Complex Transitions with Sam at Sonic Yoga: New York City, NY: March 4, 2018
The transition from Houston to New York City was supposed to be an uncomplicated single flight. Winter storms diverted us to Pittsburgh for the night. It was a complex move and the practice was to enjoy the ride.
I don't usually spook on flights, but I sure did from Houston to New York. We flew right into the nor'easter and after two failed attempts, were diverted to Pittsburgh. It was the winds that were ferocious, and like the pilots who wisely decided not to fight them, I too had to make a conscious decision not to fight what the day had in store for me and go along with the ride to the best of my ability.
Going with the flow is harder than it seems and it is a continual and lifelong practice. I first learned how to do this, not out in the world, but rather on my yoga mat. My first practice was Bikram, where we would do 26 postures, pausing between each of them. In the beginning the pauses were agonizing because I'd be either in the self judgement of imperfection of the previous pose, or in anxiety and drama around the posture coming up. On somedays, even both at the same time.
It took me years on the mat, and ultimately a lucky landing in a yin practice to even begin to explore finding a pause that was quiet, and to assimilate what I'd heard in AA, "humility is the perpetual quietness of the heart". As outlined in Patanjali's yoga sutras, abhinivesha, often translated as 'fear of death', or by Ravi Ravindra 'attachment to the status quo', is a mental block to quiet that "overwhelms even the wise" (PYS 2.9). Humility is required because how can we know everything there is to know about everything? I can't begin to know why I didn't land in New York that night. The winter storm was just a surface excuse in the big scheme of things because something massive and dramatic had to happen to help me, once again, break the habit of abhinevesha . This will change my life much more significantly than learning how to reroute myself from Houston to New York, although those lessons were also very useful as a yogini traveling with a rock band.
Change in any form is difficult for most, which brings a lot of suffering because things are changing all the time.
On the mat in Sam's class today, I loved the practice because she offered complex transitions. For example, gate pose play after low lunge, tree after standing pada hastasana, side plank after fallen warrior.
She offered creative sequencing that allowed me to see poses put together in new ways, so I got to learn new things, including how strong my body feels and how quiet my heart can be in times of transition.
Health, Love, and Rock N Roll
Winifred <3