I attended Esak’s day long seminar and posture clinic on Sunday May 19th. I looked forward to it a great deal based on all the great things I heard about him and his Jedi Fight Club trainings. It was my first opportunity for a more in depth training since I started practicing. As I mentioned in the previous post, I decided to prepare for this by doing a 30 day challenge designed to conclude on May 19th. So happens I finished it the day before, but did not go on to extend it into a 60 day like I thought I might. The seminar was great. A room full of some familiar and lots of new faces from other studios throughout Chicago area. Hearing a master teacher like Esak talk about yoga and give very detailed training on nitty gritty specifics of various postures was incredibly inspiring. He was sweet, humble, humorous, relaxed and really focused on the joy of yoga and the benefit the postures are to you. The very opposite of a “my way or the highway” type of guy.
That seminar on a beautiful Sunday morning temporarily interrupted my weekly 8:00 and 10:00 Sunday Doubles. Up to that point I did 16 consecutive weeks of Sunday Doubles, 32 classes– essentially a Month of Sundays. Its become a regular part of my practice whether I’m doing a specific challenge or not. One thing I learned is, just because you do it on a regular basis, doesn’t mean back to back doubles become “easy”. Sure I know what to expect and I’ve done it so many times that I know I can make it, but any given week or any given class can be a “great” one or a “hard” one. No rhyme or reason–just is what it is. Can’t worry about it, can’t be afraid of it, just focus and breathe and move with the words. Find your peace, find your stillness, and push or kick until you hear “change”. One thing that is extremely consistent is how great I feel afterwards. Even if I feel totally spent and exhausted at the end of the second class, it isn’t long till I feel amazing. That’s the feeling that is soooo addicting…how great you feel after class. That’s the crazy part. No matter how great or hard the classes were, how much sheer determination it took me to get through them, how much I was reduced to a pool of sweat on the floor, it wasn’t long till I was saying to myself, “That was awesome…when’s my next class?”
Always Great Never Easy 