"Guilt lives in the past, fear lives in the future.
Be in the present - it’s wide open for opportunity ”
Those were the words of advice I gave to one of my children when they were contemplating getting into a serious relationship after being in a very unhealthy one. I happened to be in headstand at that moment and perhaps that’s what gave me clarity……you certainly have to be absolutely present when in headstand.
I remembered this weighty statement of mine as I was looking for my book from J. Krishnamurti (1895-1986) called “On Fear”. I quote and paraphrase him here - “ We are all afraid of something: there is no fear in abstraction, it is always in relation to something”.
“You were hurt two years ago, let us say, and the memory of that remains and the memory, now functioning says, ‘Be careful, don’t get hurt again.’ So the memory with its associations is creating fear, and that is not fear at all because at the moment, you have good health. Thought, which is always old, because thought is the response of memory and memories are always old - creates, in time, the feeling that you are afraid, which is not a fact. The fact is that you are well. But the experience remained in the mind as a memory. So we see that thought engenders fear.”
So why am I telling you this? Recently I was reminded that my teaching is “intense”. Yes, it is. Deliberately. My goal is to occupy your actions and your minds for 90 minutes, keeping you completely, totally in the present. My teaching is deliberate and I will and do, encourage, push and prod to move you past old fears that stop you from being stronger in mind and body. I have watched students change on the mat and seen that same change brought into their personal lives. I have personally experienced that in my own being.
Iyengar yoga is not intend as a “workout”. It is a “work in”. And that 90 minutes of being physically challenged and empty of thought has a profound effect on your mental and physical well being.
ReplyForwardBe in the present - it’s wide open for opportunity ”
Those were the words of advice I gave to one of my children when they were contemplating getting into a serious relationship after being in a very unhealthy one. I happened to be in headstand at that moment and perhaps that’s what gave me clarity……you certainly have to be absolutely present when in headstand.
I remembered this weighty statement of mine as I was looking for my book from J. Krishnamurti (1895-1986) called “On Fear”. I quote and paraphrase him here - “ We are all afraid of something: there is no fear in abstraction, it is always in relation to something”.
“You were hurt two years ago, let us say, and the memory of that remains and the memory, now functioning says, ‘Be careful, don’t get hurt again.’ So the memory with its associations is creating fear, and that is not fear at all because at the moment, you have good health. Thought, which is always old, because thought is the response of memory and memories are always old - creates, in time, the feeling that you are afraid, which is not a fact. The fact is that you are well. But the experience remained in the mind as a memory. So we see that thought engenders fear.”
So why am I telling you this? Recently I was reminded that my teaching is “intense”. Yes, it is. Deliberately. My goal is to occupy your actions and your minds for 90 minutes, keeping you completely, totally in the present. My teaching is deliberate and I will and do, encourage, push and prod to move you past old fears that stop you from being stronger in mind and body. I have watched students change on the mat and seen that same change brought into their personal lives. I have personally experienced that in my own being.
Iyengar yoga is not intend as a “workout”. It is a “work in”. And that 90 minutes of being physically challenged and empty of thought has a profound effect on your mental and physical well being.
ReplyForward