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Wow, that was the most inspiring and enlightening Yoga workshop I have attended. For me, Cyndi Lee is a true inspiration, her teachings resonate on every level and I can only aspire to be as effective a Yoga teacher as she is when I am a similar age.
She has helped to answer a lot of the questions running through my mind, not least on the Yoga mat, but more so on the Buddhism that has attracted my heart and mind for many years but has only recently manifested into a practice and way of living, and even then, it is of course a work in progress.
I loved the meditations, the teachings, the sharing, and of course the practice. It was so liberating to be treated as yet another student and not to experience the usual warning alarms that come with being pregnant. Instead I was left to tap into my own innate wisdom and decide for myself, and indeed for the bean, what felt right in terms of practice on my mat. Very kindly, there was little that I could not practice, for the sequencing was, on the whole, pregnancy friendly. Whether I shall live to regret practicing as strongly as I did, handstands and all, remains to be seen, but it was so empowering to be able to just do what felt right in that moment.
It is fascinating this pregnancy malarkey, in terms of the amount of fear that comes with it. Not least the worry that one experiences in terms of whether everything is okay with the growing baby that you cannot see, but also all the fear surrounding you from midwives and indeed other people, all the things you are told you cannot do any more, even if you feel that really, you can. All the messages out there about what is right and wrong. Honestly it is draining and probably one of the reasons I am trying my hardest to step back from it all, all the books, all the tales of birthing and beyond, all the concepts of parenting, all the information that is now available at the touch of a finger. So much for our own innate wisdom, I can't help feeling that we are just getting further away from all this.
The same goes in life generally. And I guess that was one of the joys of the weekend, to remember what this Yoga malarkey is all about, and more importantly what this yoga teaching malarkey is all about - a commitment then to an awakened existence, to help others also awaken and manifest as enlightened beings. To touch in and live and experience life through your own wisdom, more clarity, less confusion, so you are less inflicted by your fears and concerns - less attachment and aversion, less suffering, more happiness, happier world.
The physical practice of vinyasa, which really means 'to place in a special way', that every cause has an effect, is wonderfully awakening, present moment and liberating. Each afternoon I left class buzzing, eyes wide own, calm and very centred. It is fun, a joyous experience seeing what the body can do - what the mind, then, enables the body to do, to move beyond the limitations of the mind, to address that "I can't" attitude, which shows up on the Yoga mat all the time, and therefore shows up in life too. All those negative tendencies that we adopt throughout our life, that prevent us from living as fully as we may like...or as we can, if only we would allow ourselves to.
It was wonderful to be free and anonymous in London too, to walk lots, to enjoy some yummy vegetarian food, to have a hotel room all to myself (small pleasures) and to be able to look around the shops, albeit lacking in pregnancy clothes in London as much as in Guernsey!
A huge thank you to Cyndi and indeed to my travelling partner, fellow yogini and friend, Jackie, for a fantastic weekend.
With love and much gratitude.
xx
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