Wednesday, August 28, 2013

crying in cat stretch

There's no hiding on a yoga mat; no hiding from yourself.

Last night I managed to get to a class and as soon as I sat down I could feel my tiredness and my worry and my fear rushing to the surface. Everything that was pushed down came flooding out and...I just let it. I was crying in cat stretch and it looked like it had rained on my mat. 

Once standing and flowing through warrior sequence I was ok; I got out of my head and into my body and stayed there feeling grounded and strong. It was so good to get to a class as a student (with dirty fingerprints on my shirt and a tear-stained scarf around my neck). 

Afterwards, I welcomed ten pregnant women into the studio for a pre-natal practice. One woman, carrying her third baby, has been coming to my classes since she was 12weeks pregnant with her first. Just before I made my way to the front of the class I noticed a Peppa Pig sticker on her back. We laughed, talked about that piggy show and its beautiful values and then settled into stillness and quiet. 

Little Peppa made her way into the studio last night; the perfect metaphor for what we take onto the mat. When you do make it to a class, albeit after much organisation and perseverance, you carry everything in with you; your sore, tired body, your emotions (concern, fear, doubt, frustration), your thoughts and every. single. thing. that has happened in your day. As you practice, moving from gentle to dynamic asanas, you're given the opportunity to let it all go and to breathe it all out. And, if you do, you leave with a little more clarity, courage and gratitude. 

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