ORDINARY BECOMES EXTRAORDINARY

I've been enjoying the transmission of quotes from John Friend this week via Facebook (taken from his Teacher Intensive in New Jersey). I would love to be there listening myself, so I appreciate people sharing the meaningful statements coming from this training. One, in particular, caught my eye this morning (if you know me, personally, you'll know why). It goes like this:

"To be able to find the extraordinary in the ordinary, you have to slow things down." (per John Friend)

I wrote several months back about my dilemma, as a yoga teacher. That age projects an image to people that may or may not be accurate. Huh? One example I used was a fellow instructor who, when I mentioned people may avoid my class because of my age and the perceived lack of 'energetic output' I will demand of them, responded: "Oh, I don't think so, I love a slow class once in a while." This from someone who had never taken a class from me. It got me to thinking -- that I may project that image, or I may have that reputation, or - perhaps (thanks to JF) - I am finding the extraordinary in the ordinary and - in order to do that - I do slow things down (not always, but often).

I'll go with the last of those three statements - thank you, again, John.

Slowing things down, really feeling the movement and how it affects the body, the action, and the movement is NOT a negative. It truly brings another dimension of awareness to me. In particular, body parts - bones, muscles, nerves, brain - working together. I don't know about you, but I get really excited when I feel my inner thigh muscles fire and help me to hug in when moving in to poses. I love to feel the shoulder blades move onto my back and aid the opening in trichonasana, long before I extend the upper arm to the sky (think "icing on the cake"). And, activating my toes in any seated pose, brings such a feeling of stability. There's more, but I could get boring. Important to note that these things are easily overlooked, even if they are happening optimally.

They are all ordinary things. They are supposed to happen. The problem is that some students have not been given the gift of 'noticing' them or becoming 'aware' of them. When I teach, I bring it into their field of awareness. This may make a class seem slower, but I guarantee when they attend another instructor's class, they will remember and maybe they'll thank me for it.

How do I get out of this semi-rant? I don't; I'll just leave it to sit with, to let readers explore ordinary moments in order to experience the extraordinary, more slowly perhaps.

Today? Teaching a basic class at 10am this morning. Then, a few errands including grocery shopping, house stuff, etc.

Hope you have a good Saturday!