Of course, everyone's life journey is unique, and so everyone’s yoga journey is unique too. In case you wonder how I made my way here, I humbly offer you my yoga journey.
“I'll have what she's having.” That line from the movie “When Harry Met Sally” came back to me when I recalled an early encounter with yoga. I was a high school student and took a yoga class taught by a young woman who was about my own age. I was fascinated by her calm and peaceful demeanor, and I wondered how she could be that way. I associated her calm with yoga practice, and I wanted it for myself. After this first exposure, a goal was set, but I didn’t develop a practice until much later.
Fast forward. As an adult and a busy working mother and householder, I was still interested in finding peace. Life was so complicated with commitments, obligations, overlapping schedules and tiny plastic toys everywhere! I thought, “Maybe if I learn how to meditate, I could find a moment of peace.” Taking a big leap, I plunged into meditation and Zen practice.
And then. . . Twenty years later, having deepened my meditation and mindfulness practices, I heard Zen teacher Roshi Robert Joshin Althouse casually (and sadly) observe, “We’re so disembodied.” My imagination was sparked -- I wondered what he meant.
To experiment with embodiment, I recalled my teenage experience, and I plunged into yoga. And I quickly learned that the practice was integrated with, and an extension of my Zen Buddhist practice. It was almost like finding the missing piece of a puzzle.
With regular yoga practice, I opened to new dimensions of mindfulness (non-judgmental present moment awareness), and connected deeply with my breath, body, and heart-mind. A new awareness of myself emerged. And sometimes, in the final resting pose, Savasana, I experienced a gentle release of self, and unification with all things — the One Body.
This was ease and peace, at last.
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