For this year of 2014… 2 14… 2/14… year of valentine, year of love
the underlying theme supporting my yoga teaching is LOVE.
This means lots of CORE work to activate the solar plexus area of WILLPOWER, TRUST, TRUTH
and lots of latin root COR, aka HEART, work to cultivate mindfulness of
Self Love as taking care
and Loving Others as caretaker.
In my first yoga class tonight, the vibrant all-levels “Playshop” flow, I polled the room for desired yoga poses or areas of the body to focus on, and received these offerings:
“Pincha Mayurasana”, “Hamstrings”, “Fronts of Ankles”, “Quads”, and “Urdhva Dhanurasana”.
I added these to the “Twists”, “Chest Opening / Upper Back Strengthening”, and Sirsasana variations I already had in mind.
(Oh, and there was a terrifically exciting new arm balance creation I threw into the mix – I may have invented it in my home practice the day before. I informed the class it had no name that I knew of yet. Farrah sweetly named it “the SoulButter pose”. I’ll have to dig to see if it already exists. If not, we’ll coin it SoulButterasana. As it is in the 1am hour and time for beauty rest, I will not attempt to capture photo evidence now. If you were not monkeying around with us in class tonight, you’ll have to wait a little longer for a follow-up visual rendition after Ms. SoulButter greases her wheels enough to attempt the pose again.)
Here is a smidge of some of the LOVE work we did tonight:
HAMS: Some Supine Ab Core “twist ties” leg scissor work at start of class, Prasarita Padotanasana, Paschimottanasa, Janu Sirsasana, SoulButterasana, plenty of Uttanasana & Adho Mukha Svanasana
QUADS & FRONTS OF ANKLES: Anjaneyasana variations, Eka Pada Bhekasana, Supta Virasana
CHEST OPENING / BACK STRENGTHENER: Utkatasana with Lat Pull Down Arms, Bhujangasana Variations, Humble Warrior, Salabasana Variations, Lots o’ Twists (Lunge, Seated, Supine variations)
SERIOUS PLAY: either Bakasana & Parsva Bakasana or Sirsasana II to Parsva Bakasana
The Result = Warm happy COR/CORE. Warm happy yogi friends.
In my second yoga class tonight, I was graced by the beautiful presence of my dear friend Hsin-Cheng, who just returned to SF yesterday after a 3 month sojourn to Southeast Asia.
I put her on the spot when I asked her to share with the group one travel experience that particularly revealed an expression of pure love. Hsin-Cheng shared a story about the care she received during a homestead stay in Sideman, Bali. (Side note: Ms. SoulButter can vouch – Sideman is one of the most magical places on earth.) The father lovingly prepared her bungalow room everyday. The daughter lovingly prepared the breakfast everyday. The mother lovingly washed the clothes everyday. One day, Hsin-Cheng asked the daughter what did she typically eat for breakfast. The daughter mentioned a little cake from the local market. Hsin-Cheng asked if she could instead try that for breakfast the next day, thinking it would relieve the daughter from preparing another meal and would also be enjoyable, for who doesn’t like trying the local’s favorite cake from the local market? The next morning on the breakfast table, a beautiful little cake from the local market (that opens at about 2:00am mind you!) was presented, along with the regular home-cooked breakfast. Rather then subtract any care, when that was indirectly requested, the daughter had multiplied it. Needless to say, my friend was humbled by the habitual actions of each family member. Each offered their practices with such kindness, attentiveness and humility, so lovingly, every single day. This is their collective daily practice. They are true caretakers, refined practitioners of the art of love.
What I took away from this is that we all can be inspired by Hsin-Cheng’s story and apply this lesson directly to how we choose to live, how we choose to care and how we choose to love.
Tend to yourself in your yoga practice, as the father who mindfully folds the sheet just right on the guest bed.
Tend to others you love, as the daughter who feeds the start of a good day and says you can have and eat your cake too!
To support it all a little further, here is the Hafiz poem I shared at the start and end of both classes:
The Heart’s Coronation
The pawn
always sits stunned,
chained, unable to move
beneath God’s magnificient power.
iIt is essential for the heart’s coronation
for the pawn to realize
there is nothing but divine movement
in this
world.
Now, how will YOU choose to take care today?
