I’ve been back in the USA 34 days and I found India again this week. For the first couple of weeks upon return, I was awake at 4am and on the mat soon thereafter, practicing hours on end. It was like I had nothing to do but keep doing asana. The third week it was between 5am and 6am, that I began the practice. Christmas came and smothered me in family and rituals and my practice was counter dog in the kitchen, and aparigraha was the hardest practice of all. I took much more then I needed especially with food: Mom’s fudge, Dad’s sausage, LaCasa’s Pizza and Cabernet with an adored niece that came for the holiday. Then life really hit with the reality that we are human and we suffer and we even die. There it was, Pancreatic Cancer again tormenting, taking, another loved one. And another cancer, of the breast, the reality of another dear friend beginning treatment. On day 30 I was again alone. With this aloneness was sickness. I took to the bed for 18 hours and awoke with time to practice. And that’s when I found India again. I did some taped classes with Geetaji. Standing asanas. I’m so sore. More sore then I ever was in India. Is the soreness because I wore those shoes that constrict my right foot but they look so cool, and are GUCCI, afterall? A STEAL I got at Hall’s during a January sale in 2010 because the right shoe was over stretched from everyone trying them on. I thought it was perfect for me, my right foot is bigger, afterall, but this shoe is still not big enough. I just wanted them to work because of the price and a label. Or is the soreness because of not getting enough hours for asana again? Having the hours to bring the body into it. Instead of a few hours here or there; it’s the daily pracitice that is needed. Then the body won’t be so sore. The body breathes and becomes accustomed to the movements. The imprints are made. And that is the American challenge. Daily. ALong with all the other duties and desires and people we love. India. What a gift. Now I must draw from it. Draw from it when the sadness hits. Draw when the hardship hits. Bring India into the day. EVEN WHEN I don’t have Christmas taken down yet.
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About Lisa
Lisa Giroux is certified as an Iyengar instructor through the Iyengar National Association of the United States. The certification mark is the way Iyengar teachers are identified as teachers committed to the purity and excellence of Iyengar yoga. Every certified teacher has passed a rigorous, standardized two part assessment that includes an observed practice of asanas and pranayamas, a written exam, and demonstrated teaching skills. Only after 3 years of study may you begin to apply. Then you must teach 144 hours in this method before you can take the first part of the assessment, and then the second part taken 1-2 years later. The parameters of certification come directly from BKS Iyengar. Certification is central to the support and guidance Guruji gives all teachers who embrace his method. Lisa is studying for the first time, with the Iyengar family at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Institute in Pune, India in November 2011.
To contact Lisa email her lisanamaste@gmail.com