Finding My Voice

We begin each yoga class by chanting three Om’s (pronouncedA-U-M) followed by the Invocation to Patañjali. This allows us to invite the presence of Patanjali into our practice and receive his blessing. The first time I did this, I found myself feeling very self-conscious. I am not overly familiar with Sanskrit (especially pronunciation!) and I always hate the sound of my own voice (despite having a career in public speaking, lol)!  As time has gone on, I now feel quite the reverse. The invocation has grown to be the grounding force behind my practice, always bringing a sense of calm and focus*.

I’m going to let you in on a little secret. I have a small but very powerful ritual that I do in the car on the way to class. Before doing yoga, I always set my intention for that days practice.  I do this for many reasons but primarily to focus my attention and create a purpose for my practice other than the purely physical.  My intentions are often as broad as ‘keeping an open heart and an open mind’ or can be as specific as dedicating my practice to someone that is going through a difficult time or who has inspired or influenced me.

 One of my most common dedications is to my beloved Professor from University, Larry Rosenfield who sadly passed away over the summer.

My Socrates, RIP L.W.R

Larry was my first true mentor and to whom I owe a tremendous amount of gratitude towards for being the first to teach me about the true meaning of ‘being present’. I mention Larry here for two reasons:
1) to introduce him to those of you who are not familiar with what an impact he has had (and continues to have) on my life. He will be featuring in this blog quite a bit over the coming year!
2) Larry taught me the art of living in the present moment and finding my ‘inner voice’. He was the main inspiration behind my pull towards discovering my SELF and opening to my passion for yoga.

Larry used to teach us the importance of reflection and of paying attention to the ‘Aha moments’ in life. You know the feeling...when the light bulb goes off and you see something clearly for the first time.  ‘Aha’ moments don’t always have to pertain to the BIG realisations in life, often the smaller realisations are the most powerful.

My first ‘aha’ moment of yoga tt is this:

My first actual teaching experience (I volunteered to lead the group in the first Sun Salutation) was a complete disaster.  I literally couldn’t speak never mind give direction on where to move the body or when to inhale and exhale!! I experienced a complete mental block and froze! I did manage to muddle through but it was completely disjointed and riddled with nerves. Here’s what struck me almost immediately...
When I do yoga, especially poses that I am fairly adept in, I DO NOT think (it’s taken me a long time to get here and a LOT of practice to do so). My brain switches off and I move into an innate way of moving, breathing and being – which to me is part of the essence of doing yoga. It may sound obvious, but I now realize there is a massive difference between DOING yoga and TEACHING yoga.

From this point forward I am going to have to learn how to think, and speak, while doing yoga at the same time. This might sound simple...but it’s like explaining to someone how to walk in very precise detail, it isn’t something that comes naturally to explain because it is something that we just ‘do’ without thinking. Finding my yoga teaching voice is my first challenge. In a way, I will be bringing the ‘inner voice’ that i’ve worked so hard to discover and start sharing it with others.

Just as the Invocation now comes naturally to me at the beginning of practice, I hope that my ‘teaching voice’ will one day come naturally too. When that day comes I hope that I can help others (as Larry helped me) connect with their Inner Being and learn how to come into a state of pure presence during practice and throughout their daily lives.

Namaste. x

(*coincidentially I wrote my first draft of this yesterday and then went to class directly afterwards, and for the first time since i’ve been attending Nick’s classes, he forgot to start the class with the Invocation!  All of his regulars noticed that the atmosphere in class was completely different than usual. Once we realised we hadn’t done the Invocation, and then stopped to do it, from that point forward the class was more visibly grounded and calm.)