a post about a pose
“Practice, Practice, Practice……..
and all is coming. ” This is a much cited quote from Sri Pattabhi Jois that has deep resonance for me. I started Yoga simply because it was offered at my gym and I was looking for a group exercise class to replace aerobics while my knee was on ice. Knowledge of the Practice quote , Sri Pattahbhi Jois and all things Yoga came later, as of course Jois predicted. What started as a pursuit of enhanced phsyical fitness became the pursuit of uncovering the spiritual heart .
Physical practice was easy. Naturally athletic and flexible it was easy for me to love the poses. Other elements of the Yoga practice such as breathing and sitting in silence were difficult if not painful . Slow exercises in non judgement self reflection were very new and disquieting to me. Lured by my adeptness in poses I conceded to the other components in class and before I knew what was happening, I was practicing, practicing, practicing….. and things started happening…..all was coming.
From my first Yoga Breath I began to move closer to my authentic self and my life began to improve. I learned to relax, to control my mind fluctuations ( or at least I learned to laugh when my mind diverted me from controling my fluctuations), to be less snippy, to be more helpful, to be more open. To share. To be part of something bigger than me. All was coming. The practice of the physical was my key into the world of Yoga. A huge universe of philosophy, physics, mystics, sages, subtle body, ayurvedic, amazing teachers, places and possibilitys My practice moved from something I did on a mat to something I did in life. From my Yoga practice sprang romance, home, job, community. Gratitude.
Sri Pattahbi Jois describes that the spiritual heart is surrounded by 6 poisons: desire,anger, delusion, greed, envy & sloth. Internal purification comes from posture, breathing and gaze and of course practice, practice practice…
All continues to come.
02/20/2008 at 9:58 am
wow cherie, this is such a great blog you have here. I am so happy to know that I can come to this site and read some fresh words. Keep up the good work
04/01/2008 at 11:05 am
“And all things come”. It never ceases to amaze me how universally true the wisdom of the Yogis is. I too started Yoga just looking for another P.E. class. What I have come to is totally different. Yoga has not only allowed a better way of being to enter my life, but also to let negative ways of being out.
I used to revel in the aggressiveness of weight training. As an aggressive, at times angry, young woman the combativeness of weight training was very alluring. I enjoyed the competition with my self, pushing harder than I should and sometimes with injury as a result.
Then I came to Yoga. And with it came ahisma. I do not pretend to have mastered or even begun to master this principle, but the idea has changed my life. I have found that by embracing rather than fighting my body I can achieve much more. Instead of attacking myself with all effort and no ease, I have discovered that in the balance is true bliss.
The same can be said for my life outside of physical fitness. I find myself blaming others and myself less when things do not go as planned, and instead accepting that situations arise. In the storm of events outside of our Yoga “womb” I can be calm AND powerful.
It is so exciting to see what one year of Yoga has brought to my life. I am very excited to see what else will come with practice.
04/22/2008 at 8:57 pm
Hello to all! Nice web page cheri! This is Jen (with the red hair)!
I grew up out in the middle of nowhere. My parents to this day live off the grid on 40 acres that is 24 miles from town. Which is why it still has that clean forest smell. I used to ride my bike all over the mountains back there. Two miles from my house there was a family who own 160 acres of the most beautiful land I have ever seen. It has a waterfall on it that looks like a postcard picture seen. After I went for long rides I would stop at the falls to swim and cool off. The family’s middle daughter, who was about 24 when I met her, started to go with me.She was a dancer and knew a lot of yoga. At the bottom of the falls there was a round pool with a rock in the center and off to the side in the shade there was a flat rock that was about 10×10 ft in size. It is here that I would be introduced to yoga and belly dance. I bring up both because I feel that they together have made me the person that I am today. I have been doing both for about 17 years. I played with them at first until I was in a car accident. My sister and I were hit by a druck driver who killed her. I came out of it with 12 broken bones. Including my back and both of my arms. My doctor says that doing yoga and dance are the reasons Im doing as good as I am. Three back surgeries later and I now have degenerative bone disorder, I am only 31 years old. I want to boogie well into my 90’s and live to see my grandkids boogie down too!I have gone to several doctors and to chiropractors, you name it. But it wasn’t until I met Cheri that I felt like I was actually repairing things. She taught me how to be my own chiropractor. I would come into class feeling like my lower back and maybe my left shoulder was out, and she would somehow know what I needed. Yoga has become such a huge part of my life. My body needs it.
I resently was asked to help with an art day at my daughter’s elementary school. My long time friend and dance partner Tommie taught and belly dance class and I did a yoga class. For 3 hours we had shifts of kids from 5 up to 13. It was so much fun. I told them how important breath was, and led them through a small meditation, I can’t say that they actually did it, but it was so cute to see them try. They were really into it. I led them through some poses then we joined together for some partner poses. Partner boat was a hit! They loved it and every class asked to do it again before our time was up. Keep up the good work everyone! Thank you Cheri. I honor you and what you have taught me. Namaste
05/01/2008 at 9:24 am
after the birth of my son, i became ever more appreciative of the gifts yoga so lovingly provides. when i found out i was pregnant, i told myself that i was going to be this amazing yoga momma. well, that was the egotistical–yet hopeful–self speaking, because not much yoga was done during this pregnancy. however, i had been practicing devoutly for a few years prior and it came in so handy during labor and birth, that i know in my heart that i couldn’t have gotten through a natural, drug-free birth without it. many times i found myself coming back to a mantra of submission. (i could almost hear cherie chanting in the background.) after about a 12 hour trance my husband and i had this beautiful chunk of a boy, whom is now learning to roll over by using bridge pose innately. yoga has so many gifts to share and i cannot wait to share them with my son.
01/23/2009 at 6:54 pm
Cherie,
What a wonderful reminder: Practice, practice, practice. My practice ebbs and flows but as others have mentioned, I return to it again and again, especially in challenging moments, when I need to breathe, or center or stretch (literally and figuratively). I love knowing I can find you here on your bog when my practice wavers. The call of your voice always helps me practice.
ph
03/11/2009 at 7:16 pm
Cherie! That is beautiful. We find out paths in such amazing ways. Through movement we find purpose. I always thought it would be the other way around, but yoga has taught me different.