Having not seen Joseph in a month we decided I should fly
directly to Houston from the Ashram. I was looking forward to the Houston
addition of our life as a new adventure but held low expectations for the place
itself. I was pleasantly surprised and even found that I liked it and was eager
to return. More on that later. To conclude the yoga ashram experience let's revisit the statements I made at the beginning of the trip:
1. This program will not be that challenging and I will really enjoy it.
2. I will not have back pain at the end of 30 days (fingers crossed on this one).
3. I will discover something new about myself.
4. I will want to throw at least two of my classmates into Nassau bay.
1. The program was extremely challenging, more physically than mentally. I believe I went into this in previous posts. I did enjoy it, but not in the ways I thought I would. I thought that I would enjoy it in the way you enjoy ice cream-instantly. Instead each day, or pieces of the day would be taxing in some way, but afterwards I would feel good. It wasn't so much an ice cream joy; instead it was a feeling of satisfaction at the end of the day, or after a certain experience. Like when you get a good grade after working hard on a project or at the end of a taxing workout.
2. My back was 99% healed at the end of the program. I couldn't believe it honestly. I realized that I had concentrated on resting and stretching and was ignoring the need to strengthen my back. The Sivananda yoga series was very much focused on strength and particularly back strength. In addition, sitting cross legged for eight or so hours a day opened my hip and strengthened my upper back taking some of the strain off of my low back.
3. At the beginning of the program and throughout people were saying how much we would learn about ourselves and be changed. I kept waiting to learn some new secret about myself and no such secrets were revealed. I even went and had my fortune read by an Indian tantric priest. What did I find out? I found that I know myself well, am grounded, and am on a good path. No big secret was revealed but rather I was able to remark on how far I have come. That's not to say that I am or think I am so kind of saint. I fell into breakfasting with a sarcastic, cynical English guy. We would review events from a very non-yogic point of view, poking fun and being ourselves. Lest anyone get the wrong idea, he was not hot and old enough to be my dad.
4. There was only one fellow yogi I wanted to throw into the bay at least once daily, however, being immersed in yogic teachings I was frustrated that I carried these feelings of malice. So I took her to be a symbol of practicing patience and love despite my daily desires to beat her ass. In fact, I started to believe that she was not actually a real person and was literally put there to test people. So I searched high and low for good in her and found that she loved and missed her dog. So I tried to think about that when I wanted to destroy her. It was an ongoing practice not only for me but for others.
Om Tat sat.
1. This program will not be that challenging and I will really enjoy it.
2. I will not have back pain at the end of 30 days (fingers crossed on this one).
3. I will discover something new about myself.
4. I will want to throw at least two of my classmates into Nassau bay.
1. The program was extremely challenging, more physically than mentally. I believe I went into this in previous posts. I did enjoy it, but not in the ways I thought I would. I thought that I would enjoy it in the way you enjoy ice cream-instantly. Instead each day, or pieces of the day would be taxing in some way, but afterwards I would feel good. It wasn't so much an ice cream joy; instead it was a feeling of satisfaction at the end of the day, or after a certain experience. Like when you get a good grade after working hard on a project or at the end of a taxing workout.
2. My back was 99% healed at the end of the program. I couldn't believe it honestly. I realized that I had concentrated on resting and stretching and was ignoring the need to strengthen my back. The Sivananda yoga series was very much focused on strength and particularly back strength. In addition, sitting cross legged for eight or so hours a day opened my hip and strengthened my upper back taking some of the strain off of my low back.
3. At the beginning of the program and throughout people were saying how much we would learn about ourselves and be changed. I kept waiting to learn some new secret about myself and no such secrets were revealed. I even went and had my fortune read by an Indian tantric priest. What did I find out? I found that I know myself well, am grounded, and am on a good path. No big secret was revealed but rather I was able to remark on how far I have come. That's not to say that I am or think I am so kind of saint. I fell into breakfasting with a sarcastic, cynical English guy. We would review events from a very non-yogic point of view, poking fun and being ourselves. Lest anyone get the wrong idea, he was not hot and old enough to be my dad.
4. There was only one fellow yogi I wanted to throw into the bay at least once daily, however, being immersed in yogic teachings I was frustrated that I carried these feelings of malice. So I took her to be a symbol of practicing patience and love despite my daily desires to beat her ass. In fact, I started to believe that she was not actually a real person and was literally put there to test people. So I searched high and low for good in her and found that she loved and missed her dog. So I tried to think about that when I wanted to destroy her. It was an ongoing practice not only for me but for others.
Om Tat sat.
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