“The flexibility we gain in asana practice is a living symbol of the suppleness we gain in relation to life's problems and challenges” B.K.S Iyengar.
Here's the life update part.
It has been a super busy spring and I've been meaning to blog for some time, but the whirlwind of life sometimes sweeps over the impulse to write. Here are a few highlights . We had two job searches with seven campus visits and associated events. We also got to spend some good social time up in Waco celebrating Bob Baird's award from the Baylor Line Foundation.
I also had a great HOPS conference in Seattle with a side trip upto Bellingham.
Had a nice trip to Houston for Jon's birthday and got to take in a fun Astros game.
Had a lovely Friends Weekend out in Blanco.
And Aperol Spritz season started.
Here's the BKS Dallas Tribute Part.
The BKS Iyengar Studio of Dallas turned twenty-five last week. Since I'm not in the loop of all the various happenings in Iyengar-land in the same way as I was for many years, I didn't really realize this was on the temporal horizon. It was a happy temporal surprise and it has caused me to reflect on the passage of time and "long uninterrupted practice."
To be sure, my practice has met with a lot of obstacles over the past few years.
I can't do the fancy things, at this time, anyway, not even sure I want to go after them again as part of me really does feel like trying to get my foot behind my head was not the best thing for my hip. . And, I'm never going to do another test as my Junior III miraculously became Level III with the new certification. So, all that to say, my intensity of learning is in a different space, both physically and psychically. I've kept some level of more or less daily practice through all the ups and downs of hip injury, surgery, and the glimmerings of achieving some sort of new normal arises at times. Like I can now do Supta Baddha Konasana for five minutes and feel reasonably relaxed.
As I have been going through all these changes in my life of practice, I frequently think about all I have learned through my yoga studies, so much of which, took place in the rooms of BKS Dallas and with all the interconnected people I've met and become friends with over the years. Some of the biggest lessons are "be grateful for what you can do." and "Do not stop trying just because perfection eludes you."
"Yoga allows you to find an inner peace that is not ruffled and riled by the endless stresses and struggles of life." That one has been challenging because the various stresses and struggles of pain management can make it really hard to find a space of inner peace. But somehow I feel the teachings of the room and the teachers in the room remain with me. And I am drawing on so much of what I have learned therapeutically over the years to deal with myself and my current body.
The last workshop I went to at BKS Dallas was the David Meloni workshop just before shut down. We all just didn't know what was coming. Anyway. It was the last in a very very long line of workshop I've gone to over the years in that space. Workshops, teacher trainings, and just regular asana classes with Randy. Christina and I were actually there for the opening of BKS Dallas, but the workshop was cancelled. I don't remember the details of why. So we cobbled together our own yoga weekend. Anyway, it has been a long, long time that this studio has been part of my life.
I was sharing the excellent news of the anniversary with my Castle Hill class the other week and it struck me that I really carry so much of the room with me into whatever yoga room I go into that it is kind of like stepping into the same space. Or as Heraclitus would have it, the same river, or the river, same not same.
Last Friday, long time students of Christina's (and mine to a lesser degree) came to Friday class at the Castle and I happened to be wearing one of my many BKS Dallas tshirts and I thought how this photo captures that idea of still being in the stream of learning.
And here's another one from a few weeks back. Me again wearing a BKS Dallas T-shirt.
Here's my last in person visit to BKS Dallas. I was up in Dallas for a philosophy conference and got to go to a Sunday class on my way back home to Austin
So another big lesson,
“Change is not something that we should fear. Rather, it is something that we should welcome. For without change, nothing in this world would ever grow or blossom, and no one in this world would ever move forward to become the person they’re meant to be.”
— B.K.S. Iyengar
In other news, I'm enjoying teaching Classical on line. Great group of students. I've also enjoyed drawing some new images for the wavy line (and not driving to Waco).
I've been doing some research reading and a bit of writing, but more writing forming in my mind than currently getting on the page.
Jeff and I are really looking forward to our three months up in Bellingham. We are starting to pack and ship some things.
Right now, we are in Houston for Father's Day weekend getting ready to go eat at Candente with the other branch of the Schultz family.
Oh a fun surprise was Jon's purchase of a new car. We took it on a little spin this morning.
A few other temporal markers. June 10th would have been Mom and Dad's 64th wedding anniversary. May 30th would have I think been Jon and Suzette's 55th. And Lenore and Henry celebrated 25 years on June 12th.
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