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Spring 1996

NAMASTE,

As you can see from the rest of the spring newsletter, we are opening our new center in Northern Virginia. It’s been a long time coming. Back in the 1995 newsletter we announced that we were negotiating with several parties for a new studio and that we hoped to open for the winter session. Obviously those negotiations fell through. Each newsletter we’ve had to say, “Opening of our Arlington studio has been delayed.” Now after fifteen months of searching and further negotiations with a variety of parties, the process of finding a space is complete and we’re ready to go.

As word has gotten out that we’re about to open in Arlington, lots of people have offered congratulations and expressed their enthusiasm and support. We appreciate that.

I have also been a little surprised to hear some people say that they had given up on the likelihood of anything ever happening in Arlington. When I opened the first studio in Bethesda back in January of 1985, we went through a similar series of events. Early in 1984 I found a spot that I thought would provide a good location for classes, which at that time were being held in a couple of different places. After advertising the location and a new schedule, the deal fell apart, and I had to reschedule the classes and start looking all over again. A year passed before I actually opened the studio in Bethesda. So the chain of events in Arlington is not unfamiliar to me.

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Sometimes these things take time. This whole process reminds me very much of what happens in my practice. For instance, I’d like to learn to do Vrschikasana, the Scorpion Pose. In the final pose you’re balanced on your forearms with your spine arched back and your head lifted. You drop your feet backward and down until they rest on your head. It’s a hard pose. I’ve practiced the things that seem necessary to provide a foundation to work on it: the basic backbends and some of the more difficult ones, like Kapotasana (Pigeon Pose), and Pincha Mayurasana (Forearm Balance).

Each time I practice backbends, I open my chest and shoulders and warm up my back, and then I try Scorpion. Sometimes I drop my feet onto a support so I can practice getting the height needed in my chest. Sometimes I practice dropping back from headstand to get the opening in the groins and the mobility and extension of the spine. A couple of times a week I try. Occasionally I’m traveling and don’t get to it. Sometimes I feel stiff, tired or have a catch, and I work on more appropriate backbends. There are also other things to practice besides Scorpion, so I don’t focus only on that pose. I do it as part of my total practice.

Years have passed and still my feet don’t rest on my head. They’ve touched a few times only to return to a spot several inches above the next time. Of course it doesn’t matter one whit whether my feet ever touch my head. It’s simply the direction that motivates and guides the process. But one thing’s for sure: if I don’t keep trying, it’s not going to happen. So I try.

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The same has been true of finding the space in Arlington. It’s mostly been a question of continuing through the process: looking at spaces, talking to agents and landlords, and when it hasn’t worked, learning from the process and looking some more.

The key is persistence, whether looking for a space for a yoga studio, learning a challenging pose, or creating a purposeful and balanced life. The pace of our society is very fast these days. We seem to expect results immediately. If they don’t come right away, we tend to give up and move on. This is one of the reasons yoga hasn’t been as popular as some other forms of physical exercise, spiritual pursuits, or alternative therapies. Yoga takes time. But as I mentioned in the last newsletter, the society is aging and with age comes maturity and patience. I think yoga is becoming more popular now in part because people can see that to develop the sensitivity and stability to live wisely, patience and persistence are essential. They can also see that yoga, by requiring these virtues to establish and maintain a satisfying practice, helps to develop those same qualities. Even the Yoga Sutras (I:14) states that for practice to be effective, it must be done for a long time, without interruption and with devotion.

Occasionally I do a yoga demonstration after which I talk a little bit about what yoga is. I follow this with a question and answer period. Inevitably one of the questions is: “If I want to be able to do what you do how long will it take?”

This is bottom line mentality. I’m here; I want to get there. How long? Who knows? You might never get “there.” I might never “do” Scorpion Pose. I might never have found a space in Arlington that would work. So what? I thought it was a good idea. I had support from friends, students, and colleagues, so it made sense to keep on looking, come what may. I want to be healthy, to develop a deep level of sensitivity, and to be present in my life rather than living in a half awake state of daydreams, memories, and projections. Yoga seems to me to be the best vehicle to move in that direction. So I do it. After twenty-five years, I’m still half asleep, wandering in the cloudy forms of my own mind. But occasionally a glimmer of light seems to shine through, like a bright ray of sunlight piercing the mantle of gray that covers these winter days. So I honor my commitment to my practice and I continue.

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And even if patience and persistence don’t yield the desired or expected results (perfect health, a new studio, enlightenment), being virtues, they are, as the saying goes, their own reward. They cultivate clarity, one-pointedness, strength of will. They foster a willingness to let go of expectation and desire, a willingness to hang in there not so much to “get somewhere,” but because this is what seems to make sense, what feels right, what you’ve decided to do. There’s something to be said for that in these times when so many people seem much more inclined to take the money and run.

Speaking of demonstrations/talks, I’ll be doing a demonstration and talk at our grand opening in Arlington on March 30 at 7:00 p.m. I hope you’ll come by and enjoy some light refreshments and friendly conversation, see our new studio, and perhaps learn a little bit about yoga. The Arlington teachers will be there to talk with you and answer any questions you may have. I may or may not do Scorpion Pose.