WorkingWell

Ravana, the demon king of Lanka, had ten heads. And all the heads agreed on everything.
 
In his youth, Ravana showed great learning and devotion to Brahma and was granted the gift of a wish. On the path to become the demon king, he asked for protection from destruction by the gods. All the ten heads of course agreed Ravana couldn’t be vanquished by lesser beings.
 
I’m glad there is only one me with one head. What if I went to a party and encountered a roomful of Andreas? Everyone with my ideas, habits, and preferences Yikes! In a moment of self-frustration, I once said to my husband, ”You can leave the room and get away from me. I can’t!” I wouldn’t want to be at that party!
 
Sameness and uniformity are actually positions of weakness. We see this in the natural world, and in our own bodies, where diverse elements create a web of beauty and delight.
 
Though Ravana triumphed and carried the scars from battles with various gods, it was a man and an army of monkeys that eventually destroyed him. Ravana’s downfall was his lack of dynamism.
 
So…. why is it that we seek for others to think and act like we do when the delight and balance in life is that they don’t? 

After going to the Warhol exhibit, I came back to the apartment to surf Martha Graham (American Choreographer and Dancer, 1894 - 1991) and found this amazing quote:

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.

This quote sums it all up. This is why I practice yoga. This is why I practice Gyrotonic®. This is the quality I want to bring to my work with people - whether they are recovering from an injury or just keeping supple. It’s all about breaking down the barriers that block our joie de vivre.

I’m in Montreal in the middle of my Foundations training in Gyrotonics. The training is going incredibly well.

One the first day, though, I hurt my back and was in pain again. But I was delighted to realize that it was just a muscle strain. I recovered very quickly. This is an amazing improvement.

I have the weekend off and went to the Andy Warhol exhibit at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. I was surprised to find that the exhibit was about rhythm and movement. What a  poignant exhibit to see during Gyrotonic training!  It was a particularly perfect exhibit to see during this training as everything had to do with spirals and life energy, just like Gyrotonic!

I was particularly moved by his print of Martha Graham. For me, this print embodies the work I’ve done this past week in the Gyrotonic training!

Because I have been so active, I have not posted for two months!

My back and ruptured disc are fully recovered. I am back to doing the things I love (yoga and kayaking) I have not even thought of my recovery. Well actually, the other morning, I woke up and thought to myself, “My back never hurts anymore.”

My recovery in a nutshell consisted of one private Gyrotonic session per week (with Nancie LePore at Gyrotonic Montreal or Andrea O’Connor) and 4 self-directed sessions (open sessions) per week at Evolution. I find that I still must practice 3 times a week in order to stay pain-free.

Set your sights on a place
Higher than your eyes can see
For it was a higher aim
That brought you here
In the first place
– Jalaluddin Rumi

This poem really speaks to me as I work on Gyrotonic training and certification!

GI Jane

When Robi, my golden retriever, leaves her tennis ball in the grass, I usually insist that she find it and bring it along on the walk. It’s too wasteful to lose tennis balls.

I can easily see this bright green ball amidst the leaves and blades. While I excitedly chant, “Find it! Find it!” she is circling madly around, nose to the ground. She passes close, then disappointingly passes almost over it! Then doubles back. Eventually, she grasps the ball as if she just won the gold medal in Summer Olympics track and field and prances down the path as I hoot and holler my congratulations.

When I sit in meditation, my mind prances around serenity like Robi around the ball. Darting here and there, my thoughts are various degrees of frantic. Then I light gently on mindfulness and experience open bliss and then the mind darts off again.

Find it! Find it! My mind rests gently in oneness, the natural openness and grace where I can dwell for periods or moments of time.

If Robi always had the ball, she wouldn’t have the fun of looking for it. If I wasn’t embodied as an individual, I wouldn’t have the richness of seeking the place of unity. Where we are all one.

Find it! Find it! And enjoy the prance through the grass.

Karma, or whatever natural law  makes sense to you, offers us structure. If we do this then we get that. It’s  predictable. It takes work.

Lila is a Sanskrit word that means play. It’s randomness. Chance. It’s what happens when we’re not setting  goals but open ourselves to the moment. Lila is triggered by love, music,  touch, passion.

The musician, artist, athlete  or scholar in us knows that as we perfect our technique (karma), we open  ourselves to wondrous symmetry and beauty (lila).

At my house, it’s my job to  exercise the dog, tend the yard and flowers, make the meals. From this karmic action, I experience lila.

