Don’t get me wrong, people who live in Colorado are just as friendly and fun as in most places you can visit. And, I didn’t have animosity towards my family who still lived there. In fact, I would frequently get homesick for Colorado back in those days.
Despite its rough edges, NYC was also a place where people from all over the world came to pursue their dream, no matter how impractical, and that’s where I felt most at home.
Fast forward 33 years or so, and both I and New York City have evolved. I no longer live there, but I relocated to a place not too far away, and I make a trip back every once in a while to reconnect. My visits reconnect me to the architecture and activities of a city I find inspiring, and reconnect me to the people, especially my friends, whom have become a second family.
Some of the friends I have in New York have been a part of my life for almost the whole time I lived there. We’ve witnessed each other grow up from early adulthood to midlife, and there is a lot of history there, as much if not more than I have with my immediate family. And, I feel the same around them as I do with my own family. No matter where we left off, no matter how long it’s been since we last saw each other, we pick up threads of conversation as if no time has passed. It’s not awkward, and there’s no guilt making us think we should have made the time to visit sooner, or we should have made more phone calls. The channels are always open, and we just simply… reconnect.
During my most recent trip to New York City, I felt a similar reconnection to my teacher, Dharma Mittra, when I took class with him live at his studio. I didn’t feel guilty that I didn’t take class the last time I was in NY, or that I don’t take classes with him online. I didn’t feel disappointed in all the aches and pains I now have that prevent me from being able to practice positions I used to savor and benefit from. Instead, I just felt pure joy – joy to be in that room, at that moment, practicing yoga surrounded by a bunch of people whom I can feel comfortable around, even though I didn’t know any of them.
Too often, I see students approach their yoga practice not from this place of joy for the practice, but more from a place of duty – they think they are supposed to be more flexible/stronger/wiser/calmer/etc. than they are, and they practice in a way that punishes their shortcomings.
We all practice yoga while holding the hope of getting closer and closer to our goals – physical goals, de-stressing goals, perhaps even spiritual goals. And yet, if that desire to progress starts to overshadow the joy one can experience from being in the moment of how great it feels to simply be alive practicing yoga, then it’s time to reconnect to the heart of the yoga practice. Just like you reconnect with your family and friends from time to time in order to remember who you are on some level, reconnect with the way you used to practice yoga. Take class with a teacher you used to practice with, or in a style you used to take, or take a more beginner class than you usually attend. When you do, even though much of the class will be familiar to you, you’ll still always learn something. If you don’t learn something new, you’ll be reminded of something cherished which you had forgotten.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne?
Happy New Year, Everyone!
