namaste

It had been raining almost the entire day yesterday, and quite a bit as well last night. The air was cool, the soft sound of water droplets hypnotizing. A nice start, despite the usual unplanned early waking hour.

I’d made a date with Serena for morning yoga. Over the last couple of years I had (somewhat) diligently attended yoga classes at the gym, but since my change of job and office location I hadn’t been able to go for my favourite instructors’ sessions, as they only taught in the bigger gym branches downtown. Stuck in one of their smaller branches, the gym downstairs of the office had very few yoga sessions, and not by the instructors whom I favour. No offence intended, but I’m pretty picky about yoga teachers, and having followed classes by Vincent Tan since I started my yoga practice I just couldn’t get used to the other instructors’ styles. But I was in luck – Vincent had opened his own yoga studio, called Jiva Yoga at Plaza Damas where his fellow instructors conducted classes pretty much in the same style and manner as he does.

Having not practiced yoga regularly enough the past 6 months, I convinced Serena to join me for the slower-paced Aman yoga instead of Power yoga. There weren’t a lot of students in our class this morning, only 11 of us. Jacque was our guru for the session.

Listening to her instructions, our yoga practice started off with a few breathing techniques, then moved on to basic poses to stretch the limbs before going into sun salutations and the more advanced poses. I always found the Sanskrit names of the various poses interesting; they have a pretty melodic, strong yet humbling sound to them.

It felt good after 1.5 hours of stretching, keeping still in the least comfortable "contortionistic" positions, balancing inversely on my shoulders, and finally lying down for the final 5 minutes of the session, in corpse pose. In this pose we’re all suppose to relax, concentrate on our breathing, and lie still. When our minds wander, we’d have to accept their wanderings then bring it back to the present.

Hmmm… that’s one thing I haven’t quite achieved yet. When I lie still and let my breathing become more slow and rhythmic, my mind would always take a walk down memory lane… and many lanes at that, too. Sorta like a pinball machine. Imagine the little silver orb, springing slowly from the narrow chute into a maze of dings and lights, never ceasing its bounce and reflective reaction until it exits. I try time and time again to bring my mind back to the present… and in 10 seconds… off it goes again. And worse, towards the end of the 5 minutes my head starts getting heavy, and the familiar feeling of drowsiness creeps in every once in awhile… Oops, did I just say that? Ha-ha! So much for trying to be a model yoga student.

I’m not sure when my next yoga session is, though I know regular and diligent practice will help ease my mind and soul. Takes discipline and a little help from a good friend in getting my lazy arse to class…

I bow to the divine in you.

Namaste.