Trikonasana – Virabhadrasana – Parsvakonasana
It’s a beautiful spring morning as I enter the sunny yoga
studio on Grosvenor Street. I’m greeted
with cheerful good mornings as I take an Angel Card: “Alignment”. I frown.
Not quite as inspirational as I would have hoped. I find a pen and sign my name onto the studio
list. “You write your name as if you
were left handed.” My yoga teacher observes.
“I am left-handed.” I reply. And relate the quirky story of how I came to
write with my right hand. In
kindergarten my teacher took on the arduous task of teaching 29 children (all
armed with scissors) to cut along a straight line. “Raise the hand you like to use best!” She asked us.
29 little hands went up, 2 of which were left. “I think it would be easier for this exercise
if you were all right handed.” And then
I was! Not only am I naturally
left-handed; I am also naturally very compliant.
Trikonasana – Virabhadrasana – Parsvakonasana
“Ha. Ha.” Says my
yoga instructor. “It just goes to show
that you cannot suppress your true nature.”
I’m not sure if she remembers this exchange but I do… It made me want to
be a yoga instructor.
Trikonasana –Virabhadrasana – Parsvakonasana
We moved a lot as kids, every few years. It was sort of uncomfortable but mostly
fun. Each time we moved it gave us an
opportunity to reinvent ourselves. I
would be better this time, more fun, less serious. I should have new clothes; a new hair
cut. I liked to move. I probably shouldn’t have married a
Winnipegger. They will tell you they
will move but it’s not true. They are
family people. Grounded. That’s why I fell in love; but staying is
still hard.
Trikonasana – Virabhadrasana – Parsvakonasana
What does it mean to continue practicing the same poses day
after day on a mat that is barely as long as you are tall? What does it mean to raise a family in a
community that doesn’t let you forget?
To shop in the same stores and speak with the same people. The body remembers – the people remember –
and somehow you remember too. The
movements become less grand the adjustments more subtle.
Trikonasana – Virabhadrasana – Parsvakonasana
Yoga has taught me to be still, to be present, to ground, to
move honouring my natural curves. When
I make a mistake on the mat I have to return and face the consequences the next
day. There is no running from the
self. And as the alignment becomes more
refined the adjustments become subtle I find myself returning home. I return to my mat day after day because it
reminds me to return to my life day after day.
To face my mistakes, the people I love and the life that I work to
create.
Trikonasana – Virabhadrasana – Parsvakonasana
Namaste.
Sarah Swanson
Sarah is a member of the Yoga Centre Winnipeg 200hour Teacher Training Program
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