Blogpagation

Some thoughts to share with my fellow yogis and yoginis,

Today was both day of sadness and celebration. Today was our Yoga Teacher Training Graduation day and the past six to seven months have completely transformed my life. Many people have seen a change in me and I hope it was for the better. I thank the congratulations from my friends and the growth of strength of my ties to my family and friends because of the practice. I thank the 20 others who have joined me on this journey and I will miss these gatherings of pure learning and enjoyment. I thank Tracy Mann and Lerrita Rubinoff, our all-inspiring and all wise gurus, for their heart warming teachings, unconditional love and laughter. I thank the joyful moments we all shared (as well as the “not so good” Five Tibetans where dinner almost came back up!) I thank those who have opened my mind by sharing their world of books, music, wisdom, spirituality, food secrets, teachings, experiences, friends, family, stories and love. I thank the clarity of where my life is and wants to be from the practice that I love and I thank the time with both myself in meditation and the time with others in class. I will miss spinning in circles and laughing until I feel like barfing, doing leg lifts when Lerrita keeps saying "half-way" when she already said it five times already, visits to Bhuddist temples and the noble silence and thinking about pain pain pain pain pain pain pain, the silly headstand/handstand workshops with Beverly, Jessica and Tracy, the yoga nidra sessions with Tanis, our karma classes on Sundays, the boys conversations in the change room, the spilling of water in my bag and drying my sweat pants in the women’s washroom hand dryer with Lindsay keeping me company, the Savasana sessions with Lerrita and the Transitions womb music, the Muladhara jokes, the readings from Phil’s son’s book, the meals we had together at the Hindu society, the being locked out of the studio desperately trying to get back to class when everyone else was in yoga nidra, the lunch we had in the park, the gatherings we had at second cup, the walks to closed sandwich places, the adventure just to go for some Starbucks, the paintings from Rob around the studio, Beverly’s circus stories and Starwars analogies, the anatomical and Sanskrit quizzes, the confident and utter recitation of the Gyatri Mantra and the mumbles and the muffles of Om sahanaa vavatu Sahanau bhunaktu because most of us didn’t know it, the 101 Sun Salutations and the winning of the free yoga mat!, the making fun of my old Nike mat, the videos during lunch time, the taking of turns reading the manual, the meditation sessions where Lerrita would catch me “fishing”, the making fun of my long arms, Tracy's adjustment demonstrations like pushing the head down in downward dog and his talk on anatomy when most of us are clueless what he is talking about, and Tanis and Shelly’s demonstrations of those adjustments and the red death grip print on Shelly’s shoulder. I will miss Lisa, Alana, and Stephanie's greetings in the mornings, Tanis's anatomical forward flexion modeling for the class, Shelly's infectious laugh that makes me laugh and makes me ask “what are we laughing about?” while laughing, AJ's inner-child and our “study sessions”, Florin's jokes and computer remedies such as throwing it against the wall, Phil & Michelle & Lerrita's stories about their kids and the reflection of that unconditional love when they talk, Chauna’s love for art, Greg’s crazy sweat and fancy toques, Cynthia's smiles and colourful clothes and her connections to wonderful teaching opportunities, Michael's soulful cooking that is oh so so good, Rose's crazy knowledge of Sanskrit, Janet's energy lines, Nikki's Nike Mat and crazy breathing exercise, Brenda's amazing energy, Sara's ER stories, Tom’s demonstrations (my long-humoroused brother), Rob's heart and gentleness and his “running your hands down as though they were running through fur - ooh yeah” sun salutations, Starla's tears of joy after the savasana with the Transitions womb music, Jan's advice as we partnered and taught the seated postures for the first time, Sabrina's crazy looks she gives me when I say things that don't make sense when I'm teaching and her parking meter incidents and Jodi's pregnancy and baby stories. I will miss the opportunities with Julie going to Macs to buy our "fancy" lunches and sharing a laziness of packing for them as well as her unconditional care and her most soothing voice when teaching; her unconditional smiles of acceptance from the first time I met her. I will miss Lindsay's stories about Dhillon and couch stuffings up her nose, getting me addicted to things like snow peas, Green's plus, and Tazo Chai with Soy and an excuse to go to Lululemon to visit her then coming out of the store with a hole in my wallet. I will miss Lerrita's motherly voice in her mantras and the sweaty hugs I'll give her after class. I'll miss waking up at 8:30 am on the weekends and head to a place full of friends and people I see as family; a place where the smell of sweet incense brings an immediate humbleness and inner balance; a place where I feel I can leave the reality of the world behind and feel an enormous security and safety; a place where time stands still; a place I can call my third home. I remember the first class of training that I attended - I came in late and Lerrita said “Namaste” and the whole class looked over in my direction. However, what stood out about that class was when Lerrita described what yoga meant to her - she said to her, yoga was preparation for death. At that time I laughed on the inside and thought, “you gotta be kidding.” After leaving today, I can at least say for myself that if death decided to knock on my doorstep, I would enjoy the best Savasana ever.

om shanti shanti shanti

Namaste

Your forever long-armed friend and brother,

Carlson