Fresh out of the shower this morning, my husband announced my backside had changed shape. Antenna immediately on the alert, I asked how. ‘Rounder’, he replied. Hmmmm. I pondered. ‘Higher’, he continued, and ……(drumroll, finally, the magic word)… ‘Smaller’. Cheap to write this I know, but I felt the love swell in my chest!
Well I have been teaching 3 booty barre classes a week for 12 weeks. And I can assure you the only change to my diet was less than helpful – A nice long vacation filled with a large supply of French cheeses and pastries).
With 25 years of yoga behind me (excuse the pun) I am completely aware that this superficial butt stuff is completely against the basic yoga principles of letting go of expectations and dissolving the ego. Yet here we often find ourselves: Striving for the perfectly toned body, obsessing about the latest clothing, contorting into show-off yoga poses, or sweating through a three minute Pilates plank. Of the $1.2 billion fitness industry in Australia, a huge percentage of spend will be ego driven.
But I find myself in a happy conflict. Ego vs Spirituality
There is something spiritual about sweaty exercise: a bit of good old fashioned hard work. It re-connects us back from our tendency to disconnect. It puts us in the present moment. It’s satisfying feeling yourself grow strong. It uplifts us out of any residual victim mode, banishing the ‘poor me’s’. It grounds us in our base chakra so we don’t lean on others too much. And it’s fun. Couldn’t we all do with a little more fun in our busy, busy lives?
Many of us do tend to self-criticism. Gandhi, a great proponent of the yogic precept of ahmisa, non harming, guides us well here. We need to be enjoying our exercise and we would do well to not judge ourselves (or our least favourite body parts) too harshly. We would do well to cultivate compassion towards ourselves. When we fill ourselves so, the people in our orbit will feel the lovin’ too.
My aim for the studio was to create a warm, supportive environment for people to achieve their health goals. Kindness was the word that kept arising and continued to guide me as I invited teachers into the studio. Aside from the technical stuff, I looked for caring teachers who’d contribute an aura of kindness.
Patanjali’s yoga sutra I:33 instructs us about how correct attitudes in relationships that will purify our minds:
maitri karuna mudita upekshanam sukha duhka punya apunya vishayanam bhavanatah chitta prasadanam
From the Sanskrit, this means: Undisturbed calmness of mind is attained by cultivating friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and indifference toward the wicked. In other words, if we can remain, friendly, kind and compassionate, and if we can remain on track in the face of vices, we can find inner calm and contentment and joy. I often speak about cultivating neutrality in yoga class, dissolving strong preferences and developing indifference to pain/pleasure. (or, ahem, in this case large bottom/small bottom!)
Gandhi in writing on his interpretation of the Bhagavad Gita (a Hindu text used to guide yogis) also wrote about being favourably disposed, serene and benevolent, “The yogi is not one who sits down to practise breathing exercises. He is one who looks upon all with an equal eye, sees other creatures in himself.” It leads me back to revolving my thoughts around kindness.
But as I contemplate that, it sure is nice to be sitting on a toned backside !
– Christina
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