One of the gazillion things I love about Yoga is the images of nature in the poses. Tree pose (Vrksasana). Downward facing dog (Ado Muka Svanasana). Camel (ustrasana). Lotus (padmasana). I am partial to Sanskrit because it’s ancient and beautiful (which I hope they say about me at my funeral). The language makes me feel connected and like everything matters, even the smallest things. The following Japanese proverb says it so well:
It takes particles of dusk to form a mountain. 
(Ignore the cat on my butt pillow.)
I ponder that. The extra mile. The extra breath in revolved triangle or chaturunga or Urdva Mukha Svanasana will make a mountain. A little bit of Yoga or kindness or effort or prayer or quiet or exercise is a lot. So is a little bit of lattitude, wiggle room and forgiveness. Even when it’s hard.
Speaking of, I took a Yoga class yesterday after a run to decompress from a weekend of hiking and happy hour(s). The teacher is not my favorite but I never let that stop me. All yoga is good yoga. No judgement on the teacher (yet) but I connect better with others. She had us come to ‘reverse triangle’ with very little warm up or alignment instruction. So I became a little (a lot) judgemental. I had never heard of ‘reverse triangle’. The pose we limped into was revolved triangle (Parivrtta Trikoasana) as I know it. It looks like t his:
I started thinking all kinds of negative/judgmental thoughts. Like:
She made that up. There’s no such thing. Unprepared. The pose does not match the level of the class. Someone is going to get hurt. She doesn’t even use Sanskrit because she’s scared.
I didn’t stop there. When I got home I even criticized her to my husband. I. Am. So. Not. Yogic. What a mountain of a mess I had made of my practice for the day. When I looked around the class, everyone else looked perfectly happy. This was clearly my problem.
So, I went home and looked up ‘reverse triangle’. Sho ‘nuf. It exists. Who knows about ‘Bermuda triangle’.
A positive thought would’ve gone even farther and made a much prettier stronger mountain. Other things I pondered today.
I need to meditate more.
I need a new mattress.
I need to get my vacuum fixed.
Just another day. Like all the others, perfect – full of promise, not the past and not the future. Just. Here. Now. It is as sweet – as a long lap of water taken from a downward facing dog. It even sounds nice without the Sanskrit. Lesson for the day: it’s all good.
Obviously she made it up then got home quickly and added it so when you googled it, it came up.
Great post about accepting “what is” without judgment. But if your mattress is stained, I will judge you.
Love this. I love that you recognized that your reaction was about you and not the teacher. That’s a lesson I still struggle with all the time. I have a tendency to blame my bad mood, day, etc. on anyone but myself (so I don’t have to take responsibility for it). Love the picture of the dog, too. Thanks for writing this — it’s just what I needed to read today! 🙂
Love you and your thoughts. Be present, my daily struggle. Thanks for sharing.
And we do reverse triangle after standing twist in our 90 minute Hot Yoga Sequence : )
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