Recently the Bikram yoga studio where I practice has been very crowded, lots of new people and people who haven’t practiced for a while that made New Year’s resolutions to come to class. It’s always fun to have new people, during class I silently encourage them, hopefully, helping them to stay in the very hot room and get through the series of yoga postures. One day this week I found my ego beginning to spin a little out of control. I got to class early and set my mat up to practice, a lady came in at the very last minute and set up right next to me. She was new to the class and very, very physically fit, possibly a triathlete, here in Burlington,VT there are a lot of very fit people, it’s a city of triathletes. Not sure if I was annoyed that she set her yoga mat so close to mine or that I had to look at her beautiful flat stomach and long, lean muscles next to my Christmas cookie filled belly the whole class—-Whatever it was, I was annoyed. We began class and it became pretty clear that she was new to the yoga practice, not very flexible and not used to the heat of the class, she struggled through the standing series. Was I wishing her well during the class like I usually do to newcomers? No, I was taking note of each and every mistake she made. As the standing series of class was over and we were transitioning to the floor series the lady leaned over to me and said, “You have such beautiful form in the postures, I love to watch you.” Man, I felt like a real butthead, letting my ego get the best of me and run my mind with superior thoughts. Once again I thank yoga for helping me to learn to check my ego at the door, it’s no fun to feel like a butthead.
Early morning on the Ganges in Varanasi, India.
