Give and you shall receive

It's an honor to teach yoga.  I still marvel at the fact that I actually went through teacher training several years ago and now teach 5 classes a week.  I'm honored by the attendance of my regulars.  When I talk in class, I'm not pontificating from on high, but sharing my own journey.  It's not hard to figure out my current struggle based on the theme of a class.  Last week, I talked about taking pause and used Pink Floyd's The Wall to illustrate my point.  Today in my hatha flow class, one of my students presented me with a poem he wrote called "Take Pause."  Ed's a local poet whose works can be found posted around town and he gave me permission to share this with you....

Take Pause
Ed Seymour, 11/2009

Hold onto it

use it

In all you do

And you will see

Pause

In movement

allows

recentering

Pause

In breathing

builds

your volume

Pause

In thinking

opens doors

that were closed

Pause

In striving

causes

reconsideration

Pause

In walking

affords

time to see

Pause

In flow

allows

things to settle

Pause

onto itself

is a jewel

to study

Needless to say, having a student write a poem in reaction to a class I taught inspires me to take pause.  We all have the potential to impact others when we least expect it.  That's heady stuff.  Be good to those whose paths you cross and pay attention to what they may teach you when you're least expecting it.

Namaste, y'all!

My First Yoga Book

My very first exposure to yoga was way back in the 70's when my mom took a class or two. I don't remember her doing it for very long, but I do remember her wearing the tights/leotard outfit (we've come a long way, baby). My first significant encounter with yoga, however, came in the Spring of 1981. It was Spring Break and the Boyle family took a road trip from Seattle down to the Oregon coast to explore small town antique shops. Not related to yoga, but a memorable part of the trip, was the fact that McDonalds launched its first "game piece" contest (Monopoly theme). My parents were fully on board with stopping at EVERY McDonalds we encountered on our journey to collect game pieces. We all believed we could win millions and treated every game piece as if were Charlie finding the Golden Ticket. We did end up winning, but only a few sodas and some fries. It was a fun part of the adventure, a great memory and an excellent example of embracing your inner child as an adult.

The point of the trip was antique shopping in small shops that offered one a journey through time. It was in one of these shops that I ran across two books that impacted my life significantly. The first was "Auntie Mame" and the second was "Yoga, Youth and Reincarnation." The latter was my first yoga book. It was fist published in 1965 by Jess Stearn. Given the abundance of books and media we now have at our disposal, plus the fact that yoga has become much more mainstream in our culture, it's hard to imagine how unique this book was at the time. When Jess Stearn met Marcia Moore, he was not in optimal physical shape (most of us live in that "glass house") and showed classic signs of aging. She invited him to spend three months at her ashram to immerse himself in yoga, suggesting it would change his life. He took her up on the offer and chronicled his journey with a refreshingly honest and real voice.

I'm fortunate to have stumbled upon this book and its message touched me on deep level, thus beginning my yoga journey. I'm now a yoga teacher and the proud owner of a growing library of yoga and yoga-related books. Yoga has exploded in popularity in the United States over the past several decades. This book remains my favorite not because it was my first, but because Jess Stearn captured his journey in such a way that he described not just how he learned to practice of yoga, but why yoga has the power to change one's life on many different levels. If you're intrigued, hunt down a second-hand copy on Amazon or Paperbackswap. The groovy yoga pose pictures of Marcia Moore in her black leotard and tights are worth seeing. Marcia Moore was a fascinating, multi-talented women with an interesting life story.

Namaste, y'all!