Ahhhh....a nice, quiet, meditative practice. I am so grateful for the mental quiet.
The time I set aside on the mat for "not thinking" is a relief, especially in the times when drama is swirling around. During that time on the mat, I'm not responsible for thinking up great ideas and I'm not responsible for solving complicated problems. My only "job" is to follow the breath. Amongst the busy life-stuff, it's a relief to know that once I step onto the mat, for the next hour or two, all I have to do is breathe.
Nancy Gilgoff said something at the Confluence that stuck with me. She said: (paraphrasing here) when you notice yourself thinking, pick up the pace of the breath until it's occupying your attention again and your mind has stopped getting in the way.
I'm having fun exploring this; I'm playing with mind and breath.
Showing posts with label The Confluence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Confluence. Show all posts
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Back from the Confluence
I'm back from the Confluence. I'm happy to say that I got what I went there for.
Last fall at registration time I posted about my reasons for going to the Ashtanga Yoga Confluence.
I said this: "More than anything else, during the 4 days, I am looking forward to hearing
about the work that they put in to make such lightness possible. I've seen video
clips of asana demonstrations by most of the teachers that will be at the
Confluence workshop and they are beautiful to watch, but it is their lightness
and ease in life that has impressed me far beyond what they can accomplish on
the mat. "
It is that lightness and ease in life that captured my attention over the 4 days. The Confluence came at a good time for me personally. Personal drama ratcheted up in the days before getting on the plane to San Diego, so that I was mentally screaming when it was finally time to pack the bags.
I left with two questions:
1) How do I do this with some semblance of equanimity?....practice, teach, work, maintain my relationships...
2) Is it worth the work to try?
I came back with some answers:
1) Sometimes you don't do this with any kind of equanimity. Somewhat like asana practice, life practice is often a teeter totter between effort and ease, which refuses to balance steadily on a point. You keep trying, note that you feel like nothing is changing, and are astonished when it does.
2) Yes, yes, and again yes.
I'm grateful to the those who had the idea to try to pull this event together. I'm grateful to the teachers for sharing their talents in the Mysore room, but really more importantly for sharing some of their lives with us. I'm grateful to all of those who have dedicated their lives to sharing this practice. It is this practice that is able to push me towards the most honest expression of my life and for that I am grateful as well.
,
Last fall at registration time I posted about my reasons for going to the Ashtanga Yoga Confluence.
I said this: "More than anything else, during the 4 days, I am looking forward to hearing
about the work that they put in to make such lightness possible. I've seen video
clips of asana demonstrations by most of the teachers that will be at the
Confluence workshop and they are beautiful to watch, but it is their lightness
and ease in life that has impressed me far beyond what they can accomplish on
the mat. "
It is that lightness and ease in life that captured my attention over the 4 days. The Confluence came at a good time for me personally. Personal drama ratcheted up in the days before getting on the plane to San Diego, so that I was mentally screaming when it was finally time to pack the bags.
I left with two questions:
1) How do I do this with some semblance of equanimity?....practice, teach, work, maintain my relationships...
2) Is it worth the work to try?
I came back with some answers:
1) Sometimes you don't do this with any kind of equanimity. Somewhat like asana practice, life practice is often a teeter totter between effort and ease, which refuses to balance steadily on a point. You keep trying, note that you feel like nothing is changing, and are astonished when it does.
2) Yes, yes, and again yes.
I'm grateful to the those who had the idea to try to pull this event together. I'm grateful to the teachers for sharing their talents in the Mysore room, but really more importantly for sharing some of their lives with us. I'm grateful to all of those who have dedicated their lives to sharing this practice. It is this practice that is able to push me towards the most honest expression of my life and for that I am grateful as well.
,
Thursday, September 1, 2011
The Confluence
I'm going to The Confluence.
...and any one who knows me really really well might ask me why?
I have a teacher. I was done sampling teachers and searching in that way on a morning in November in 2005.
