Tag: daily lessons

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Planting new seeds

Spring flowers by the lake

I love being a student. I love learning new things – new skills, ideas, perspectives. When I do something I’ve never done before, I feel awake and fully present, my attention squarely focused on the moment in which I find myself. It could be almost anything – hiking a new trail, exploring a new city, learning a new language. Our experiences shape who we are day by day and moment by moment; we are always evolving, integrating what we learn and experience into our body of knowledge and adjusting how we interact with ourselves and others accordingly. If we approach each new person/place/idea/experience with an open mind and heart, we can invite their lessons deep within to help us grow, to broaden our horizons and expand our view of the world around us.

I recently attended a conference and had the good fortune to study with some exceptional teachers. I chose sessions that I sensed would offer new ideas and perspectives on familiar topics, as well as some that were largely unknown to me, and I was not disappointed. I learned about a lineage of yoga called Purna Yoga that was created by Aadil Palkhivala, who jokes that he began practicing with B.K.S. Iyengar while in the womb (his parents were having fertility issues and went to Iyengar for help; after four months of practice with him, Aadil was conceived, and both his parents and Aadil continued to practice with him for many years to come). I studied hip health and explored a Purna practice created to support long-term hip mobility and stability. I learned about Thai yoga massage and self-massage, seeing meridian theory from a different perspective and gaining a deeper understanding of the power of hands-on body work. I rolled around in the world of therapy balls, learning more about the role they can play in analysing and improving strength, flexibility and range of motion in our myofascial structures. And I had the opportunity to study with an anatomy expert I have followed for many years (Leslie Kaminoff), diving into lively discussion and practice on bones, muscles and structural diversity, as well as breath-centered yoga and the bandhas. What an extraordinary few days!

After taking in all this new information, I let it settle. I assimilate and integrate what I have learned into my experience, where it can inform my practice and my teaching, where it can help me grow and develop. New seeds have been planted. Some will sprout and flourish, guiding me in new directions on my path, whereas others might not take root or blossom only briefly, as their lessons do not resonate as deeply or with the same relevance to where I am heading on my journey. That’s the beauty of learning – we open our minds and hearts to what an experience can teach us and we have the opportunity to listen and look within, to notice what touches us deeply, what lights us up, what changes our perspective or challenges our preconceptions. We can disregard the lessons, let them roll off us with no effect, or we can welcome them in and see what happens to the way we view ourselves and the world.

In spring we are surrounded by new growth, with budding trees and flowers beginning to bloom. What a perfect metaphor for our own opportunity to grow! My recent studies have sown a healthy handful of seeds, with more to come I’m sure, and I look forward to tending them and seeing what fruit they might bear. As the natural world wakes up around you, what seeds do you wish to plant? What unexpected wonders might they bring your way?

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A lifetime of learning

This weekend I had the extraordinary privilege of studying with Father Joe Pereira. A Catholic priest for 51 years, Father Joe also studied closely with B.K.S. Iyengar for more than 40 years. He has been sharing the wisdom and healing power of Iyengar yoga around the world, while harnessing its therapeutic benefits to treat addiction and manage HIV/AIDS at the 69 treatment centres run by Kripa Foundation, which he founded in 1981 (http://www.kripafoundation.org/).

For those who are unfamiliar, B.K.S. Iyengar is widely known in the West as the father of modern yoga. The form of Hatha yoga he introduced is firmly rooted in the eight-limbed path set out for us by the sage Patanjali around 400 CE.  Iyengar yoga is often thought of as alignment-based asana, but it is so much more than a physical alignment practice – guided by the moral and ethical compass of the Yamas and Niyamas, it seeks to align the external body with the internal environment; it enables us to forge a union of body, mind and spirit, and from that place of union we can discover our connection to the Universe, to the God of our understanding, to that which is greater than ourselves.  We come to realise that we are not separate from one another; this existence is shared, and we must live it together with compassion and lovingkindness.

To me, the importance of lifelong learning cannot be overstated.  Our minds and bodies thrive when we are learning something new.  Though I am a teacher of yoga and meditation, I will always be first and foremost a student.  I try to approach each day with an open heart and an open mind, receptive to whatever lessons that day may bring.  When I take a class, a workshop, or training, I invite a beginner’s mind as I explore with wonder all that is being shared.  In the presence of someone with such depth and breadth of knowledge like Father Joe, who is extraordinarily wise, compassionate, humble, and kind, I am filled with gratitude for his teachings; like a sponge I absorb all of the wisdom he shares and welcome it deep within my bones, deep into my heart so that it may infuse and inform my practice and my daily life on and off the mat.

There are lessons to be learned in every moment – we need only pay attention and open ourselves to the wisdom in the world around us.  When we learn something new it changes our perspective; we look at our life, or aspects of it, in a different way.  These teachings can come to us in myriad forms, through myriad channels, anytime and anywhere.  Though we can have powerful learning experiences in formal settings like courses and workshops, some of the most profound lessons come when we least expect them – in our encounters with friends and loved ones, with unfamiliar people and places, when we are communing with nature.  The common denominator between all of these learning opportunities is that we have opened ourselves to possibility, and we have done so with presence, with mindful awareness, with a willingness to release our attachment to what was and welcome something new.

For these latest teachings from Father Joe, I am deeply grateful.  When you look back upon your life, at the important lessons you have learned, who are the teachers and what are the experiences that taught you most?  For even the seemingly small lessons we can give humble thanks, for every lesson we learn informs our journey, shapes who we are, and helps us determine the next step along our path.