Health & Fitness
And Now, Ladies and Gentlemen...
Chalk it up to being a theatre major. Or to being a perfectionist. Whatever the cause, there is always something in me that feels like there’s an audience every time I step onto my mat. They sit there, invisible, waiting with their popcorn or their playbills, for something spectacular.
“Step right up, ladies and gentlemen,” a voice cries, “watch and be awestruck by the wonders you are about to behold! Mystical marvels, physical feats of every stripe—bending and twisting and contortions galore!”
Um, but that’s not what I—
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“She’ll stand on her hands!”
Well, maybe, but—
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“She’ll stand on her head!”
Actually, um—
“She’ll levitate!”
What?!
I’ll tell you what--some days, it’s enough to make me want to step right off the mat again.
But who are those audience members? What sort of feat of physical, mental, or spiritual daring-do are they expecting, and where did they get the idea there was even a show going on in the first place?
When I finally get the ringmaster to quiet down, I realize where they all came from: the fluctuations of my mind. They are all vrttis, spinning thoughts, from dreams or memories or flights of fancy—but none of them are real. And none of them—nor the expectations I have imbued them with—have anything to do with yoga. Or any other task that may be at hand, for that matter.
In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, we learn that yoga is the stilling of those fluctuations, those vrttis. It is recognizing them for what they are so as to be able to move beyond them. And what is beyond all the mental machinations about what is going on right now? Well… simply, what is going on right now. The thing itself. The moment itself. Patanjali begins his Yoga Sutras with the words “atha yoga anusasanam”: “And now for the subject of yoga.” Atha means “and now,” but not in a theatrical sense of presenting a spectacle to an audience. Atha is the continual presentation of now, of the moment, a dawning light, the next breath. There’s no room and no time in atha for all of those vrttis, all of the baggage of the past and the anxieties of the future. There is only this, here, now. And so maybe today I will stand on my head, or maybe I will sit quietly and marvel that I breathe. Whatever happens, it is happening now, and it answers to no audience. It simply is.
Kirsten Brooks is a Teacher-in-Training at The Yoga Space in Ann Arbor.Each week one of the teachers at the Yoga Space shares her thoughts and experiences in this blog. The Yoga Space is a studio just east of Dexter serving Saline, Chelsea, Manchester and Ann Arbor. We have been helping people with their flexibility, strength, focus and stress management for over 14 years. We offer a free class the last Friday of each month from 6-7 pm. 180 Little Lake Dr #1 Ann Arbor, MI, 48103. www.yogaspaceannarbor.com 734-622-9600