PLEASE STACK MINDFULLY

Reading from Wednesday, June 4, 2014 and Tuesday June 10, 2014 yoga classes

The following is FANTASTIC... so wonderful that I read it to two classes.

"It was a scrunched up strap.  Arriving early to the studio that morning and preparing for class, I reached for the basket and found it thrown on top the tangled pile and still tied in a knot that refused to let go.  Such a small thing.  A trivial annoyance.  But just like that hard double knot, I too would not let go.  Ninety minutes later we bowed our heads and said namaste.  I gave my students the space to begin a gentle transition from asana practice to whatever waited beyond the studio door and then added these three little words: PLEASE STACK MINDFULLY.

There were a few smiles and some giggles.  And the following week I said it again: PLEASE STACK MINDFULLY.

The weeks went by, I continued my reminder and the class began to tease me about my compulsion.  Had I considered therapy?... I took the teasing because we took the time to stack blocks neatly, fold blankets smoothly and arrange bolsters according to size.  We all worked together, with mindful attention, to prepare the studio for the back care class that followed my morning slow flow group.

But they were humoring me.  I knew it.  They knew it.  My students were doing this for me, and I felt blessed, yet I was troubled.  They weren't getting it.  Why?  How was I failing them?  What could I do to get the message across?  And why did any of this matter?  Because it MATTERS.  Our practice does not end with "Namaste."  We live our practice.  We breathe our practice.  It matters, and yet, that's all it is.  Practice.  We try, we stumble, we try again.  We practice.

 I had failed my students because I had forgotten my practice.  I went back to the books and looked at the yamas (restraints) and niyamas (observances).  My practice had to begin with the release of the annoyance I held towards the individuals who could not see how their disregard for keeping the studio well maintained affected my class.  My practice had to begin from a place of love and honor...  I focused on shaucha (purity and cleanliness).  This refers not only to the mind and body, but to the physical and energetic space around us.  And that's how I taught my students.  I explained that our mindful stacking created peaceful order in the physical space and created energetic space for our hearts and minds to expand.  This space, I explained, elevates our consciousness and burnishes the hard edges we convince ourselves we need for protection as we move through the world.

My students still tease me but the teasing is filled with such love and joy that I have no choice but to embrace it.  Besides, I no longer have to ask them to stack mindfully--they get it."

From an article in "Yoga Living"  by Mimm Patterson