I get asked a lot about why I do yoga. Which is a lot like asking someone why they breathe. Because I have to. Because it feels good. Because I would die if I didn't.
For those of you who have tasted the yoga mango (to use a metaphor popular in the Anusara crowd), you know the answer to that question. You also know that answer is hard to quantify with words. There's this oomph. This je ne sais quoi about yoga. That you just can't explain.
Like a mango. I can tell you all about a mango. How to grow it. What it looks like. I can show you the tree. Even let you hold the fruit in your hand. But until you've actually tasted the mango you have no idea what exactly a mango is.
Moving here and joining this kula has been like putting a completely new fruit in my mouth. I thought I knew what yoga was. That I was pretty decent at it. That I had a pretty firm grasp on the alignment principles and how they felt in my body.
Boy was I wrong. Turns out I hadn't even begun to sink my teeth fully into the fruit.
This kula is full of people who eat marathons for breakfast. Who hike and bike and generally kick nature's butt on a regular basis. I, I am not, one of those people (yet).
So, when in the first fifteen minutes of class Bridget calls one minute handstands and everyone springs up, I look around in wonder (and jealousy, and awe, and I'll admit it a small amount of hatred). Because I can't do that (yet). And it pisses my Valedictorian of Everything off.
I like to be good. To excel. To master something. And here, I'm so the low man on the totem pole. I huff and puff and sweat while everyone else effortlessly glides through a practice using a blanket instead of a sticky mat (which should classify as a form of torture, just so you know).
But then I come back to the mango. And how sweet it is. And how nice it is to taste something for the very first time. And I laugh at myself when I fall out of Sirsasana onto my butt. Because how cool is that?
I have a whole new fruit to explore.
I can't wait to see what it's like. Even if it does make me say cuss words every once in awhile!
Love you,
Sara
Love it!!!
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