"How are you?", my teacher Edith asked. To put it mildly, life off the mat has been hectic, I texted back. Just after I had jumpstarted my yoga practice with a week of Mysore mornings with John Scott and counted led classes every Sunday with Becky, first quarterly examination reviewing and then my Lola's passing kept me...occupied.
Instead of getting all testy about being unable to practice, I recall one of JS' workshops here in Manila, his earliest in 2009 I believe, when he said that yoga asanas are not simply those learned in the ashtanga vinyasa yoga series, from first to fifth. There are countless asanas-more than 72,000 in fact-which cannot be taught. Why? Because a person's every moment of life is considered an asana. Seeing the collective nodding, John didn't really elaborate but I think he had meant that yoga is life because one strives to find balance in every waking or unconscious moment. That's just how I got it and that's been the definition of yoga that resonates in me and which has become most indelible among all of John's lectures.
I suppose that's also been why I haven't been so hung up about missing practice at the shala...although I do pine for the company of like-minded individuals. A lack of socialization is one of the "hazards" of the job of teacher-Moms.
So I'm really excited about seeing the yogis tomorrow evening for the Cloud Atlas screening. Have been anticipating this latest film by the Andy and Lana Wachowski, whom I really look up to for giving us the brilliant Matrix Trilogy. Om.
