Last week’s Sunset Session was really special. We did the entire class while blindfolded, myself included. It’s such a powerful experience to deprive yourself of one of your senses. It forces you to become more self aware, you really have to listen to the body, you have to force yourself to feel the positions, and to actually connect to what is going on inside of you.
When you deprive yourself of one of your senses its amazing how the others seem more powerful. It’s always nice to practice outside, but it was interesting to notice how much more attention you paid to the feeling of the breeze on your skin, or the sounds of a helicopter passing over you then you maybe would have if your eyes had been open.
It was a challenge for me as a teacher to lead from this place. It required a massive amount of trust in both my students- in the sense that they were listening to what I was saying and making their own physical adjustments to make sure they were practicing safely, but it also required trust in myself to be able to lead just as effectively without the use of a sense I usually rely so heavily on. It took a moment for me to get comfortable with that but as the class progressed I realized that my ability to feel what it was my students needed most from me existed deep within me beyond only what my eyes can see.
After the class we were discussing our interpretations of what the soul’s journey means to us. I’ve been thinking ever since about how we are born into this world as babies and as children we exist in our truest state, we just don’t realize that our purpose has been gifted to us since birth. As we grow older we start to drift away from that center, there are lessons we need to learn, things that we are taught that we eventually need to unlearn, but hopefully we find a way to return to that childlike state of wonder- whether it be through rediscovering your passions, or having your own children, we take the lessons we have learned and we return to that state of true purpose and flow with the universe.
I love the way our time on our mats mirrors this journey. First we start slow, sometimes on the floor, warming up, preparing ourselves to stand. Standing can be challenging and frustrating, but is full of lessons and growth. We eventually cool it down and return to happy baby, or fetal position, or any position that kind of returns to that space of deep self awareness, and childlike wonder and curiosity- hopefully taking notice of how things have changed or shifted through that hour of practice.
Your mat is your mirror, don’t miss out on the valuable lessons you can take from your time spent practicing. If you really listen, and become a conscious observer of what is going on inside of you, there is so much to be gained.
