Perspectives

I went to a yoga workshop yesterday and it was absolutely amazing. They usually are. I'd never studied with this teacher before, but was expecting great things because people had registered from all over New England. You gotta think if people are gonna shell out $300 for a weekend of classes AND cough up for a hotel room, the teacher is worth it.

And, of course, it was.

The opening meditation focused on perspective. Did you know that there are 840 thousand yoga poses? So, basically, every single thing you do is a yoga pose. Strike a pose, there's nothing to it. And Shiva taught in the tantric scriptures that each and all yoga poses can be pathways to ultimate freedom. So, anything you do can be a door to truly being free.

It's all in how you look at it.

So, I'm feeling glorious. I'm feeling like, yeah, man, that's deep. Oooommmm. And I'm stretching and sweating and balancing and really working hard to reach that next stage of freedom.

And the teacher paused class to have a demonstration of a pose --Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana (Revolved extended hand to big toe pose (doesn't the Sanskrit sound nicer?)). I watched with envy the woman who was demonstrating. Not only did she have an absolutely ripped, tight body, but she effortlessly floated into the pose and held it, rock steady and sure. I wasn't sure which I resented more - her perfect body or her perfect practice.

And just then, the woman next to me leans over and, smiling, says, "Isn't it glorious to see people who can really do these poses. It gives me such hope. She's really so beautiful."

It's all in how you look at it.

I'd really like to beat myself up for even being jealous in the first place, but maybe it's better to see the whole exchange as a hands' on learning experience.

Right?