THE EVOLUTION OF A YOGA REVOLUTION
Note: This is a posting from the Back Bay Yoga Blog, www.bbashtanga.wordpress.com. I will continue to make personal posts on one-yoga, about once a month.
OK, I'm back (sort of). In Rudolf Steiner's philosophy, the Ethereal Body (kind of like Pranamaya Kosha, as I understand it) follows after the Physical body (Annamaya Kosha) when we travel. It can be a few weeks for the Prana to catch up with the Anna. Thanks for bearing with me, I'm excited to be back. And do you know, Back Bay Ashtangis, you are the context for my yoga these days. Stepping into "teacher space" is a different lifestyle than I have been having. Scot and I were pondering yesterday the differences between our lifestyles and the way of living here in New England. We are working on the reality of keeping daily life simple. The desire to fill the space of my days comes strongly whenever I am here. When I am simply sitting, I hear an old voice inside saying, "what's your life about Kate? What are you DOING?"
Indeed, what are any of us DOING. Well, we are practicing yoga- among many other things. This means many things to many people, yes? What does it mean to you?
What Scot and I work to remember is that "I" am not DOING anything.
A great tale about Sri Ramana Maharishi of South India: When called in as a witness to the local court about a stolen cow, the judge dismissed Maharishi as a witness because, "there is no one here to question." Maharishi kept answering, "I" saw nothing. "I" know nothing. The yoga gives us an opportunity to tap into a reality where the Ego-Mind is not running the show. The more that we settle into stillness, the more we remember what we ARE. We are IT, man. The modern yoga practitioner is a revolutionary. It's truly beautiful and exciting. I am inspired to see you all in there daily doing this work, committing to a remembrance of a deeper, clearer, more simple reality.
The busier daily life gets, the more challenging this is. I slowly slowly reintegrate here, watching the tendencies of the Ego-Mind to start filling the space. I check in with the way life can be here, the daily grind, and I respect you all more and more. I feel called to hold this space of a simple life in Boston (of all places!), remaining committed to this particular expression of yoga. Thanks to you all for your support in this.
