For those who’ve been keeping up with my Facebook posts, you know I’ve
been in London for the two week inaugural Tripsichore PLUS Practice training
course with my teacher, Edward Clark of Tripsichore
Yoga. In summary, I was plagued with
various and intense pains and an injury- to read the full first week in review
click HERE. At first it was very difficult to stay in the
practice, and I would occasionally stop to skip a pose or two. Edward encouraged me to stay with the vinyasa
of it (the “gap”, if you will), even if I wasn’t doing the poses exactly, and
that would allow me to stay with the breath.
So that’s what I did.
But the uber lesson for me came from the intensity of sensation moving
through mundane daily tasks. Now I was
suddenly aware of how my arms had to move to do simple things like fold
laundry, and now that I’m home, shift gears in my car. It’s been an abrupt and vivid recognition of
how I favor one arm in general, and now that I’m injured, how I have
automatically adjusted the asymmetry to favor the other arm, especially in
movement.
The physical discomfort required that I intentionally slow
down and become mindful of the gap or transition between positions and physical
goals. Moreover, to give more weight to
how I move from one thing to the next than the starting and ending point. There’s an obvious Life metaphor here, and at
the risk of being patronizing, can you imagine what it would be like to be this
intentional all of the time with everything? Sometimes Life demands it- through injury,
grief and the like, but most times we get to choose our level of Mindfulness to
the Gap. What’s become clear to me is
that, especially as a vinyasa practitioner- one who purportedly holds the “Gap”
paramount- is that it’s far less important WHAT I’m doing than HOW I do it and
how I get from one place to the next.
This applies to EVERYTHING- the practice, physical and mental movements,
relationships, my Life’s Path, the list goes on.
Regrettably, it’s caused me to further reflect on how my
habitual drive and myopic focus has been a detriment to my experience of Life, and
how I’ve missed out on the much more interesting understanding and lessons of
the Gap. In my opinion, this is where
all the real yoga takes place, even when it’s not fun. So, until I see you again, please “Mind the
Gap” on the tube and in Life.
In the Gap,
Liz//LizDoyleYoga.com
P.S. If you’re interested in working with Edward personally,
please join us the weekend of October 5-6, 2013 for a weekend of extended
practices, workshops and lectures. Click
HERE
for more info.
P.P. S. If you'd like to take class with me, I offer 8 classes per week at Seattle Yoga Shala, and you can get more info HERE
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