Everyday Yogini

Maybe you don’t know, but when I chose the school I was going to attend for yoga teacher training, I went with the school that I felt the strongest aversion to.  That’s right.  I did not, under any circumstances, want to go to Kripalu.  At the time, I was injured (well, I’d been injured almost non-stop from practicing vinyasa) and couldn’t argue away the fact that my body couldn’t handle a month of vinyasa without a revolt.  I was “forced” to look at different options, because my body was having NONE of the vinyasa practice.

Now, of course, I look back on that as one of the best decisions I have ever taken.  And it’s largely because when something seems oddly repellent to me, I am apt to lean in and explore it.

This isn’t the kind of deep down, gut level, “don’t do it or you are going to be so sorry” kind of aversion, but a kind of mental acrobatics aversion, that, for me, has a flavor of superiority, like, “that couldn’t possibly be of any help to me because I’m really so beyond it.”

Yeah, right.   Those are the kind of juicy things that I like to hold my nose, and lean in to.

For instance.  I love the blog of Havi Brooks.  She is a yoga teacher, and a coach, with a rubber duck as a side kick.  But she is into this kind of weird yoga called Shiva Nata.  Whata huh?  So here is my seriously amped up ego on this topic, as I’m reading her explanation of how this practice helps the two sides of the brain talk more, while it rewires your neural pathways,  “I have been practicing yoga for 16 years and I’ve never heard of this and it looks ridiculous and I am left handed so my brain hemispheres work together really well already.”

Seriously.  This is what I have to work with in this lifetime.  *sigh*  Can you believe it?

So, I’ve been resisting.  And resisting.  And coming back to it and reading about it over and over.  While holding my nose tonight, I ordered the DVD.  I read through some of the materials.  I’m still holding my nose, but I’m leaning in, and I’m curious.  Because people I love, like her and her, subscribe to this wacko practice that looks NOTHING like yoga to me.  And, because I’m fascinated with the idea of rewiring the brain and the different ways we can do that.  Plus, anything that comes with a guarantee of hot buttered epiphanies sounds like it might be something I’ll enjoy.   Eventually. After I’ve rewired some networks…

Are you a Shivanaut?  Tell me about your practice.  Are you interested?  Check it out and let’s explore together.  Think I’m nuts and I should have steered clear?  Well, you might be right and we’ll find out, won’t we?  In any case, thanks for joining me on the journey - you’ll hear more about this, I’m sure.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 6:48 pm and is filed under On the Yoga Mat. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.