Yoga’s answer to life’s setbacks

My favourite way of understanding why the heck us yogis jump onto a mat and go through a sequence of postures (which are often the same) every day, is this. Yoga is a safe, rubbery laboratory for examining our life. The postures are our little test tubes, which when faced with different and challenging conditions will have interesting reactions which we observe, learn from, and ultimately apply to our own lives.  The very beautiful Ashtangi Kino MacGregor puts it a bit more professionally:

“Yoga is a body awareness technique aimed at liberating your consciousness from old, habitual was of thinking, being and acting.”

So through watching our reaction to the gross, physical stuff, for instance diliking a particular posture, we start to access the subtle levels of mind and soul asking ourself: why do I hate this posture? What does that say about me? Likewise it figures that doing a yoga practice helps prepare us for the nonsense which life throws at you, life’s conundrums, and the slippery mountains which seem impossible to climb. So, we struggle and battle with a particular posture (for me it was lotus, then supta kurmasana and now bhujapidasana  - okay you don’t need to know what these are but...) the point is, I told myself, there’s no way I’ll ever be able to do these impossible crazy bendy asanas. I know. There’s a girl. Could do with a bit more Anthony Robbins don’t you think? But it just seemed bloody impossible. Then, after a few more weeks/months of practice something opened up and I made progress in these postures, then hey presto, test tube experiment successful. I can get there. So ultimately the impossible became possible.

Life’s full of set backs too and my yoga practice has helped me to understand that we can conquer these too.

Today I woke up to blue skies, marshmallowy clouds and silvery sea. In fact, was a bit windy and damp underfoot but my mood was honey-coated happiness ‘cos I was just having one of those unexplained over the moon, top o’ da morning type days. I felt strong, accomplished, energetic. Driving back towards Manly over the glittery waters of the Spit Bridge, the radio cranked right up, I bounced along to my current favourite sing-along. Pure happiness.

Then... the darkness.  Just a few hours later, I noticed a strangely familiar sensation in my adductor muscle (the inner thigh which pulls our legs together). Familiar. Shit familiar. So back to the yoga laboratory. What’s happened here?

Well, clearly I was bouyed by my marshmallowy mood, so I had a pretty amazing practice first thing; there were only three of us and I was giving it a bit more bubble than I’d usually do first thing in the morning. I felt warrior-like, determined, strong, focused, erm… a little too energetic.  In yoga terms it felt a little like when you’re watching a movie and the actors are all radiant sunshiny loveliness, but the creepy music reveals something very bad is about to play out.

Now, I am not gonna jump the old gun here. Who knows, maybe it’s just a wee niggle that will evaporate with a good night’s sleep.  When I got The Bruise at Purple Valley, it felt different. Today, doesn’t feel as bad and there’s no swelling as yet, but….. It’s setting off those alarm bells. The worry, the fear, definitely something I am prone too – thinking the worst. What if I am out of action again, as I was for three weeks in India? But I got over it in India. What really happened? I learned from it. I rested. The world did not end.

I know that it will heal, I KNOW that yoga is about being able to transcend the physical and learn from it. Listen to Kino for crying out loud and use the experience of the practice. As I learn from my yoga practice, nothing is permanent so everything changes.  As my teacher told me today as well, having injuries helps you to become a better yoga teacher. Just as in life, people who have learned the hardest lessons have often come out the better teacher for it.

Baby steps

I can’t write today without mentioning that it was the Manly Food & Wine festival at the weekend. Of course it's one of my annual highlights, but happily this year sustainability was integrated into the event, so folks were encouraged to cycle there, and biodegradable cutlery was provided along with numerous organic, eco and  sustainability stands (the chickens were another highlight!). But I’m feeling guilty today. Guilty about the amount of wine I drank on Saturday. Guilty because I always talk about making changes and for some reason I can’t seem to bloody well do it.

If I'm honest with myself, I’m really not as green as I could be. For instance, I fly a lot (family in England and a sumo-sized appetite for holidaying); I love my electric heater, which I probably leave on for too long – though never whilst out of the house. And whilst I am careful to recycle as much as possible, I find myself forgetting to bring my reusable shopping bags to Coles (does buying yet another pink reusable one count, or is it better to go the evil plastic one?). And yes, I shop in Coles, rather than local farmers’ markets or organic fruit and veg markets, however I try to buy organic, fair trade and sustainable products where possible, but that’s just it – where possible. I walk places – particular to Coles - though my commitment to walking in the warmer months involves arriving a lot less groomed so I have to shower more frequently (water consumption, hairdryer blasting etc…) Man it’s not easy. I'm a C-, I'm a 'could do better'. But I honestly get confused. There’s a plethora of information on the issue, yet I kind of feel it’s all or nothing, and when faced with the ocean-sized task of offsetting the environmental damage done, I just don’t think I can do it.

