The body

This week boiled down to some illuminating perspective… The week began with my big toe nail which start chipping in the middle and then start digging in my toe, making it bleed and ache… I tried to trim it and all that, and so I made it until today with the practice; however, today, it was just hurting too much through out the sun salutes and vinyasas… On the other hand, I was also not planning to do a whole practice since I had to run to the doctor to have a small operation; therefore, it was fine to cut my practice short… Then, I went to the doctor, he had to freeze this chronic wound in the opening of my uterus, so it would not lead to something else in the future. God, that was pretty painful. I thought I had high tolerance of pain but this was a different kind of pain, not what I was expecting. The pain just diffuse from the area he was working at, to my legs and my knees became jelly like, and inside me, it was burning… Well, it is done and now there is this ache, which I know will be much much less tomorrow… After I came home, I began thinking about practice and how it would be if I kept aching inside tomorrow, and wishing the big toe getting healed soon and if not, then damn luck since just a little bit more than a week left to Mysore, bla bla bla… Then, I suddenly remembered my friend Lorraine with whom I met in Goa this last April. At the time, she had a broken foot and she began coming to practice with all of us! She modified her practice for her broken foot but did not stop practicing! She was an inspiration, also a proof of devotion, and encouraging for times of injury… And here I am worrying about my broken nail! Pointless, rite? Afterwards, I was looking at my mails and then saw this email form Yoga mates, they had an interview with Matthew Sanford. I did not know him but I just went ahead and watched the interview. This Iyengar teacher is paralyzed from chest down since he was 13 years old. In this interview, he was talking about body mind connection, how principals of yoga do not discriminate between bodies; moreover, he was also talking about the inner body (or energy body) and moving beyond the physical poses… His talk really moved my heart and reminded me that there is nothing to worry about… Yes, I sometimes get ambitious.. I began worrying about not moving forward with my practice because of not having a teacher at home; I worry about the days my energy is down and the practice feels sluggish; I worry about the hurting big toe with a broken nail; I worry about this and that… But for me today it was “Hey you! These are all superficial aspects of the practice! Wake up Please!”