Blind Yoga

This post is part of the Best of 2009 Blog Challenge, the brainchild of yogini geek Gwen Bell. I’m participating, albeit somewhat sporadically. I couldn’t resist this one though.

December 8 Moment of peace. An hour or a day or a week of solitude. What was the quality of your breath? The state of your mind? How did you get there?

As I’ve well-documented here, I spent the eight weeks between September 23 and November 15 in CorePower Yoga‘s Teacher Training program; something I’ve had on my “someday I’d like to” list and Life List for long enough.

We spent eight weeks in satsang, breathing in and out of breakdowns and breakthroughs, and literally sleeping and living the C1 sequence.

The C1 sequence is CPY’s beginner level class structured in such a way that helps beginners get introduced to yoga and smartly, gradually builds so the body’s appropriately warmed up and prepared for the more challenging postures towards the middle/end, etc.

You get it. Anyway, there was some memorization involved and by the end of the training, we were all tested on our knowledge of the sequence as well as our ability to effectively teach it.

We completed exams (written and actual teaching) on Saturday, November 14. On Sunday, November 15, we gathered in the same downtown studios we’d shared for the previous eight weeks for what our wonderful instructors called “a special class,” that they were going to lead us through.

Having done Becka’s Chakra-Tuning workshop, the Simon Park workshops, and having put our hearts and souls into ourselves and each other during this training, I anticipated something specially crafted for us to perhaps reflect on the eight weeks, or celebrate whatever lied ahead of us.

Nope. Not even close. I mean, yeah. We did all that, but not the way I expected.

We were told to make sure we were four rows deep, lined up exactly with the yogi in front of or behind us. Lisa began walking around class with a tote bag and instructing everyone to reach in and grab something out of it. As we started realizing these were various bandannas, Becka started explaining what we were going to be doing.

Yoga. The C1 sequence. For 60ish minutes.

Ok, sweet.

Blindfolded.

WAIT, WHAT?!

Yeah, yeah, yeah. At this point we could do it backwards and upside-down. BUT BLINDFOLDED?

In the spirit of honor and all that, I made sure my bandanna totally covered my vision until everything went dark.

And then we started. No one watching, drishti focused solely inward. No mirrors, no boundaries, no comparing my Warrior II to her Warrior II. No frustration when I fall out of Dancer on the left, no pride when I nail Dancer on the right.

Just… feeling. For someone who is frequently challenged to JUST BE STILL, to quiet my mind, to feel more than think, this was incredible.

I had a few moments of peace when all thoughts were quiet except noting where the corners of my mat were, what the air felt like as my hands moved from my sides into tadasana, what my breath felt like with each inhale and exhale.

The moment that sticks out to me the most though was in the spine strengthening series, in floor bow. One of my instructors came over to me as I rocked back and forth, grabbed beneath my ankles, cradled my knees with hers, and helped to move me further into the posture with proper alignment.

Now, I love adjustments. I love the ones that move me deeper into postures, and I love the ones that move me into more proper alignment, allowing myself to later find a more full expression of a pose. But this one was different. Being able to only feel the physical contact between myself and my instructor, no eye contact, no mirror-watching, no over-analyzing my own form. I felt and saw a connection and ebb and flow between teacher and student that was internal, that was intrapersonal, that was never outwardly visible. I felt the connection between myself and teacher and felt our experiences transfer between us.

Maybe that sounds strange and mystic and all of that, but that was my most notable moment of peace this year.

Well, that or the time I climbed the flatiron in Boulder with Steve in May and felt that whole “I’m so small!” feeling that being in the mountains always does to me.

But probably the yoga one.

Tagged as: Boulder, CorePower Yoga, Minneapolis, mountains, peace, Yoga