THUMBTOEARASANA (REDUX)

So, in class today I looked down to discover my feet were embedded with garden dirt.  I had worn my flip flops out to stomp around in the damp earth before class and didn't think to wash my feet before leaving the house.  Embarrassed!

Then it reminded me of this post, also an embarrassing moment in class.  I wrote this last year for my other blog, My View From Here, and Karen posted it at that time it on her website I think, or Facebook page, but if you didn't see it I thought I'd post it here again -- just to make you all feel better.

Some days I feel like the class clown!

Namaste...donnajurene
Photo Credit: Pixabay.com

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I recently got a nice little "Thank You" email from the Yoga studio where I practice, congratulating me on my anniversary with them.  I'm not sure which anniversary this is, but I'm guessing I've been going there fairly regularly for about 3 years.  Time is weird though; it could be 4...or 5?

Anyway, Yoga has become a regular part of my life.  I love it.  At least the Yoga I do at that studio with my favorite teachers.  It is a nice combination of ease and challenge, which is as it should be.  We move from one posture (asana) to the next in an easy transition that is slow and well-defined.  We hold some poses longer than others.  Sometimes we do a Kudalini-style where we more more quickly.  Sometimes there is a "flow", as in doing Sun Salutations, which takes one from standing to stomach and back to standing through various flowing movements. 

Yoga for me is a meditation.  I don't think too much about the "exercise" aspect of it, which I think is a very unfortunate Western definition of the practice.  It is not meant to be a "butt-blaster" routine... although who doesn't want that pert little "yoga butt"???

I say a silent mantra before stepping on my mat, making a commitment to mindfulness for the next hour and fifteen minutes.  I pay attention to my breathing, my thoughts, my body.  I try not to compete with the other students.  I try to find my "edge" -- that sweet spot where optimum effort is expended, but there is no undue stress or strain and certainly no pain.  I try to be aware of alignment. 

Sometimes I watch a brand new student and recall my first tries at Yoga.  I HATED IT!  I was in terrible shape and had no muscle strength and poor balance.  I was overweight and hated my body.  Yoga, I thought, was for the skinny, "jock" girls with no boobs and unnaturally flexible joints.  In fact, they probably had some congenital defect which allowed them to move into those pretzel-y shapes that no normal human could possibly attain.  Any pose that required me to put any weight at all on my arms or wrists ended in collapse.  And shame.  And anger.

And then, at a retreat with my long-time women's group, one of my 'sisters' led us in an early morning Yoga routine that was actually do-able!  She was funny and encouraging, plus I already loved and trusted her,  and was surrounded by other women who knew my deepest vulnerabilities already, so what did I have to lose?  And giving up all that Ego allowed me to just be with what was.  What was, was fun!  And I wanted more.

So that's when I joined the aforementioned Yoga studio.  Now, occasionally, I feel really competent.  Whoa!  Look at me!  I know how to do this and I do it well!  Oh, yeah, easy breezy!  Downward dog, cobra, eagle, pigeon -- I OWN those poses!  (Sort of...)

So, the other day I was doing some sort of twist (my favorite!) and reaching one arm overhead or ... I don't know... something...and realized when I went to move out of the pose that my thumb ring had become entwined with my fancy loopy earring and I was attached, thumb to earlobe, and could not untangle myself!

I had a moment of panic as I tried hard to disengage ring and earring, surreptitiously of course, and finally had to yank on my earring (bending it in the process) while simultaneously trying to remove my  ring, which seemed to be stuck on my fat thumb and would not budge, but by then I was ready to rip my thumb off if need be....

Finally it all just fell away; the earring lay in a bent mess on the floor, along with my thumb ring, still entwined.  And I moved on to sphinx pose, glancing around to see if anyone had witnessed my plight.  It didn't seem so...and then, suddenly, I just started giggling.

Thank you, Ego, for the smack down, this time appropriately.  Yoga is a practice of acceptance and I accept that sometimes I'm a Yoga-dork, even when I think I'm "all that". 

At least, that's the view from here... ©