Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Yoga and math

I think I may be getting why it is so hard to explain yoga. Usually, we are involved in a process of addition - getting a new thing, taking a course, buying a book. We collect experiences too - going to warm climates, eating great food. These experiences "add" to our lives. But yoga is really a process of subtraction. Yoga practice has the tendency to "remove". Yoga removes stress, removes the disconnection between deeper parts of ourselves, removes some of the need for external validation. It removes muscular imbalance, and internal toxins. Meditation can remove thoughts. So, it's tough to introduce a subtraction way of thinking to an addition based culture as a "positive" benefit. Yup.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

My heart is Canadian

My heart is Canadian,
and so is my body
my muscles and bones
live in a socialist society,
communally.

No dictator, but strings
of tendons, tissues and
bones listening to one
another.

No celebrity muscle.
no part that needs
more attention because
it feels distant from the others.

Sometimes my Canadian body
gets sick. But have an internal
medicare system, and thanks
to Tommy Douglas, an external one too.

I move into postures in a Canadian way;
I go for a beer afterward because that too,
is union.

I try to teach yoga as a Canadian.
A melting pot of practices
no need to brand it. We are
in this together, aren’t we?