I had a teacher once who used to say, "The answer to every question or any problem is always, "More love, more yoga". We've taken 5 classes each (sampling different classes and different teachers). I finally found one that I like! Her name is Tanya Kaps and I've been to both her Morning Flow and Vinyasa Flow classes. It isn't so much the physical postures she leads us through that I like so much, its the concentration on breath and the words she uses to invite deeper breathing and concerntration. For example, she likens our bodies to braeth pumps, reminding students to inhale to energize and exhale to relax and deepen. It seems simple. We can't forget to breathe, but its easy to forget to pay attention to the quality of our breathe in each moment.
So if more love and more yoga is the answer, what's the question? For me it's learning to pay attention, to deepen my sense of intuition and gratitude, and not trying to fill every moment with an activitiy. (An example of how I forget to pay attention? Well we arrived in Bali, after hours of traveling, and I immediatly left my journal on the plane - thankfully they have found it and we'll pick it up on our way to Thailand). Another example you may ask? Well, when getting rupi from an ATM I left my bank card in the ATM, and the machine thankfully sucked it in. (This is part of the reason we're staying in Ubud - we have to wail until Monday to get the card back). I have a few (ha!) more examples from before we even left on the trip but you get the picture of how I could benefit from "more love, more yoga".
Althought Tanya is great, the best teachers are never the obvious ones standing in front of the class. I am thankful to Ace who in the midst of my panic over the bank card said, "quit being so hard on yourself" and reminded me to slow down my thoughts about it. I'm also thankful to my mother who reminded me that this is not a new experience. Years ago I left my wallet on a plane and was lucky that they found it then and returned it quickly. Such is life, we find that the things we need are already here and the rest of the stuff just falls into place when we stop trying so hard.
Generally speaking slowing down is difficult for me at times because life is so interesting and I want to do it all! Here, we're also surrounded by so much interesting culture. Thursday night we went to see the Kecak Fire and Trance Dance at Pura Taman Sari, a story from the Ramayana that includes a performer dancing around a fire of coconuts, then kicking them through the stage and walking on the coals). Friday night we checked out the Ecstatic Dance at Yoga Barn which I would not recommend. Let's just say we're going to stick to the yoga and Community Talks (tonight's is on Yoga and Self Realization) and perhaps some more performances.
Headed back to the pool now to join Ace in swimming, sitting in the shade, and do a little more reading... maybe challenge her to a game of chess.
