This yoga instructor at Mike's Fitness in JP gave the following lecture.
Happy New Year! Some of you, he said, have been complaining to the front desk. You complain that there are too many people and the mats are too close together. You complain that some people come late and their entry disrupts the class. You complain that I, HERALDO, talk too much!
* Heraldo says his name in capital letters. Even his Facebook name is in CAPS.
Well. Listen. Yoga is not only the pose, you see. Yoga is the practice. Yoga is the mindfulness, it is the what is in your heart. If you are thinking how mad you are at the person who comes in late, you are losing whatever it is you could be getting from the pose, from the right now.
In Japan, in Zen, they have a saying: If you are so upset when your toast burns, what will happen when your house catches fire?
Open your heart! Love the person next to you! If you step on their mat, that is so wonderful, because it is an an opportunity to look them in the eyes and connect to this person. If you touch them, you share the energy and have twice as much!
If you do not like these things, if you want me to shut up and stop talking, if your practice stops with the pose, this maybe is not the class for you!
I definitely decided that this was the class for me.
And all week I drove around thinking about my life's burnt toast.
