Mind The Gap

If you’ve ever been to the UK and taken the tube, you’re familiar with the admonition to “mind the gap” (the space between the train and the platform).  I didn’t realize this was probably a personal subliminal message to me for the last two and a half weeks, as even my best friend’s daughter Mathilde kept saying “Mind the Gap!”

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