“When the pushing & pulling has stopped”

I am fascinated by the work of Vanda Scaravelli (born in 1908 and not introduced to yoga until her mid 40’s). Whilst she never wanted to develop a school of Scaravelli yoga and only worked with a handful of students her work endures today as Scaravelli inspired yoga. Really though, this post is not about the work of Vanda, (I hope to have more to say on this topic another time). This post is inspired from Vandas words quoted above, they had me nodding a very big yes in agreement.

Once I had an “aha” moment. Half of me felt (in this moment) like I was at the train station having just discovered there is in fact platform 9 3/4 s and I am about to board the hogwarts express to who knows freakin where & the other half of me felt like I was in the middle of a Bertolt Brecht play, I know so absurd right? Our group of yoga teacher trainees had just completed our final exam so our 12 month weekly journey of discovery & information in a cave somewhere in Prahan was pretty much complete. 3 or 4 of us were lingering at the front door before we metaphorically and literally were to disappear into different dimensions directions. One of our group looked at the door and said these words:

INSPIRATION~EXPLORATION~TRANSFORMATION

This was followed by “I never noticed that before,”(I think it was these words that were said at least that’s what is on the door now). It was the transformation bit that really hit, like all of a sudden the penny dropped and I realised what I had actually signed up for. Seeing Vandas quote this week took me back to this moment but also resonated on a much broader level. It goes with the often heard sayings “I didn’t sign up for this” or the flip side “did I really sign up for this” variety. What if we did sign up for it all and then eraced the contractual memory from our minds only to be reunited with somewhere later in life. One thing I hold as truth, something unfolds (sometimes unknowingly) on the mat within the yoga class for all of us that commit to a yoga practice, it is more than the sum of our movements that define or shape our practice, as beautifully said from the Bhagvad Gita~

Returning again to Vandas words “It is a single process and one which can begin only when all the pushing and pulling has stopped”  

Namaste beautiful people.