Then take the issue of meat eating. I decided when I was in India I’d eat a vegetarian diet. No meat-loving husband around, in a country where 42% of the population are vegetarian, and the choice extensive (lady finger jalfrezi anyone… Mmmm!!) it was the perfect time to go meat free. I loved seeing signs for ‘non-veg’ restaurants, it always took me a moment (I can be quite dim) to work out what that meant, living in meat-lovers paradise, Australia as I do (I was at a huge Australian media event last Christmas where the vegetarian option was salmon). But I loved the veggie diet over there and I honestly didn’t miss meat, one bit, not a chop.  So when I got back to Sydney I decided I’d keep the veggie thing going.

Day two and hubby only had to waft the word churrasco at me, and we were down Brazuca in a flash eating their spicy chorizo and succulent picanha. In yoga terms, meat eating is completely at odds with the idea of ahimsa. Jargon aside, I know it is wrong.  Inhumane. Unhealthy. Environmentally speaking, meat eating is a disaster; in fact the UN recently released a report which urged that on a global level we need to move towards a vegetarian/vegan diet to save the world from hunger and the worst impact of climate change.

"Animal products cause more damage than [producing] construction minerals such as sand or cement, plastics or metals. Biomass and crops for animals are as damaging as [burning] fossil fuels."

I stumbled upon a nice little 5 minute TED video today during one of my cyber potters, which raises an interesting point. 

Graham Hill: Why I'm a weekday vegetarian | Video on TED.com

Graham Hill points out the all or nothing issue with vegetarianism. Like me, he’s struggled to give up meat entirely, but outlines the serious impact meat eating has on the environment. He proposes another solution - for the past year, from Monday to Friday he’s a vegetarian. At the weekend he eats, whatever. As you’d expect there are lots of the comments on there are from vegetarians who believe it’s pathetic and he needs to commit to the cause. But it's gotta help right?

Same with plastic water bottles. After seeing the plastic bottle problem in India, I resolved to always carry a reusable bottle (they feel sexy too!).  

There are plastic bottle piles like this everywhere in Goa

I don’t buy bottled water now, I refill. See, for me starting to think about reducing my footprint, it’s got to be baby steps. Happily in Manly a company called Culligan provide filtered water available through the water fountains, which is a fantastic baby step, I reckon.

Lessons from the tea leaves

Browsing the health food shop in Manly yesterday during one of my err… ‘coffee breaks’ I was drawn towards a blue box containing something called Ayurvedic Cooling Pitta Tea. Being, what the ayurvedic sciences know as a pitta constitution, and a bit of a (excuse the pun…) mug for interesting teas, I swiftly bought some and fired up the kettle when I got home.

Magic tea?

Okay… I’m just going to interrupt my story for a second. For those of you unfamiliar with the Eastern science of ayurveda, the five basic elements - so that’s ether, air, fire, water and earth - manifest in the human body or constitution as three ‘doshas’, which are known as pitta dosha, vata dosha and kapha dosha. We all have elements of at least one dosha and many of us have aspects of two or three. Ayurveda is a Sanskrit word meaning ‘the science of life’ and, crudely put, the principle behind this ancient science is to heal our selves by balancing our doshas. Ayurveda has been practiced in India for 5000 years so naturally when I was there recently, I took myself off to the Ayurvedic Hut at Purple Valley to get my doshas tested by an expert... the Ayurvedic doctor.

The hut at Purple Valley

So Doc started off by asking me a few questions about my digestion (aherm, not fantastic); how I respond to problems (I get angry, goddammit); and my dreams (ever since I was a kid had nightmares about my house burning down to the extent where I kept a bag of my favourite things by the bed so I could make a swift exit!) Then after delving into these and other, clearly revealing, stories she examined my tongue and nails and took my pulse, before confirming that I’m primarily pitta (fire) with some vata (air) and should avoid meat, alcohol, tomatoes(!) and chilli (no WAY!) to increase my earth and water (or kapha) elements. Great, that’s gonna be easy then.

So, back to the tea. Now because us pittas have this fire issue, as you’d expect we can get rather hot headed and lose our rag somewhat. So to prevent this from happening to what was fast becoming one of my favourite days of early retirement, I thought I’d better get some of this nice cooling tea down me, pronto. Well to my surprise and delight, on the sleeve of each tea bag were some words of advice for us pittas:

Now I like the sound of that, so I resolved to spend the afternoon following this sage advice. I’d had a pretty busy (but awesome) day already and was teaching in the evening at Lululemon, so I thought: that’s it, today I am gonna laugh and play. If I do any more on the computer at all this afternoon I’m in grave danger of overworking, so I’ll play it safe, have a chilled, relaxing afternoon; whilst trying my best to avoid stimulants.

