Welcome to another round in the series "Yoga: What is it good for?" This one's by your current writer, who promises to try to keep things short!
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My Mat is My Playground
I'd toyed around with yoga before traveling to Costa Rica in November of 2012. I'd just finished a teaching contract in South Korea and wanted to take some time to be someplace tropical and Spanish-speaking before heading back into the teaching world again. There was a pseudo-sports resort on the beach in a small town that offered surfing lessons, fire dancing, SCUBA, Spanish classes, and oh yeah, yoga. I signed up for fire, surf, and yoga as an after thought. Hey, after a day of surfing, I could use the stretch, right?
It was only when I got there that I realized how intense the yoga scene in Costa Rica is. I was in a class with people who'd been practicing for decades, or were teachers themselves, traveling to study with others. The first day I came to class I was asked what my perspective on yoga was, and I confidently said "A collection of really cool looking things that I can't do". And so it went, for 90 minutes, 6 days a week.
My second week in I finally figured out down-dog and was feeling pretty happy with myself, when a scheduling conflict with a bunch of other students meant that I would be getting an accidental private class. I was a little intimidated, the teacher had done little more than gently correct me, and now I was going to be alone in a room with her. Uh-oh.
"So why do you never stop moving?"
It was the first question she asked me. I blinked, but it was true - I am acclimatized to constant motion. As a teacher, hours spent in the classroom dealing with high-energy children, you have to be like a shark: stop moving and you're dead. Yet here I was on a mat, being asked to be still.
"Stop worrying about moving. Don't do what you think you need to do. Listen to your body, do what it asks of you. Start there, and build."
As we worked through the asanas, I found myself smiling, even in poses I found stressful like warrior three or hero, even crow. Giggles followed as I tumbled out of poses. At the end of practice, she asked me, "So, have you been listening? What does your body need?"
"Play. My body needs time to play."
So every time I come to class and the teacher says "If you'd like to set an intention for your practice..." I repeat it in my head. This is play. this is joy. This is my practice.
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