Last night, I felt like myself for the first time in a long time. I went to my first yoga class in Charleston, and it was like a dream. It had only been about five weeks since I’d practiced in a studio, but it seemed like a lifetime. I can’t express how much I needed it. I realized that a yoga studio is one of the few familiar places in my life right now.
The studio was charming and warm (literally and figuratively). The teacher had all the qualities I look for in a teacher–she was kind, funny, and wove just the right amount of philosophy and wisdom into her teaching. (Heck, I even liked her outfit!) Although, after I’d been deprived of yoga classes for so long I think I would’ve loved a teacher who didn’t have all of those great qualities. But it doesn’t matter. My drishti is focused, my chakras are aligned, I’ve got my mat back, my favorite yoga pants are no longer in a suitcase…
Ladies and Gentlemen, Spoiled Yogi is back! (And more stylish than ever!)
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Random Things I’m Pondering (Thoughts from My Meditation Cushion):
1. What is home, anyway?
2. Are yoga studios the same all over the country or am I just so lucky I happen to f?ind all the good ones?
3. Are my elbows dry because I’ve been spending so much time typing on my laptop in Sphinx Pose? Or am I just getting old-person skin?
4. What defines us? Is it the company we keep? The work that we do? Or are we really all the same energy? (And if so, shouldn’t we all feel good about ourselves knowing we share energy with people like Angelina Jolie, Elizabeth Gilbert, and Oprah.
5. Speaking of Oprah, if I hung out with her everyday for an entire year, do you think some of her confidence and charisma would rub off on me?
6. Why is it that we have such a hard time being present in our bodies, but we almost never gaze out more than a few feet ahead of ourselves in yoga class? (I got this one from my class last night. So true!)
7. Why is it that 5 minutes seems like SUCH a long time when you’re sitting to meditate for the first time in a while, but a 5-minute break to take a walk during lunch is like over in a flash!?
Please share your ponderings with me!
Hooray! Always excited to read your new blog posts 🙂 Also glad to hear that you are settling well in SC.
1) Home is a concept, a feeling – not a location 🙂
2) You are lucky 😉 I've been to some great & not-so-great yoga studios. Maybe you just have good taste or natural instinct for picking the best places for where you are.
3) Old person skin? You!? No way – it is probably from typing in that position; the same thing used to happen to me all the time.
4) Ooohh, this is a tough one – and certainly something that could be pondered & discussed many times. What defines us truly varies, but in the end, our definitions are chosen by us. To the energy of the universe, our jobs and friends don't mean squat – just the type of energy we give off.
5) I bet so, yes, but I'm sure she has her down days too.
6) Hmmm, interesting; I'd never noticed that before. When practicing yoga, I can find other people to be very distracting – maybe that is why folks don't look at each other much? Is it possible to still be present without using your eyes to experience your current moment? What about our other senses?
7) Ah – now this is an eternal mystery. 🙂
Yeah I agree with Victoria on 2) – I've been in some that you want to take a bath in Bactine afterwards.
7) My theory – time is slowed or sped up by how much your mind is engaged or not. Take childhood – everything is new and a summer vacation lasted forever. Adults it's same ole same ole and it whizzes by.
Now in meditation our mind is free to experience again and that gives us the sense of time slowing down.
Welcome back Spoiled
You're definitely lucky to have found a great studio and teacher on the first try. I had to try a ton of places when I moved before I found "the one." Isn't it nice to be back?
Victoria, I always love your comments! I think you definitely nailed answers to many of my silly questions!
Frenzy, I think you're right.. but I still think time is a funny thing. I don't get it.
Everyone, Either I'm really lucky or have really low standards… I think it must be the former. 🙂