Obstacles/Gateways to Mindfulness
The dog barf bit is real. This morning, at the start of my Tuesday Hatha class, my dog Tiko joined me. He loves being up in the studio with me, often tucking just underneath the webcam out of site of the camera once we get going. This morning our opening meditation focused on the 2d gate of mindfulness, sensory perception. With the lovely soaking rain, the windows open, the lush scents and gentle multi-layered sound of the rain, I decided to use the senses of listening and smelling as a gateway to immersive sensory experience, as a portal to deepened connection with self. Earlier, in my own meditation, it was pure pleasure to indulge in sensory exploration, to listen to the rain almost like an orchestra with bass notes, and treble notes, and even a plunky kind of percussion. It was wondrous, actually. I wanted my students to experience that same delight.
When class started, Tiko was tucked nearby. And, just as I was invoking full sensory awareness of environmental sounds and smells of our particular environments, I felt Tiko close to my knee, on my mat, and heard him begin to heave and gag. I cracked open one eye and sure enough he was puking on my mat. Praying everyone's eyes were closed (they couldn't hear him; I wear a headset mic and it doesn't pick up sounds in the space mostly) I quietly found some paper towel, mopped it up, picked him up and moved him, sat down, and carried on. I was talking the whole time. I was actually, oddly, still in the meditation, with some part of me, even as I was mopping up puke and picking up the dog and eyeballing the damage done to my mat.
On the one hand, multi-tasking and meditation are directly paradoxical.
On the other hand, puke happens.
Figuratively there's been a whole of lot it over the past few months. What are we to do but mop it up and carry on and try not to lose the thread of our own intentions? The things that feel like obstacles in our practices and to some extent in daily life can ultimately be gateways. If we get too caught up in the fact of the puke, or the smell of the puke, or the very pukeness of the puke, despair might set in. Instead, we can be fully present to it, breathe it in anyway, along with the scent of basil and wet grass and the plinky music of light rain and the squeak of the ceiling fan and one and on and then, it is simply part of the soundscape. It's just another thing, not better, not worse. Clean it up, move on.
I apologize for the ick factor (I promise I thoroughly cleaned my mat after class) but I hope your take away is, as mine was, that dog puke or no, literal or figurative, what we take in on the daily through our senses is part of a rich and varied sensory tapestry, and our experience of it is part of how we connect to the world around us, whether sublime or unbeautiful. The experience itself is connection.
WHAT'S FREE
Now through Friday August 7 you can access our Yoga Now library of recorded classes for free! In case you missed it on social media, the password is Mandala108. Thereafter these classes will only be available for auto-renewing members, so I hope you can take advantage over the next few days.
How About some more Spotify playlists?
Because we mute students when livestream classes start, you are more than welcome to fire up a playlist of your choosing. Some of my current faves are:
Sweet Little Lie Radio
Afternoon Flow
One Hour Flow