The pleasure of seeing my  golden retriever dance in the air, leaping after a high bouncing tennis ball.  Draughts of scent from the night blooming white flowers. Fresh sweet corn picked from the field at our dinner table.

The idea is not to get out of  what we’re doing, whatever it is, but get more into it. By diving deeply into the karma experience, lila happens.

A yoga teacher friend returned from a great weekend workshop and was so inspired with the rich meaning in everyday things that she said, “I can find a message in the lines on the road!”. I take that as a direct challenge.

As I drive down the highway, I’m struck by the guidance of the yellow stripes in the center and the white ones at the edges. I have to stay in the middle. Not straying into territory that might bring me headlong into another traveler or off into the uneven, uncertain lay of the land or water.

There are so many choices to take- right turn, left turn, straight ahead, stop and get off the road for rest or play. And yet, the basic discipline is the same. Keep it between the lines.

Sometimes the road is under construction and gets bumpy. The lines tend to waiver all over the place and even get hard to follow. I feel my way along.

Dirt roads don’t have any lines but everyone follows the discipline anyway. Freedom within the common understanding of boundaries.

I’m thankful for the boundaries – lines in the road- of my life. They keep me safe and healthy. At times I struggle against them; at times I wish they were more clear. It all depends on what I need to grow.

I had a routine MRI last week. Because of a strong family history of breast cancer, I qualify annually for this accurate detection radiology test.
 
If you’ve had or heard about an MRI, you may know they put you in a huge eight foot long magnet shaped like a gun barrel and bombard you with loud noises for 30 to 60 minutes. I used all my meditation techniques to get through the experience of claustrophobic enclosure plus the banging, buzzing and clanging.
 
When I got out, I shook myself to get the feeling back in my arms and the fuzziness out of my head and asked the technician, “Why all the noise?”.
 
She explained to me that when I go into the tube, all the cells in my body line up with the field of the magnet. The noises are radiofrequencies that knock my cells out of that orderly line, and immediately the magnet pulls them back into place. It’s this resonance of being knocked out of line and coming back to place that makes it possible to capture an incredibly accurate image.
 
It’s another example of how being pushed out of line or balance and coming back into place yields positive results.
 
Any of a number of daily irritations or a serious life bump in the road knock us out of line. As we regain balance and order, we get a clear picture of how to be happier, stronger, and more free.
 
So bring on the resonance! The jarring us out of a comfortable place!  Who knows what clear vistas are ahead. 

This just in: A new health study performed by Jane Taylor of Hinesburg Vermont shows that GYROTONIC® Exercise heals disc ruptures and eases menstrual cramps!

In her break-through investigation, Jane Taylor, movement therapy patient and Gyrotonic Instructor in Training, reveals that continuous and regular Gyrotonic Exercise alleviates sciatic pain, heals ruptured discs, and eases menstrual cramps.

“I think it’s the biological pump,” says Ms. Taylor. “ Bringing the breath deep into the pelvis and low back while simultaneously elongating the spine makes all the difference.”

The current study supports the results of a related study on healing and back health conducted at various Gyrotonic Exercise studios throughout the world during the past several years. That work compared healing rates of dancers, athletes, and us regular folks engaged in on-going Gyrotonic exercise regimens to those engaged in other healing methodologies and found that patients engaged in Gyrotonic Exercise healed faster and had more fun than those outside of the study group.

Upon making this finding, Ms. Taylor proclaimed that she would discontinue her “Ruptured Disc Recovery” blog, and move her Gyrotonic blog to deeper investigation of Gyrotonic movement for continued health, happiness and longevity.

“I also plan on getting taller,” she states. Further developments and reports will be made under the general Working Well Blog category: “Gyrotonic®”

We’ve all heard the expression “it’s all good” which originated in rap music around 1994. It means anything is possible, nothing is bad, everyone/everything is cool. 

In my limited life experience, I mostly wrestle with minor decisions and situations that I call luxury problems. No less, they can keep me up at night and do involve the life and wellness of family members and friends. 

In  meditation practice this week, insight reveals that nothing is wrong. That it really doesn’t matter. A great openness and peace follows. 

Is it all good? No. But it all is happening. And greeting life with peace makes sense. 

Does this remove the power of personal choice and action? No. But it does remind me there is one source of all action.  Even as each of us goes about fulfilling our intentions with individual  action.

Does any of this make sense? Not sure. But it feels blissful! And that is enough in each moment.