So, I had finally settled myself for a Thursday afternoon the sofa (ahh the joys of retirement!), with my Cooling Pitta Tea and some light reading (If you're interested I’ve started to read the seminal Ashtanga text by Pattabhi Jois called Yoga Mala – which is interesting but not exactly laugh and play material. But never mind, three out of four isn’t so bad). Well the irony was not lost on me as I enthusiastically took my first sip... OUCH!… Man, I didn’t add cool water to the top and now I’ve got cactus tongue! Dear me, I’ve gone and burnt my tongue on my 'cooling' tea.

I really think there should have been a warning on the side of this tea. Us pittas have a tendency to rush things, to try to do too much (hence our need to practice moderation) and we need to just slow it all down a touch. It was a valuable lesson for me however, as luckily the tea seemed to have had some medicinal properties. It's taken less than a burnt tongue to turn me into a raging, red faced pitta in the past I can tell you (as can my husband). So who knows, whether it was my fantastic day, or the tea... I can honestly say I took it all in my stride, and laughed (and played) it off.

Leaving Las Rat Race

“You’re giving it all up and becoming a yoga teacher – how exciting!”

“Aren’t you brave, that’s so fantastic!”

“We’re so happy for you, it’s great to be following your heart like this”

“We really wish you all the luck in the world!”

As you can see, when I told my lovely colleagues I was leaving my job in a busy, successful Sydney marketing agency, they were over the moon for me. Who knows, maybe they were looking for a reason to bid me farewell… but, no, I don’t think it was that. I mean I wasn’t that incompetent. I think one reason was their silent acknowledgement that if there’s one profession that would top the Sydney Morning Herald’s listings of Most Desirable Jobs for Those Escaping the Corporate Treadmill (not the zippiest of titles admittedly), you’d find the Yoga Teacher right there at the top, all pastel shades and glowing vibrant health, doing a cheery leap, whilst infuriating an entire readership of this imaginary feature, who are probably stuck on a train or bus heading off to their well-paid but somewhat soulless city jobs.

But let’s just take a step back. Let’s forget those pictures I’ve been painting over the last few months of me; beside the gently lapping waters, sitting serenely in meditation. All my ex-work mates’ kind words of 'good luck' and'bravery' were really just the honey which blunts the sting. They meant well of course but behind their sugar-coated salutations they could see that it will be a dusty, bumpy old road ahead, Yogi Bear.

(That's me in the middle wobbling through a Warrior 3, lapping waves yes! Image credit: www.jiiva.com.au)

Misty rimmed visions of the perfect life don’t come served up and ready to eat like banana pancakes. This lifestyle you’re proposing is gonna take some work. So here I am, sharing with you the ‘journey’ – sorry I don’t like that word – ahead. Yes, I know most people would write their story with the blissful retrospection of it already having worked out just fine, thank you very much. But no, here I am with sticky stuff on my fingers and no immediate plan for escaping this honey pot I’ve found myself not exactly drowning in, but sinking slowly.

So, I have predicted that either a) I’m going to descend into madness spending all this time alone, with just my brand new MacBook for company (still not worked out much of the functionality on this machine, but damn its silky keys feel so good beneath my fingers) or b) my success as a yoga teacher will be heard like the roar of a lioness throughout the land; either way I wanted somewhere to share that experience.

This is the first time in my life when I really don’t know what’s round the corner. I just don’t. But I do know, it’s in my hands. If I sit here all day watching re-runs of Lost or Gavin and Stacey, I will not find that cheery, leaping me – however tempting it is to switch on the Foxtel.

But, luckily folks. I have yoga. Yes, yoga is going to be my faithful puppy, my guiding star and my patient partner (okay my husband will probably help a lot, but it’s surely too much for one man...) Over these past few years, I have religiously rolled out my yoga mat and accepted what happens in my practice – the good days, the bad days, the injuries that set you back, the moments when there’s nowhere else you’d rather be, the times of loneliness and pointlessness – yep, it’s more than just a 90 minute stretch out there. Now I really need to put this yoga thing through its paces and apply some of that very same thinking to these strange, lonely, wonderful few days, weeks, months ahead…

So, to put you in the picture of where I am right now (always good to have a benchmark to measure my roaring success/madness against...) Currently I am self-(un)employed. I am looking for work as a yoga teacher, wondering if I should try and go it alone, and trying to pick up some freelance writing work to keep the sanity/pennies in tact. Oh yes, I’m also writing a blog. There, that’s the Big Plan, which I spent the last two months cooking up.

Which brings me to the next point: where I have come from? I’ve just returned from a travel and yoga adventure in India. After leaving the corporate world I decided I needed to do some solo travelling (having never done that before) so the idea was to get me into the yoga-mindset of living each day as it comes, to learn from some of the world’s most experienced yogis, and give me lots of juicy inspiration for my teaching. And yes, It did that – it was fantastic. But that's for another day.

So, this is where I am right now. It’s early days, but I’m pleased to be able to share it with you Mac, my old pal.

Namaste