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Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Little Balls of Potential

The funny thing about blogging, is the realization that someone other than yourself reads it. I had such that revelation today--and in the revelation came a sort of panic of responsibility--the responsiblity that I have not blogged in over 14 days. I have always been a quantity over quality kind of girl--the more shoes the better, the more the more the more---but in the last year I have really cherished spending time with other people's blogs and find that when there is nothing to say, there really is nothing to say and that it ok--even in the blog world. The classes at the jail have been really good, really grounding and the kids have been responsding well--the bleak winter of North Idaho, has begun to allow a few breaks of sun and that in itself transforms the soul.

Our practice this week focuses on Living Skillfully--we are reveiwing the basic poses and building them from the ground up--working on the fundamentals of Anusara--Open to Grace, Hug into the best part of yourself, and then allow the beauty to extend through you --a sub theme is to remember that we are all alive, we all share a common thread of conciousness--yet in that commonality three is differences that make each of us beautiful. The girls responded well, they are so open in JDC, it is really amazing--part of it is I believe is that there is no regular clothes there, they are all in "scrubs" and there is no make-up and no hair products--- in a sense stripped down to their raw states and that allows their True Self to shine forward, there is really nothing to hide behind.

I reference a lot the book, "Yoga from the Inside Out", by Christina Sell--who I have to say is one of the greatest teachers I have ever been taught by--she weaves theme and honor of yourself in a way that is magical to all students. I read from her book of how many women struggle with being in their own skin, how many women late in life find yoga out of survival and I referenced the girls in JDC, who have been given yoga as a gift--the girls these last weeks have been very receptive of these teachings. There is something bigger at work, and I am humbled to be the vessle from which they are allowing their True Self to emerge.

Jail has a heirarchy, and these last weeks, the high priestesses of negativity have gone, and there are beautiful girls taking the classes. As I write this I am reminded of my teacher's son's blog from India, (elifrankovich.blogspot.com), where he and his mother went to an orphanage, and he said, "They are all terribly sick in some way or another. Their lives are already harder than most. And then, on top of it all, they have no mamas. They don't have anyone to hold them. They don't have anyone to love them more than anything else in the world." The girls in JDC are living a life that in many ways has been laid out for them, it is very easy to get sucked into the idea that there is no hope for them, because they too have no mama's, at least not attentive ones, and they belive that the only person who can love them more than anything else in this world is a boy--good or bad for them, doesn't matter, there only pre-requisite is that he has a penis. That is how their mother's lived, and that is what they know. The teaching of loving yourself is exceptionally difficult to give them, as the walls of their hearts are so thick. When something good happens they don't fully enjoy it because they know it won't last, they become negative, they become mean, they become protectors of their hearts. It's funny how in the Yoga room, their guard is down, I would love to meet the one person in their lives who has shown these beautiful girls that they are beautiful with no strings--and then I realize that in teaching the Yoga I am reminded that we are all derived from the same Source so of course even in the turmoil that is life, we can be reminded and hold onto the fact that we are all essential, we are all little balls of potential--from one comes the many.

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