leading these sessions. Although I don't get the work out of taking a class, I get to experience yoga from the other side and when I return to being a student again, I' ll have new insight into the practice.

I'm trying hard to do a little for myself each day, but the pace of being on the road and socializing does hinder this ability.

I'm off to Vermont now where there the occasional class will be offered. I can't wait to take a full session again, to leisurely work through a complete ninety minutes.

Until then, I'll do my best to challenge myself.

Namaste.

rsw

not enough

i'm breathing but not doing enough yoga -- my output has dropped off dramatically since I stopped taking classes.

i'm leading sessions at SummerSongs this week, so I'll get in some decent time on the mat...

i need to do better...

it's never too hot

but...

and since I dropped out of the yoga club for the month because I'm away so much, it's a struggle to get on my mat this week.

i've had my moments of quiet.

yesterday it was 103 -- i saw two fights -- one at the stop and shop -- a woman and man were in line at the check out screaming at one another. A customer was in line at the post office yelling at the clerk, or was it the other way around.

the heat adds pressure, but yoga, even just breathing, can cool things down...

so even when I'm not on the mat, I'm there...