A few months ago I wrote about my struggle with asana practice. After nearly eighteen years of practicing yoga, I hit a wall unlike others before. I felt that I was done, that I had done triangle pose long enough, thank you very much, and was ready to graduate and move on to other pursuits.

My mind was intrigued by this idea of letting go of the duty of asana practice. It liked the possibility of diving more into writing and agreed that yes, I had in fact done enough yoga. I rode my bike a lot and that kept me physically engaged. I could just meditate twenty minutes each day to keep from losing my mind, and that's that. 

Thankfully, I have teachers and mentors, and called Shari Friedrichsen for support. Shari listened as I spoke about not wanting to practice, having no desire whatsoever to practice triangle, or downward dog, or shoulderstand. She listened to my argument that I could just be done with asana. I rationalized that I had been doing this long enough. I was ready for something different. Been there done that. Read more about our conversation on the 8 Limbs Blog.

This was several months ago. I was able to recognize, through our conversation, that I was deeply tired. Shari assured me that my interest in practice would bloom again once I had replenished my reserves and wasn't running on empty. So I focused on filling up. My practice, for a while, revolved around savasana, corpse pose, and viparita karani, legs up the wall pose, two standard restoratives, poses that give rather than require energy. I put in my ear buds and listened to Yoga Nidra recordings by Rod Stryker and Laura DeFreitas. I slowed down.

After a month I began to add in lunges, and Warrior poses, as my energy returned. I enjoyed them, miraculously, and added more. I stuck with the commitment, and allowed my practice to put down new roots, curiously reaching for nourishment.

When Shari visited to teach at 8 Limbs in early May, I had the opportunity to soak further in her longstanding commitment to practice (since the 70s!). I showed up on my mat the day after she left with a powerful interest in practice, not for duty, not for others, but for myself. I followed the pranayama and meditation techniques she recommended to me. After anuloma viloma and nadi shodona, I began prana dharana, the practice of following the breath from the nostrils to the center of the mind and out, to prepare to hold my attention within. After a few minutes I filled the center of my mind with awareness.

A voice immediately called out to me: "this is where I know myself."

This. Here. Now. This is where I draw recognition and attention. This is where I become full. Not through my achievements, my friends, my teachers, my students, my children, my family. This, here, now, is where my truth resides, where my dharma unfolds, and my soul swims in bliss. This is where I can be empty, and full, and bear whatever life serves up.

I'll gladly go there, here, every day.

2012/13 VISITING TEACHER SCHEDULE 

Though not all of these are posted on our website, we have scheduled all of our visiting teacher workshops for fall 2012 and early 2013:

2012:   

September 14-16, 2012 - Tias Little

December 14-16, 2012 - Rod Stryker

2013:

January 4-6, 2013 - Scott Blossom

March 28-31, 2013 - Sarah Powers