Yoga

Last September my friend Elizabeth and I started taking a Yoga I class. As I have said before, I am not very flexible and running for the past five years has not helped. I loved the yoga class, I loved the instructor, I loved the workout but mostly I loved the meditation. At the beginning and end of the class the instructor would read/tell a story or a quote. It made me think about how I approached life and I always felt so peaceful when I left. One of my favorite stories was Play the Ball Where the Monkey Drops It:

“The story is told of a golf course in India. Apparently, once the English had colonized the country and established their businesses, they yearned for recreation and decided to build a golf course in Calcutta. Golf in Calcutta presented a unique obstacle. Monkeys would drop out of the trees, scurry across the course, and seize the golf balls. The monkeys would play with the balls, tossing them here and there.

At first, the golfers tried to control the monkeys. Their first strategy was to build high fences around the fairways and greens. This approach, which seemed initially to hold much promise, was abandoned when the golfers discovered that a fence is no challenge to an ambitious monkey. Next, the golfers tried luring the monkeys away from the course. But the monkeys found nothing as amusing as watching humans go wild whenever their little white balls were disturbed. In desperation, the British began trapping the monkeys. But for every monkey they carted off, another would appear. Finally, the golfers gave in to reality and developed a rather novel ground rule: Play the ball where the monkey drops it.

As you can imagine, playing this unique way could be maddening. A beautiful drive down the center of the fairway might be picked up by a monkey and then dropped in the rough. Or the opposite could happen. A hook or slice that had produced a miserable lie might be flung onto the fairway. It did not take long before the golfers realized that golf on this particular course was very similar to our experience of life. There are good breaks, and there are bad breaks. We cannot entirely control the outcome of the game.”

Soon after I found out I was pregnant I realized I wouldn’t be able to stay in the Yoga I class. While we were not doing extreme yoga poses, there was always this voice in my head asking if the pose was appropriate for someone who was pregnant. It took me a while to work up the nerve to transfer to the pre-natal class. I was worried that I wasn’t pregnant enough (as if there is such a thing) or I wouldn’t be accepted by the class since I was joining late. I guess I thought there was a secret pregnancy handshake. But mostly I was worried I would miss the stories, inspirational quotes, and the opportunity to sit back and reflect on me.

Side note: as I transferred to a pre-natal class, my friend Elizabeth transferred to a Yoga 2 class. I jokingly told her that as she was promoted to the next level I was sent to the remedial class!

So, today I attended the pre-natal class. I really didn’t want to go but forced myself because I paid money for this session. I was in the class for about five minutes and the instructor started telling a story and read a passage from a book. I immediately knew this is where I needed to be. I was playing the ball where the monkey dropped it even though I resisted for weeks.

The class is a lot less strenuous than the Yoga I class but still a good workout. The toughest part of the class is the last stretch. The instructor calls it “torture-vasana” because it is not a traditional yoga pose. The pose consists of sitting cross-legged on the yoga mat and raising both arms above your head in the shape of a U. Now hold it for three minutes. Yes, three minutes. Within 30 seconds the bloods starts draining out of your arms and your fingers start tingling. Supposedly the pose is about how we deal with pain. Feel free to give it a try; it is not as easy as it sounds.

I will leave with the quote from the end of today’s class:

“Who is your enemy? Mind is your enemy.
Who is your friend? Mind is your friend.
Learn the ways of the mind.
Tend the mind with care.”
~Buddha

Namaste