Light

Good morning to you all.

Philippe said to me recently that he thought that the discipline instilled in us from doing this practice so early in the morning, he thought that was one of the things that distinguished the yogis we are now from the people that we started this practice as. For me, this is true… if this practice could make a morning person out of me it can make it out of anyone.

I can only say that after almost three years away, its a great treat to see so many familiar faces getting up early, living the practice, and showing up on your mats.

I am happy to report that while a few things will change in the coming few weeks, very little will actually change. Beata, who you all know well, will be teaching most of our days, Sunday to Wednesday, and I will be teaching on Thursdays and Fridays, along with supporting the general YIY community. Leigha will be back to see us within six weeks or so, when Beata is gone to Europe.

We also plan to reinstate the chai habit three days a week with Ken and Elaine’s return beginning of May, let me know if you have any interest in participating….

And we will have Sabina and Joseph to thank for a YIY party to celebrate everything on May 9th.

To close I’ve been in the habit lately of picking up the yoga sutra’s, and I was hoping to add one here and there to our morning mysore mix.

2:33: Vitarka Baadhane Pratipaksha Bhaavanam.

When disturbed by negative thoughts, opposite [positive] ones should be thought of. This is pratipaksha bhavanam.

It never ceases to amaze me how in ever world we ever live in there can be manifestations of politics. In the corporate world, at the gym, maybe even at yoga, everywhere there can be maya there will be maya. Grounding in my practice helps to bring me to a space of lightness and happiness that allows me to meet most all of what I face with joy.

It highlights to me those people who seem anchored in the positive, and how much it is a good disease that’s catching. How tiny it seems, this being positive, and how important it is. Not that we aren’t to acknowledge the dark things, they must be acknowledged to move past, but towards the end of moving forward….

And that Patanjali gives us the out here, he doesn’t say, look, just have the mental discipline, just make your thoughts positive, that rather its there, if you can do it great, if not just take yourself round something you love, a child, a friend, and stay there…..

When I’ve been there lately, on the floor, when I wasn’t out with stomach flu, or Aurora’s stomach flu, or Einar or Aurora’s flu, in these last few weeks, I’ve noticed how much lightness there is on the floor at YIY, and how much love is there. Its a good thing, and I think a hallmark of Ashtangis moving down the serious path of discipline we all started years ago…

We hope very much that we can support you all in your practice and on your journey of yoga as we go forward…

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