Bright lights, big city, and bakasana

I flew out to Chicago a few days ago to visit my boyfriend. He's away from California on tour all summer and had a few days off in between shows and as luck would have it, I had a break in my schedule. He graciously offered to send me a ticket to join him in Chi town. The trip was an unplanned and unexpected delight. It all sort of came about last minute.

You might say that I'm a disciplined and regimented person. I'm a planner. Seven years of practicing yoga has mellowed me considerably, but interestingly enough it is through teaching yoga that I'm really learning  to be less rigid. I think one reason that One Breath is such a breakthrough experience for me is because it is the first time that I've taught where I don't follow a strict series. On one hand it takes a lot of planning, but on the other hand, it leaves space wide open to take opportunities that present themselves. Kira helps me design the blueprint of the classes and during training we were encouraged to tap into the energy of the class and riff off of that. In last Saturday's One Breath class I had a wonderful experience in trying that out. 

I taught Bakasana, a challenging pose for new and seasoned practitioners alike. We played for a few moments with the pose with a lot of variation on how far people got into it. I sensed an air of frustration so I decided to break from my 'plan' and roll them on to their backs and put them into Bakasana in supine. Its a lot easier and everybody could get it. It was a big crowd pleaser and it got everybody on the same page again and we flowed as one class the rest of the practice. For me teaching is a big lesson in being in the moment and taking chances in the mystery of the unexpected. It is a grand opportunity for me to practice true intimacy.

Last night in Chicago our lovely friends Sandy and Paul took me and boyfriend to the White Sox game. It was exceptionally thrilling to be sitting just a few rows up on the line between third base and home. I mean you could see the whites of the players eyes.  It took me a while to settle in with the players. Part of me felt like a two time lover stepping out on my home team, the Texas Rangers. Some sort of weird loyalty throw back to my Texan roots. As I sat there shelling ballpark peanuts and pondering why a 30 year old attachment was still alive and kicking, I started to hone in on the energy of the players. I started to connect the idea that these guys are all yogis in White Sox uniforms. They have the blueprint of the game, but are totally in the moment. Then I heard the bat crack. Swisher hit a home run. Not only a home run but it was a grand slam. The faces of the players, the revelry of the crowd, the whole stadium went crazy and for a few glorious moments we were all one. Well, I'm not sure the opposing team was all that thrilled, but you get my point. 

What's funny about this experience is that I'm not a huge baseball fan. But when that grand slam took place I was screaming, jumping up and down, and high five-ing as if I'd just done full splits with a backward bend. I was full on in the moment and in the flow of life around me. I was practicing yoga and there was no yoga mat for miles around.  It don't think I could have planned a more exciting evening. Or, for that matter, an exciting life. I'm so grateful to the practice of yoga for teaching me to go with the flow so I can appreciate life in its entirety, from teaching Bakasana to observing a baseball game and all the random and unplanned moments in between.