In the course we are studying the Dharma III yoga poses. This is the start of the intermediate poses. The dharma yoga series begins with some vinyasa sun salutation variations, and then when the body is warm moves into the poses.
In class on Sunday we worked on the poses, observing students who could demonstrate the poses, discussed them with Reno, our teacher, and then worked in pairs to learn and practice them. I love working on my poses, and with a little encouragement from Reno in this class, I was able to move into a more advanced variation of pigeon than I ever had before.
Dhanurasana Variation
The class was great and I enjoyed helping other students that I was paired with to help them in their poses, wondering if I would really be able to teach one day. Towards the end of the series, is one of the most advanced poses – a dhanurasana (bow pose) variation. This is a beautiful pose when done correctly and Reno asked someone to step forward to demonstrate it. In an instant a fellow student passed me a yoga belt and nudged me up to the mat in the centre of the room. I had done this pose before, but never with people watching and I instantly felt insecure and my body became stiff. I tried but I felt self-conscious and imagined I looked something like a beached whale trying to get off the mat and back in the water. Despite Reno’s reassurance that I could do the pose as he’d seen me do the pigeon variation and his promise that he wouldn’t force me into the pose, I panicked and wanted off the mat! To hide my embarrassment, I turned to humour and tried to make a joke – threatening revenge on the student who had encouraged me to demonstrate the pose.
In a few short minutes, I’d let my ego hold me back from doing the pose, been unable to follow my teacher’s instructions, failed my fellow students by being unable to demonstrate a pose that I knew I could and had even lashed out at someone who had been kind to me. I went home feeling frustrated and disappointed.
That evening, I told my brother and husband what had bothered me and they laughed. What is the point of yoga if it makes you feel like this? Let it go. Sound advice from two people that you wouldn’t be described as stereotypical yogis! So, I resolved that I should take the lesson here, not to let my ego cripple me and hurt others again and tried to put the matter to rest.
I was still still thinking about it the next day as I was heading to a yoga class after work, and by chance the same student who had encouraged me to demo the pose walked past as I was waiting for the bus! An uncanny incident, as she rarely takes the bus and was only in the neighbourhood for a special event. I thanked The Lord and cosmic powers for bringing us together and giving me this chance to explain and apologise. It was no coincidence that our paths had collided in this unexpected way; it was as if the Universe was sharing the inside joke with me and I realised that what I had experienced in the past 24 hours was just what was meant to be. When I explained, the other student was, of course, totally lovely about it all and forgiving. It clearly hadn’t mattered as much to anyone but me, and understood what is meant in the verse of the Gita which says “‘He who is free from the notion of egotism, and whose understanding is undefiled- though he slays these men, he really slays them not nor is he stained by the result of slaying.’ This non-attachment is the secret of a sadhaka.
Love Every Second 