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Five Continents and One Eagle Pose

Today is the first Saturday in a looong while that I've been in DC.  Which means it's also the first Saturday in awhile that I've been able to attend my favorite yoga class, taught by my favorite teacher (aside from my sister, of course).

So, I'm in class this morning, feeling extremely grateful and pleased with myself for making it there in the first place, and for creating this space in my life to reflect and take care of my body.  It is no small feat these days, let me tell you.

After a series of rapid vinyasas, I'm hoping that my audible breathing is more an indication of my mastery of Ujjayi breath rather than being out of practice.  Then Faith (our teacher) invites us to move from warrior three (balancing on one leg with the other extending out behind you) to eagle pose.  Oh god.  Cue unyogalike dread.  Eagle pose is not my friend, insofar as poses go.  It involves balancing on one foot while wrapping the other leg around the calf, and also doing a similar twist with your arms.  These things are just not natural to the human skeleton, of that I feel quite certain.   

Actually, I executed a fairly awesome eagle pose once.  But that was right after I got back from Bhutan.  My balance was a little more in tact back then.  Which got me to thinking (ignoring the call to focus on my current practice and stay in the present...), maybe eagle pose is a metaphor for my life.  Balancing on one leg, wrapping limbs around one another, forcefully wobbling to such an extent that my neighbors may be concerned, but ultimately managing to keep it all together. 

My feet have found their way to five different continents in the past three months.   In between travel, I've experienced heartache, a life-altering trauma, and the loss of my grandfather, all of which have added up to a fairly exhausting Fall.  Oh yes, and our beach house caught on fire.  And I'm sure there were some other things.  So my one-legged balancing is not at its best.

But I guess that's why we have two legs when we need them.  I'll get back to my awesome eagle someday.  In the meantime, I'm just happy to be breathing in and out, focusing on all of the wonderful things that life has brought me in the past six months, and using my two un-wound, non-eagle legs as God intended them: Standing.
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Comments

  1. UnknownDecember 11, 2010 at 8:08 PM

    OH I love this sooooo much!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousDecember 11, 2010 at 8:23 PM

    Caro, you must write a book. You can skip the "eat" and "pray" and just call it "Looove!"

    ReplyDelete

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