I took a great, fun flow class at the Berkshire Yoga Festival this weekend. During class, maybe near the end, the teacher said yoga was “magic”.
I feel that. Yoga feels like magic to me. It was especially apropos for me, because I just had taken a workshop, right before the class, that left me wondering what I was doing. Was teaching yoga something I had done for so long, I just did it? Or was it something I still truly loved.
The class reaffirmed for me my love of the practice. Mind you, it’s not like I had been questioning my love of practicing & teaching leading up to the weekend. It was just some things that the workshop leader said & asked. (Isn’t it funny how we let other people get in our heads?).
So the “magical” flow class afterwards was just what I needed. (Isn’t it funny how the Universe does that?). I feel the magic in the practice – when I teach & when I practice. Not every time! But I feel it.
But I don’t think it’s magic. I think it’s the effort & the commitment (ooh…scary words) &self-love that goes into the practice. Into showing up really. You have to love & care about yourself enough to commit to taking care of yourself. To commit to showing up. If you’re just going through the motions, getting on your get just to get it done? It’s being present. For yourself, with yourself – even for others & with others. It can feel like magic, but there’s so much more to it.
Maybe I’m just splitting hairs! But I think expectations, especially for immediate gratification, can mess stuff up. The practice is challenging & messy & again, it asks you to show up, whole-heartedly. So if you think you’re going to just hop on your mat & have some magical, transformative experience…well…you might! But you might not. And if that keeps you from getting on your mat again & again & again (there’s the effort & commitment & self-love), then you won’t feel the magic. And more than that – you won’t feel the rewards & benefits of the whole of the practice in the whole of your life & your being. Because there’s the real magic (hint – it’s not magic). The change that comes when you show up, even when it doesn’t feel magical.
Last week I asked if it was worth it? Yes.
