No Chanting, No OM'ing: Teaching Yoga On The Grassy Knoll: Kihei, HI: November 23, 2020

No chanting and no OM’ing and playing it safe on the grassy knoll. The joy of yoga!

It feels like no stone is left unturned these days. Everything is being looked at, interrogated, examined. Really,, nothing is the same. Old ways of doing things just don't work any more, including the way I teach yoga.

Safety is my foremost concern, and to that end, I'm not sure how much to show that I’m in protection mode, mainly. . Part of the magic of our little open air studio on the Grassy Knoll is that we can deeply relax since we're not in the confines of enclosed space. The yogis who attend are all diligent and smart about the virus; mats are 6 feet apart, we don't congregate before or after, many mask in and out of the park. I don't have to get out my measuring tape, nor have to mask up to ask someone to reposition their mat. Thank goodness. (Though I sure would if necessary.) I want to hug everybody hello and goodbye but I don't, of course. There is a clear energy for everybody to behave properly. And that’s the real display of love that’s going on in our Monday morning gatherings.

That's what the practice is so wonderful at helping us do—to hold our energy appropriate to our inner callings, our sense of boundaries, and hone our ability not only, as it says in the Upanishads, to “see the unseeable and hear the unbearable”, but to live these energies from our heart. With alignment of body, mind, and spirit, not much really has to be said at all. With proper alignment, Love shines through. Maybe that’s why the niiyama saucha is defined not only as “cleanliness” but also as “purity”.

So we get right on down to the yoga.

In an effort to minimize a spread of respiratory droplets, I've ditched all verbal chanting and OM'ing from our practice. As it turns out, the silent OM is the mantra of the ajna chakra, the seat of our intuition and wisdom. So along with stretching our hamstrings, we're stretching wise action, whereby we're in the practice but not confined by traditional uses of them.

As we were walking out of the practice area this morning, a passing biker rode up (maintaining proper distance) to tell us he felt our collective class calm and healing vibe. "It was beautiful to witness", he said.

I concur.

Health, Love, and Rock and Roll.