Happiness And Other Unusual Practices: Elemental Yoga with Philips Patton at Divinitree: Santa Cruz, CA: October 5, 2019
Feelin’ groovy in Santa Cruz. I love a California tour. I venture to say I’ll live in California again one day. There! I said it. xoox
Yoga has always invited me to places, and especially out on tour I rarely “go” to yoga, I get called in. The location and time happen to fit in to the tour. Rarely do I get a choice. This is, I believe, a bigger dance with grace and proof, in my book at least, the universe is always conspiring for our growth and happiness.
And speaking of happiness, it’s in itself a practice. Our teacher today, Philips dropped this single line amidst one of the most creative, interesting, and unusual yoga classes I’ve ever attended. It strikes me that happiness, as common as it is, is unusual. It’s something you hear about and read about. People claim it, people question it, people fake in on facebook, and some keep telling themselves they are happy when they are not. I’ve done all these things, which leads me to believe choosing to be happy , for real, is as radical of a practice as they come.
Philips opened the class with some self massage and acupressure, apecifically in the region of the spiritual heart, the anahata, which sits center (the physical heart leans to one side) . Then he asked us to share something we wanted to love more. I was in a room full of strangers and just blurted out…my JOB. I never would admit that to anybody on the road. And yes, I’m writing it here but it’s safe to say none of our crew will ever read this, my husband included.
Yoga keeps me honest. I’ve frankly not fully admitted that idea to myself.
We did some asana in class, but more qi gong and dancing. The practice was non linear and unusual and it was so fun because I just let myself look like a geek while doing my best to follow the practices of things like trembling horse, wall massage, and troll walking. By the end of class I was ready to go back to the theater where throngs of fans were already lined up around the block. My husband needed tea, the dog needed walking, I needed to get out of yoga clothes and into merch girl outfit. I needed dinner, I could use more space, I could have easily tilted over the edge into overwhelm but I did not.
Because more than anything I felt happy.
Sure there are times when this tour life is tough, but there are more times when it’s totally and completely fun and fulfilling. One of the definitions of yoga (from the Gita) is “yoga is the breaking of the bonds of suffering”. Overall, this is the practice not only on tour but in life and I’m endeavoring to make happiness a usual practice and not just something I do after a great yoga class.
Health, Love, and Rock N Roll