Finding pleasure in our practice

Yesterday I went to the Credit Union, and the teller, who appeared to be about 25 years old, asked me an unexpected question. I had expected to hear "How are you?" Instead he said, "Are you having a good day?"

I was, and I told him so. He replied, rather unassumingly, "So am I." And I thought how unusual for him to offer that to me without my asking first how his day was going. I thought to myself, "What a lovely exchange."

He went on to say "When you're having a good day, I'm having a good day." And I felt as if I was watching a replay of a great movie line. I noticed myself getting slightly cynical and wondered if he was reciting a script from his job training.

I left wondering if he was being genuine or only playing out his training. I noticed my mind getting more narrow.

Today I told the story to someone and she replied, "Yes! I used to be a grocery store clerk, and if the customers were having a good day, I had a good day. The teller at the credit union was being sincere."

How readily my friend took the high road. How readily I got skeptical.

Where do I take the high road with my body and my practice? Where do I run towards cynicism in order to get smaller and supposedly safe? And you?

Healthy Bones Yoga

Bone health is more easily maintained than recreated after it fails. Yet research shows that bones DO improve after certain kinds of yoga practice, even bones weakened by osteopenia and osteoporosis.

Join me for a 6-week series on Wednesday mornings, 7 to 8 a.m. at Mound Street Yoga Center, 1342 Mound Street in Madison. Dates: Oct. 12, 19, 26 and Nov. 2, 9, 16.

The course fee includes extensive handouts with visuals of each pose, including chair and standing/floor versions of each. Chair and standing/floor versions will be taught in class.

Suggestions for structuring a home practice also will be offered.

Register at www.moundstreetyoga.com and click on CLASSES.

Looking forward to having you join me.

Diana Nyad comments

Before Diana Nyad attempted her swim from Cuba to Florida, she spoke about mind over matter and how that's what would get her to the goal.

When she quit the swim, half way through, trembling and weak, dehydrated and more, she said "There's no mind over matter any more."

How do we approach our bodies? Do we push them around with our mental agenda, or do we form a partnership with them, letting them have equal say in our daily lives?

I've lived a long time of mind over matter and have found there are consequences, much as Diana Nyad has discovered. I am welcoming this time of learning to establish a balance.

Success? Some times each day but not consistently. Practice? Daily; it's the only way I know of to reach the desired result.

Continuing to look

In my home practice, I find that the breath either enters or does not enter quite specific areas of my body. Watching that area sometimes opens it up so that the breath enters. Other times, the great virtue of the community becomes evident as I surrender to the teaching of many others. Our community is rich with highly skilled practitioners and teachers. This weekend I will be repeating Cathy Holway's basic course, learning again how to hold space in a body with complete respect for the client's pace and neurology.

The rhythms of the body are many: the breathing, the heart and circulation, lymph movement, and the cranial-sacral fluid. What does it feel like when the rhythms are in synch with each other, and we surrender to the wisdom of our body's vast complexity?

Satya or Honesty

Beyond the yoga postures, we find another 7 limbs to yoga. The first, called yamas, has several components including satya or honesty. Can you feel truth in your body when you speak? Does your voice change when you speak truth? What about in a yoga posture or asana? When does the truth tell you that you're pushing yourself too far or competing with others in the room at the expense of protecting your well-being?

What about in your home? Where is the honesty of who you are reflected? Is that truth of yourself deflected by collections of incomplete projects? What does truth look like in your life? Journal your truth. Dance it. Asanate it. Collage it. Keep it up until you fine tune what you know is your higher self. Namaste.

When does your breathing change?

I notice that after eating a meal, my breathing becomes less full and more anxiety prone. My ability to inhale and feel my belly extend is compromised. Perhaps the way to tell if I'm truly hungry is when my breathing returns to fully relaxed and complete. What compromises your breathing, and what do you do to restore it?