by Flow, February 24th, 2012

I don’t think I could have arrived at yoga from a more foreign place. My athletic background is in sports like ice hockey, soccer, football, tennis and lacrosse. Obviously, yoga has none of the volatile, fiercely competitive aggression of those sports. And yet, interestingly, I’m much better at all of them after spending more time on the mat. Yoga originally started as my occasional, ‘down day’ workout; it was the activity I would do when I wasn’t batting a tennis ball across a net or skating with my local hockey pick-up. But gradually, yoga has evolved into the glue that connects all of the other sports I do together. The more classes I can attend in between more traditional workouts, the fitter I become at everything else. I have better stamina to sustain longer runs. I have more explosiveness on the tennis court. I have greater flexibility and get injured less in everything I do. Thank you, in particular, hot yoga.

I appreciate learning about all different types of yoga but the edge of hot Vinyasa flow keeps me coming back at least three times a week. Perhaps it’s the guy inside me who was weaned on competitive athletics, the same one who relishes the difficulties of serve-and-volley tennis or scoring a goal on a one-timer, but the combustible fire of hot yoga reminds me of the sports I grew up with. It has a lot of the same challenges, rendered in a completely different arena. I know I probably shouldn’t look at yoga in this context, but I do. Breathing fluidly through each pose: that is my primary objective: never an easy task in the lofty temperatures. Staying in the moment is next. As my wife so often asks, are you being mindfully present? Hot yoga is a great barometer of this. If I’m not staying completely present, I might not make it through the entire sequence of poses, which is always my goal. And finally, if I can breathe and focus on remaining within myself, I’m honing my alignment in a safe and thorough manner. I’m trying to get deeper into each asana, hold it longer and evolve my practice. The heat keeps me honest. It keeps my attention centered on the teacher and the instruction. It brilliantly limbers up the muscles and pushes back in a way that’s similar to some of the most challenging, invigorating sports in the world. And that’s why I don’t just salute the sun during yoga, I salute the heat.

Tom Cartier

Categories Reflections
by Flow, February 18th, 2012

        Poser is a yoga memoir written by noted journalist Claire Dederer. Her clever conceit is to use the different poses to help recount her tumultuous 70’s upbringing, and then parallel her practice with her life all the way up to the raising of her own children. Crow, Downward Dog, Pigeon – all your favorites are here and written about in a whole new context. As a newcomer at the start of the book, she offers a basic primer on the origins of yoga. What are the sutras and asanas? What is the Bhagavad Gita? Who was Rama? And her introduction is physical as well as mental. In hilarious detail, she describes her own adventures as a newbie on the mat. Barely athletic, and a new mom to boot, in the beginning the poses strike abject fear into her unwilling frame. Pose by pose, however, her practice evolves in some of the most unexpected ways. Luckily, she is guided through her yoga experiences by a series of great teachers, each one sharing a new piece of wisdom and instruction along the way. These gifted, hard-working, but often unheralded teachers are rare, and it’s nice to see them get some recognition. Dederer expertly depicts those gem-like sayings they are capable of: the ones that can make an average day of posing memorable.

 

What makes the book especially interesting is the fact that it is as funny, smart and literate about life as it is illuminating about yoga. Her reflections on her parents’ separation, for instance, and how it shaped her own marriage is particularly poignant. Her unique snapshots of Seattle over the last four decades are equally compelling. The details of her adventures growing up on some of the most remote islands of Seattle while working as a tugboat first mate make up some of the best passages in the book. All of these fun glimpses into her life make for a satisfying read that’s textured, fresh and genuine, and yoga is the ultimate thread that binds it all together. For every big moment in her life there is a corresponding pose. Her five chapters on Child’s Pose alone perhaps indicate just how much rest is needed to deal with our everyday challenges. For those, like Dederer, who see parallels between how our own individual practices help to enhance and shape our everyday lives, it’s a must read.

 

Categories Book Reviews
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