Transitions

I was thinking about the topic of transitions for this blog entry when I received this incredibly timely weekly Pema Chodron quote:

Life is a good teacher and a good friend. Things are always in transition, if we could only realize it. Nothing ever sums itself up in the way that we like to dream about. The off-center, in-between state is an ideal situation, a situation in which we don’t get caught and we can open our hearts and minds beyond limit. It’s a very tender, nonaggressive, open-ended state of affairs. -Pema Chodron

I have been feeling like I am in transition now that I have finished yoga school and am thinking about where I want to teach. I went to the Yoga Journal Conference in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin this past weekend, and one of my workshops was with Cyndi Lee - about Mindful Vinyasa Flow. She encouraged us to pay attention to transitions.

On Friday I had adrenaline coursing through me all day because I had met my 3 mile running goal that morning, I had a mammogram, and I was teaching for the owner of the studio where I practice. Fortunately I was seen for the mammogram right away and had time to go to a cafe and sit out in the sun for an hour while preparing for the class I was to teach. I then remembered that I had been at that same cafe just a year before with one my dear teachers and friends, Marya. With great trepidation I had confessed to her that I was applying to yoga school. I didn't want her to think I was going to try to compete with her and the other teachers I had put on pedestals. I figured I would just teach yoga to those souls who were too afraid to go to a hip yoga studio. Marya laughed and teased that I had to have a good reason for going to yoga school if we were going to continue to be friends. A year later I found myself laughing that I had been so sure that I would never teach at the studio where I attend classes. And now I was preparing to teach for the studio owner.

It turned out to be a bigger class than I expected, and it included not one, but three teachers. The studio owner, another one of those teachers I put on a pedestal, told me that she enjoyed the class immensely because it was fun, funny and challenging. Thankfully she also had something for me to work on - transitions between poses. There's that word again. I attended one of her classes a few days later, and to my delight she included some of the poses and cues from the class that I taught. I took it as a compliment, and then I was inspired by what she added to those cues with her own spin. And then it hit me that as yoga students and teachers we inspired on another in the sharing of the practice of yoga.

The picture I chose for today is from a night when I was driving home from work and noticed that it looked like cloud mountains were surrounding the city. I love mountains! I try to take the time to look up and take notice of the clouds when I am driving or out walking, but more often than not, I pass through the scenery without paying attention to the landscape that connects me to the moment at hands.

I was dreading the drive to Lake Geneva because I am not a fan of the freeway. I rarely go over 55 miles an hour. It seems like such a silly fear when I have driven across the country to Edmonton, Canada, and even on the Autobahn, and I was once given the nickname "Betty Andretti". I found myself enjoying the drive to Lake Geneva because I was often the only car on the highway route that I chose. It was a beautiful and peaceful way to begin the day, with just me and Michael Franti in the background on a country road - the only quiet time I had before I made to the conference for 3 workshops equaling about 6 hours of yoga.

More to come about the conference...