Yoga On and Off the Mat

Yoga today brought words that have resonated throughout the day.  "Pay attention to the ordinary and enjoy the feeling that comes from the noticing of the ordinary.  Where in the ordinary can you feel joy?" asked the instructor.  In different poses she prompted us to notice the ordinary.  She asked if muscles were being used that we might not notice and in the noticing was pleasurable.  I found myself noticing my toes and my calfs and my shoulders during part of the practice.  Sometimes in the stretch.  Sometimes in the stillness.  Sometimes in the holding of a pose.  Noticing a part of my body allowed me in my practice to feel the pleasure of the stretch, the stillness and the holding.  Can this be brought from the mat to life?

This afternoon I took walk around the pond.  The weather was quite cold and the sun was shining and the brisk walk felt fresh against my skin.  I took the principles practiced on the mat earlier that morning to the walk, allowing myself to notice the ordinary and have that ordinary penetrate into something not noticed to pleasurable.  The blue of the sky.  The cold air against skin.  The movement of my legs as my feet moved along the pavement.   The song of birds chattering in a distant tree.  All ordinary, but with eyes that see and ears that hear and skin that feels, the imagination opens to see beyond, and the ordinary becomes extraordinary.

Twice today in intentional ways, the ordinary becomes pleasurable.  What usually would pass unnoticed becomes known and takes on a different meaning.  Yoga and life merges.

Thank you to the Two Writing Teachers community for your promotion of the March Writers' Challenge.  Thanks for giving writers and educators a forum for writing and responding.  Your service to education is valued and appreciated.