It was at the yoga studio, yesterday, that I was blessed, if you will, with the gift of distraction. That is, distraction reared its shaggy, diverting head, and I managed to decline.
A yogic victory!
I did, of course, file said distraction away and think about it after class.
You see, when you are in a yoga studio, it is because you truly want nothing more than to focus on movement and breath, to lose the many chattering monkeys that have taken residence in the brain.
When you are in a yoga studio, mat stretched out afore you, your hair plaited into submission, mind on the hour ahead, one of the last things you need – aside from the realization that the bean burrito was a bad idea – is the groaning newbie next to you.
Look at him over there, vigorously swinging his limbs. He wants you to know that he played sports as a youth, is ready to beat this next hour into compliance.
And for the next hour, he grunts. In a room silent of participant vocalizations outside of steady, exaggerated breathing, he moans. He mutters “Oh, gosh”. At one point – no lie – he growls.
Growls.
I allow myself one glance. It is, as it turns out, to be a glance executed at the same time as the woman on the other side of him. Our eyes meet, widen. A subtle shake of the head is shared, and we return to our asanas.
And this is what yoga teaches us, grasshoppers: The world intrudes, despite our sometimes ardent wish that it would not. It is up to us to decide if it will affect us.
“Bite me,” the world says.
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30 comments:
My, you have waxed philosophic. Now, if you would just get that kitchen floor...
(Happy weekend!)
There is nothing worse than that annoying pin prick in the sacred bubble of your mind.
Snappy comeback to the world, just excellent :)
Monkeys in the brain, a groaning sweaty guy and a bean burrito. Breathe, breathe!
Keep breathing!
Well, maybe not too close to the bean burrito.
He was a test. I both passed and failed. :-)
He obviously has confused or tried to fuse 'yoga' and 'yo gut'.
My chattering monkeys sometimes suddenly but just a brief momentarily regroup as giggling monkeys.
I must now go water things, like grapes ....
I would practice yoga but it requires discipline, something I have always avoided. That, and I don't grunt well.
If entered the rarefied world of yoga no doubt the world would have to make yoga illegal do the karmic damage my poor form would produce.
Maybe he'll be quiet next week - or not turn up!
Yoga would be cooler if they had actual chattering monkeys you could battle into submission. Good job blocking out the grunter!
We just won't discuss the fact that someone very near and very dear to me taught meditation .. to many wonderful illustrious people even ! and I have yet to learn. . for the simple reason that I hear everything clearly and it interferes with my bliss search ..Actually, I find bliss easily enough .. chocolate?
I practice yoga in the best studio ever. My living room.
Um, while you are in a cracked condition, I was wondering, do you happen to have a refrigerator that I could borrow? The one in my kitchen ~~died--.
When my world says bite me, I just shut the door in its face and come here to laugh instead.
You paint such a vivid picture that I can actually see this guy in my mind's eye!
I'm laughing out loud, which is not very yogic at all. The one who annoys me is the super loud breather who sounds like Darth Vader. Take a decongestant! Or the occasional guy who thinks he's cool in his "I don't need to see that" shorts, ugly sandals, and gnarly toenails. Now that will harsh my mellow big time!
I think he groaned when he stretched too vigorously. There are some things things that "man" things just can't abide.
Hmm, I wonder if the guy has a clue???
And this cracked me up :-)
xo jj
Darth Vader.
That like Ruth- IRA.
Virginia?
She's with Ada?
That's the Comeaden and Mel Martinez does the gun- running with Root?
And they are not only tying Maine, they have Urediste and Odispa.
So there's a lot of shit going down and not just Starz - Warriors.
With Sir Lancelot- Austria.
And with " Sting".
They got Hesesee- Archesea.
And every Ntechis imaginable.
I wish I were there trying it with you. I am too embarrassed. I would fold up like a roller pigeon and tumble into my neighbor. There'd be a scene. People would say unkind things about me in a low, meditative voice.
Newbies I can take in yoga class - it's those people with smelly feet I can't rise my mind above...
You know Pearl, I understand the concept of "the why" of yoga, finding balance and centering, quiet and peace in the soul etc. But you do know that at times a good mental monkey slaughter is just as effective.
This is why I do yoga at home... I have enough trouble shutting off my own mind... I rarely successfully do, so having someone else intrude... plus the fear that my body will make an inadvertant noise in front of everyone...YIKES!
I am still thinking about the wonder of washed dishes and folded clothes!
Pearl, being April 1st, I am sure it was Yogi Bear. He was growling, wasn't he? ":)
Eww. Only excusable if he is really really cute.
So was it a cute growl? Or ugly growl?
Hmmmm. Now I've got growls on the mind.
I love this. This is the reason why I don't exercise or go to classes in public.
I just don't play well with others!
Good on you!
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