I am leading a Yoga Teacher Training at the University of Vermont. The sessions run Friday through Sunday, for a total of 18 1/2 hours of yoga…so they are great weekends to deepen the practice.
During our recent Friday night session we discussed the Sutras of Patanjali. If you aren’t familiar with them, they encapsulate the founding principles of yoga, capturing what the practice was 2000 years ago. Many of the principles you hear in modern yoga classes come from these Sutras. One of the most important of the concepts is Ahimsa, non-harming. We talked about the concept of non-harming, and the importance of the intention of not hurting other living things – including ourselves.
Then on Saturday morning we practiced “Soul Gazing” with a partner. We sat across from each other and looked into our partner’s eyes, looking beyond the external and into the kindness underneath. It was a great experience for all who participated. After “Soul Gazing” we took a break to participate in a public yoga class in Patrick Gym taught by four of the YTT students (each weekend a different group of trainees co-teaches this class).
On this particular Saturday, Patrick Gym was vibrating with excitement: the Championship Basketball Game started at 11am. Our yoga class, just down the hall in the Dance Studio, started at 10:30am.
Dancers vs Yogis
Once we worked our way through the basketball crowd to the Dance Studio, one of my students who had arrived before me said, “There is a dance team using the studio and the head of the team said we’re out of luck and it’s their room.” It was like West Side Story, except the Yogis against the Dancers, instead of the Jets and Sharks. Not good!
Because I had just been teaching about Ahimsa and seeing the good in others, one would hope that I would have a good attitude about this conflict, but I didn’t. It was our room, they were in it, and I wanted them out – period.
I talked to the head of the dance team and she pointed out she actually did have the room reserved. I told her we always use that room for yoga class, and she was mistakenly scheduled. She stormed off to get a supervisor. One of the 40 or so yoga students taking the class suggested that we practice in a racquetball court instead (something I’d never done). Good idea!
Right around when that was decided the dance director came back with her supervisor. Before she spoke I told her what we had decided and that it was all fine. As I spoke, I could really see her kindness, and I recognized her motivation for holding onto the room — she was just trying to help out her students, just like me. Ultimately we had a nice conversation and went our separate ways.
As for the yoga class in the racquetball court, it was great! Definitely a class to remember. 🙂
The reason I think this story is important is that there is yoga in theory, practiced on the safety of the yoga mat, and then there is yoga in practice, out in the world were we all actually live. How we practice yoga in the real world is what matters.
We try to do our best, but sometimes this intention doesn’t always work out. But, it’s very important to remember it’s a practice, and to keep practicing being good and seeing it in others.
So, on and off the mat, keep practicing…not only seeing the goodness in everyone around you, but also the good that is forever present inside yourself, even when you don’t act “your best.”