Yoga with James Brown, Day 13

I am always amazed at the power of the mind.
I wanted to write that sentence to say "I am always amazed at the power of yoga" which is true, but in this situation inaccurate. Up until the moment I left my apartment this morning my body was absolutely falling apart. Having a chronic health problem, it is easy to forget how much of the situation is mind over matter. How I react to what is happening has a huge impact on how bad things get. And today was no different. It was pretty much like being in a building when the fire alarms are malfunctioning. The alarms just keep going off, evacuating the building, for no real emergency. And knowing that I had 4 hours of yoga, at least one of which would be really intense, ahead of me I was getting really worried.

I debated about whether to even go. Somewhere between knowing that I have to make the responsible decision for my body, and also that often the very thing I put off because of this problem is the very thing that will help. Ultimately I decided that I didn't physically feel that bad, and I did what I could to move toward the upswing and I headed on my way.
I walked all the way out to Bloomingdale, maybe a mile? Climbing some pretty serious snowbanks.

James' classes are grueling, physically. My muscles burn during the warm up. And during the rest of the class. His sequences are creative and deliberately planned from a physical perspective. He's funny. His music is good. It's a nice novelty to have once in awhile. I really value the opportunity to learn from him and experience his wealth of knowledge about yoga. But just as last time, I was listening to everyone rave about him endlessly after the fact, and I realized that for me there is a piece missing from his class. There is something that I get, associate, need, value, resonate with in my usual classes that wasn't there. Some element.

I'm still processing what that is, exactly. I'm close, but I haven't quite put my finger on it. I think it is an exemplary circumstance of "to each their own, to teach their own". If we never experience other styles, traditions, techniques, ideas we will never know what works for us. And if we never find what works for us, how can we then offer that unique perspective to someone else out there who maybe hasn't quite found their yoga?

And, I do feel better.