A Study in Contrasts

     One of the things I love best about yoga is the deep contrasts that fill the practice.  Yoga is a practice of movement and stillness, of drawing in muscular energy and radiating out organic energy, of peace and of joy.  Anyone who has attended one of my classes knows that the class is mostly quiet, but I tend to try to get my student’s to laugh. If they don't laugh, I'll still laugh at myself because usually when I'm laughing, it means I'm a bit uncomfortable.  Being a bit off balance really adds to the adventure.  I know in my home practice and in the classes I attend, if I don’t fall down at least once, I haven’t been trying very hard.

“First there is the fall, and then we recover from the fall.  Both are the mercy of God!”- Lady Julian of Norwich

     Without falling down, and risking the appearance of failure, we don’t know just how far we can push life.  Each step out into uncertainty brings growth. Grandma Moses started painting in her seventies.  What if she was too afraid? My childhood Christmas favorite, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas  was illustrated by someone who society says should have been sitting around waiting to die. Just think, Julian of Norwich lived from 1342-1416.  It seems so long ago, but truth is truth no matter when it was learned.

     It may seem strange that I equate falling down with laughing, but in yoga classes, they are often the same.   We approach class very seriously, usually with very clear goals.  The goals may vary from a getting a workout to finding inner peace to weight loss to increasing flexibility.  The problem is, when we hold so tightly to our goals, we can lose sight of other benefits.  

BKS Iyengar, the master of alignment, in Triangle

    I love to laugh, even in the most trying times.  It can be rather annoying for those around me… Think about how it changes things.  Say you are doing Triangle pose.  I just love to use this pose to teach the principles of alignment.  So, you are in my class and I have told you “draw muscular energy  up your legs, inward spiral the back leg, outward spiral the front leg, press strongly into the outside edge of the back foot.”  We haven’t made it above the waistline and already you have 4 things to think about.  If you don’t start smiling now, your brain may explode!

    The interesting thing is, once I perform the final bit of alignment  in any pose, the smile, I find that the outer skin begins to soften.  The muscles that were holding so tightly to my purpose become more gentle, more flexible.  The pose becomes a joy.

     I was thinking about this recently when my husband and I were staying at a friend’s house.  It is a bit older and the plumbing wasn’t the best (Yes, it takes a special kind of crazy to move from joy to bad plumbing, but just follow along, it should make sense soon).  As I began my shower, my husband began to shave.  Let’s just say the demands of the sink completely overpowered the demand of the shower.  The temperature gyrated wildly from arctic to boiling.  What was interesting was that, as soon as I let go of the idea that cold was bad, it became invigorating.  As soon as I relaxed to the hot water, it was only boiling in comparison to the cold. The hot was actually pleasant.  I began thinking, maybe I should do this again tomorrow to see if I really don’t like it or was it just so different from my norm I categorized it as bad?

    As Richard Rohr says in Falling Upward: Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life “Our institutions and our expectations, including our churches, are almost entirely configured to encourage, support, reward, and validate the the [status quo].”  He is talking about the importance of status, security and stability of living by the rules.  Smiling and falling over is about breaking the rules.  Soften the outer skin and have fun!