Grow Yoga

Jan 13, 2010 | Yoga practices | 2 comments

On a roll here with my rhymes, so I’ll keep them going maybe for one more time. A couple of years back, we felled about 100 pines from the back of our property. I don’t mean to offend any tree-lovers; I’m one myself. But this variety of pine is opportunistic and will eventually overtake everything, except the lantana which has an unfortunate (for us) symbiotic relationship with them. A horticulturist recommended planting some grasses and ivies on the slope to save it from sliding into the wetland below. We planted maybe 300 tube stock over the area and poured water crystals into each hole to guarantee them some moisture in the absence of much rain activity. It was hard work, all done by hand in steamy summer weather.

We learned a couple of things: 1) grasses grow in our somewhat loamy soil but ivy-types prefer anything but; 2) and weeds of any shape, size and thorniness will thrive on newly chewed up ground. It always amazes me how many different kinds of people are attracted to yoga. Time and again, over the years I’ve been teaching, I’ve seen people who I thought would be total mismatches for yoga take to it like terns diving for river fish. A beginner shows up for a 10-week yoga course, appears to struggle through, and then can’t wait to sign on for the next level. A senior decides to tackle the gradual stiffening of his aging body by doing a “gentle” once-a-week yoga class and pretty soon he’s at the studio 2 or 3 times a week. A peak athlete finally listens to his girlfriend’s nagging and is able to repair old injuries and improve his performance. I’ve even had teen-agers playing up horribly all through their high school yoga classes and then go on to be yoga teachers. Go figure. This is what I think. Yoga is just the right universal blend of earth to grow us in all the ways it’s possible to be human. Just plant yourself, stay with it, let your taproots go down, and see what happens in 20 or 50 years’ time.

2 Comments

  1. I like to see the picture of your hill side with all the grasses (and weeds)just to remind myself that we are not the only ones having a hard battle with weeds. And they seem to always win. I love your previous psoting too, about slow down yoga, just my type of yoga now a days.

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  2. Have just read all your inspiring posts (so far) Eve and feel like I’ve had both a new year’s shot of inspiration for my yoga practice and a lovely visit with you! You write as you think/speak and that’s refreshing and inspiring…thank you. I’ll subscribe to your blog if I can work out how… 🙂

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