Fire

Yoga means "yoke" and refers to the yoking of mind and body.

Sunstone's Earth 60, a power vinyasa flow class, requires minding transitions between poses and conserving energy by maximizing breath. In Earth, the focus is pace and sequence.

Sunstone's Fire 60 includes 32 asanas(exercises) arranged to safety and efficiently target the major muscle groups of the body and maximize their potential expression. In Fire, the focus is alignment.   

Alignment is criticized as being overemphasized in western culture. Traditionalist's find the preoccupation superficial. I strongly disagree; Any yogi knows there is more at work in a strong pose than desire to look a certain way. The poses that impress do so because there is something fundamentally strong about straight lines, distinct angles, and rounded curves- this order that is not exactly unearthly, but absolutely requiring effort and concentration. The expressions that satisfy me are less-and-less a manifestation of caring about how good at yoga I seem, and more of a testament to accumulating understanding, discipline, and focus.

Earth had been challenging physically, but I couldn't help but be encouraged by the improvements in my conditioning since last time around. Fire week engulfed me. I was a metaphorical pile of ashes last Friday night. I came home, set-and-determined to crank out a few paragraphs for you through uncooperative fingers, and finally gave up because I couldn't see through my eyelids. Unsurprisingly, none of what I wrote made any since to me today accept this, 

"Never forget that the only constant is change, and the most powerful forces for change are also the most fragile and temperamental."

My spirit had broken. Sadness is usually associated with that phrase, but I liken the way I felt to detachment from the results of training and my entire life really. There was my mind and my body, both defeated, and I was alone in the Temple of the Holy Spirit.

To keep warm we have to believe alignment is relevant. We have to allow beauty to glorify God. We have to believe that these things of order appear to remind us of the purpose we were created for. But most importantly, we have to accept that we are an animate heap of potential energy governed by natural laws- remembering how dangerous flames can be and how easily they go out when starved.

Accepting this responsibility is the spark.

 

I come to send fire on the earth and what will I, if it be already kindled.

Luke 12:49

Earth

I am back in training. I spend fourteen hours a day in studio; the rest of my time is spent preparing for and recovering from those hours. I am backpacking again. Suspending exhaustion, distracting anxieties, and dodging self-doubt because energy is limited, and attention is fragile. Bombarded with so much new information, a successful traveler, at some point, makes a decision. She remains as open to new stimuli as possible and allows her intuition the discerning.

Three summers ago I booked a flight to Berlin alone. The night before take-off, I laid in bed terrified while my little brother slept. Death loomed an enormous possibility, but the idea of hiding from my inadequacies one day longer had become more of a stretch than a life without my family. Twenty hours later, I watched the sun rise from the window seat of a transatlantic flight. The cabin was silent and mostly dark aside from reading lamps. Quiet light fell on my Moleskine journal,

"What I'm doing is selfish."

The word selfish strangles every beautiful thing that ever happened. We live in a culture that gives us every obvious necessity in exchange for our souls. We take ourselves for granted, lulled into physical compliance by media and conveniences while our insides scream for relief, weary of the same decisions, social obligations, and tired inner dialogue. We respond by gagging our consciences with unsatisfying relationships, poisons, and other things we have been sold- all because we fear suffering. Life is change, and change is a huge challenge for an organism trying to hold itself together here on earth. Every second you settle for suffering while doing what is easy is another second of your soul sold. Gravity forfeited. Impact absorbed.

It comes down to what kind of world you think we live in, what kind of person you think you are, and what kind of higher power you respect. If your responses are empty, then I pity you. The world I live in, the person I am, and the God I serve is incredibly dynamic. There is not one person or truth I have known that has made a strong case for permanence or lack of personal responsibility, and there is not one product or activity that has left any human being more powerful than cultivating an attitude of gratitude for the opportunity to flail in the confusion assigned to them with the kind of poise that inspires others to do the same.

It's week one and I have been met with as much order as chaos in my second round of teacher training. I have no idea what is going to happen here, but if feels good to be traveling again.

 

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works;

and that my soul knoweth right well.

Psalms 139:14