I was at a small group, week long, Mysore workshop...just 4 people and our teacher. Late in the week, I was having a "tight hip" sort of day. It was the moment for supta kurmasana and it just wasn't going to happen. My hips were tight and both legs were not going to go. My teacher didn't push it, just helped me with one leg at a time and did so with no sense of disappointment or impatience in me or my practice. It might be the first time I ever really stopped fighting that pose and just let it be. That was it. I had found a teacher.
I've dropped into the occasional Mysore room in other cities while traveling for work or visiting family. These visits are a bit like any other visit to a new place. They're fun, but there's also a certain feeling of wanting to be "on my best behavior", to be polite and considerate...all those niceties that were well honed in my mid-western upbringing.
...but I'm not sure there can be much "nudging of edges" until you drop the niceties....and that I think builds on trust that only comes in time.
...so why the Confluence then...5 of the most senior western teachers, sure...but I've never met any of them.
Patrick has touched on the reason here
and Owl has reiterated the reason here
...here is an excerpt from Owl's post that so beautifully describes the reason I am going to the Confluence:
"The sophisticates who have done the work and then just let their awareness open up... who have the discipline to stay open and let stuff continue to happen to them... these are the ones who are more alive than we are."
I'm going to Confluence because I want to here the stories of "The sophisticates". If practice on the mat can differ so much from one day to the next even within the same body, then how different must the experiences of these 5 senior teachers be....and yet when I hear them speak or when I read what they have to share, there is a feeling that they have all arrived in a very similar place.
There is a sense that they take themselves and their lives very lightly.
More than anything else, during the 4 days, I am looking forward to hearing about the work that they put in to make such lightness possible. I've seen video clips of asana demonstrations by most of the teachers that will be at the Confluence workshop and they are beautiful to watch, but it is their lightness and ease in life that has impressed me far beyond what they can accomplish on the mat.
...and any one who knows me really really well might ask me why?
I have a teacher. I was done sampling teachers and searching in that way on a morning in November in 2005.
I was at a small group, week long, Mysore workshop...just 4 people and our teacher. Late in the week, I was having a "tight hip" sort of day. It was the moment for supta kurmasana and it just wasn't going to happen. My hips were tight and both legs were not going to go. My teacher didn't push it, just helped me with one leg at a time and did so with no sense of disappointment or impatience in me or my practice. It might be the first time I ever really stopped fighting that pose and just let it be. That was it. I had found a teacher.
I've dropped into the occasional Mysore room in other cities while traveling for work or visiting family. These visits are a bit like any other visit to a new place. They're fun, but there's also a certain feeling of wanting to be "on my best behavior", to be polite and considerate...all those niceties that were well honed in my mid-western upbringing.
...but I'm not sure there can be much "nudging of edges" until you drop the niceties....and that I think builds on trust that only comes in time.
...so why the Confluence then...5 of the most senior western teachers, sure...but I've never met any of them.
Patrick has touched on the reason here
and Owl has reiterated the reason here
...here is an excerpt from Owl's post that so beautifully describes the reason I am going to the Confluence:
"The sophisticates who have done the work and then just let their awareness open up... who have the discipline to stay open and let stuff continue to happen to them... these are the ones who are more alive than we are."
I'm going to Confluence because I want to here the stories of "The sophisticates". If practice on the mat can differ so much from one day to the next even within the same body, then how different must the experiences of these 5 senior teachers be....and yet when I hear them speak or when I read what they have to share, there is a feeling that they have all arrived in a very similar place.
There is a sense that they take themselves and their lives very lightly.
More than anything else, during the 4 days, I am looking forward to hearing about the work that they put in to make such lightness possible. I've seen video clips of asana demonstrations by most of the teachers that will be at the Confluence workshop and they are beautiful to watch, but it is their lightness and ease in life that has impressed me far beyond what they can accomplish on the mat.
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