Day 16: Post-Practice Thoughts

Oh, I am loving my practice and these post-practice reflections (confrontations). I am loving this chikitsa, this moving meditation and the lessons of the day that are strung together by little moments. They are so easy to miss.

In class today, Larkshmi said "Why you want to feed baby dosa when it cannot even drink water yet?" Or something like that. We go a step at a time in this practice (or in this case, re-learning Sanskrit or scriptures). We take our time to really listen even if - and especially if - our minds want to jump right away into our interpretation of whatever it is we want to learn.

Often, we wrestle with ourselves, our capabilities, wanting to breakthrough, needing validation. It takes practice being on the mat and being out of it.

I ask myself: if you are stiff inside - not wanting to forgive, to bend humbly, to be kind to those "unlike" you - what is the use of being limber outside? Oh, but this ego is always trying to fortify itself. It is too easy to be convinced by our own justifications to act in the ways we do, to live within the labels we know.

Maybe that is why we are gifted with yoga. Maybe we are clamoring to be broken open so we can finally feel what it is like to be unbound and one with all. Holy but not holier-than-thou. Just light recognizing light from the cracks as we break.