Lotus flowers in the greenhouse of Meise gardens the first Saturday in April
Yoga has made me resilient, now I know. Yoga has not removed a single obstacle, has not taken away sadness, fear and doubts. Talking about positive in the yoga context is bullshit. Yes, there is lightness, the joy of full breathing, the deep knowledge that this is it during the class. I laugh when I can barely hold the tenth side plank on the Saturday course with José. And if I cannot hold it anymore, I drop to the mat, feeling the rooting energy of the ground, not worried if I am an apt yogi or not. The strength multiplies, and on the mat next to me I feel the presence of a beloved one.
I love guiding, touching, smiling at the guys in my Monday group, it is the one regular class I teach this season. So grateful for it, I feel its lively core. People come after long hours in the office, change from smart pants/skirts/dresses into whatever comfortable and grab a not very high-quality mat. We are so different there – in nationality, in body mass, in yoga practice, and still, so wonderfully united.
Every second Tuesday the living-room in the Etterbeek apartment is adapted to fit 5 mats. Tea and candles and intimacy.
No, yoga has not spared me from what could be labelled as negative experiences, only that is another bullshit. I am not here to label experiences as negative or positive, for the matter. And I am not going to give here the accounts of all the shifts and typhoon-like changes of the past 5 years, and it is not necessary.
Even longer would be to count all the gifts of these years: a trustful partnership I am experiencing for the first time in my life, joyful, supportive friendships, lots of walks and spontaneous moves in this body, creative energy waking up together with me and accompanying me in any daily activities, and an increased capacity to stay rooted in the present moment, may it contain sorrow, dullness, confusion and, yes, even pain.
Spring means to be born again.
Thank you for the inspiration you are bringing, there will be one more sequence on Monday and Tuesday before the Easter.
Namaste.
