Magical Mysore Rooms

When it comes to practice we have choices.  We know the sequence; we know what we are setting out to do.  We are teachers and we are students.  We seek out other yoga practitioners and flock to a Mysore room to do our practice.   We go across the country to practice for a weekend or go across the world to practice for a month.  Who am I?

I’m an Ashtangi.  When we enter a space to practice with a teacher or on my last experience a group of teachers and they happen to be the pioneers of the system you stand tall.  You want to do your best and you want to practice with all the best intentions.  You want to make every breath count, flow through the sequence, stay focused and tap in to the source.  You have someone watching.  You have teachers teaching.  You have this talented group of lineage holders watching you to see how they can impart something of the teachings to you and have it touch you and have it make a difference.

Turns out we are human.  When we are in the Mysore room we just want to do our best.  Someone is watching, someone is there perhaps to help or to support us with our struggle.  No one is there to do anything for you; instead they are supporting you in your personal endeavor to do the practice.  There is a shared energy in these rooms that most of the time is very helpful with doing your own practice.   It is just natural to bring everything you have to the practice in the Mysore room.

When we think about practice, it sometimes can be a big undertaking.  It’s overwhelming on your own and the system has built in support around the world.  Today I practiced, alone, and not even in my own home.  I was glad to take practice and yet feel so much gratitude for the Mysore room that I call home at AYM and for the practitioners who share their energy and come to do their best no matter where in the world we gather.

Namaste to that and see you on the mat!

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Power of Positive Thought

It is interesting to me to think how far I have come in the process of thinking positively and trusting in the universe.   This is a practice in itself for sure and I thought this seems so simple but has to be shared.  In reflection on my life, I have had a lot of fear and mostly the fear that I have felt and that continues to rise it’s ugly head (I know that’s a judgment) would always go back to my inability to control a situation or disappointment in an outcome not going my way.  Mostly the fear and anger would come from not being able to control something or someone else.

Practice has been and continues to be a very useful tool for me.  My abilities to let go and let God are practiced daily on my yoga mat. Bringing this into my daily life is something else.  Here as well, it is interesting to see how far I have come.    Recently I wanted to escape one part of my life that I have been doing for some time and wanted to have someone tell me that this was no longer serving me.  Then it would be easy for me to justify this planned escape. But alas no one would go there, no one would back me up.  These thoughts were mine and mine alone and I would have to work through whatever I had to work through on my own.  My mind and me.  The mind is so powerful and will really convince you of anything either negative or positive that you want to set out to do.  The mind will tell you have you are happy, sad, angry, fearing and will convince you of your likes and dislikes.  It has a preconceived notion of what is good or bad for you and what you can or cannot do.  I’m taking about that monkey mind.  I remember when I first heard that term and did not really grasp how or what monkeys and the mind have in common.  I quickly figured it out and could picture what this terminology referred to and I started to experience this for sure.  I pictured my thoughts hopping like a money from topic to topic never finishing what it set out to figure out. I understood the power of mind and why I needed my yoga practice and why it is necessary to be quiet so you can figure things out.

Since no one would give me license on the planned escape I secretly wanted to orchestrate, I recently decided to change my attitude and this goes back to my original concept of the power of positive thought.  I practiced this from time to time for fun and sure enough if I thought negatively, then things just would be crappy and I would not feel at ease, feeling like I was swimming upstream or something.  Fighting the current so to speak.  With positive thoughts and positive energy around whatever I was doing or attempting to do, even if the outcome did not appear to produce, with positive thought I felt better and then I would figure that was the way of the universe and not something I could actually control.  This came at a very good time before me and my minds sabotaged any of the gifts and benefits I was receiving.  I thank my yoga practice, sitting in my attempt to meditate, reading and delving deeper so that I am able to hear, able to be present and able to swim with the current and trust, trust, trust . . . that I am right where I am supposed to be right now.