OM

Reading the tea leaves on the yoga mat. (SOOC)

This was my first yoga session with Jennifer since April 22, 2012. I signed her up as soon as she returned from Indonesia. Afterward I said, "I know there are many reasons why you came back a year earlier than planned, but I think it was for me!"

My poor body was so battered from misuse and disuse. We began with my recitation of all the places that hurt: this foot, that foot, this knee, that shoulder. I forgot to mention how stiff my back has gotten! By the time we were done, having hardly 'done' anything, I felt like a butterfly emerged from her chrysalis. Afterward we drank jasmine tea and told stories and shared reflections on the strangeness of modern life.

The symbol on the yoga mat is OM in Devanagari script. I'm not an expert decipherer of tea leaves, but I see a dancing figure there. Yes! Jennifer's lessons: No judgment, be where you are, stay with the breath, use memory not to recall what you used to do and can't do now but to remember the light and let it find an opening. She based her teaching on Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, verse I.20 ff. Here is my 2011 haiku interpretation (made with me as the poet and Jennifer as the translator).

Remember and heed
what you’ve learned from your practice --
hold these truths with faith.

Whatever you do,
do with enthusiasm --
conviction strengthens.

Engrave good habits
within your mind and body,
building memory.

Sit with mindfulness,
focus with concentration --
ponder; contemplate.

Seek your highest Self --
already known within you
through ancient wisdom.

Faith, strength, memory,
contemplation, and wisdom
are pathways to God.

-- from 'Yoga Haiku Sutras'

BATTERED: DDW Sept 4 challenge by Anniemay