Intimately Prashant

Monday July 9
Prashant’s Class 7-9am
Adho Mukha Svanasana
Baddangulyasana in Tadasana
Sirsasana, Rope Sirsasana or Setu Bandha with brick 
Bharadvajasana 
Upavistha Konasana
Marichyasana 3
Ardha Matsyendrasana
Ropes 1
Sarvangasana, Viparita Karani, or Janu Sirsasana
Savasana 

In today’s class, Prashant was guiding us into understanding the difference between doing a pose, staying in a pose, and being in a pose. He compared it to being in a relationship. When you are dating, if you will spend a short period of time together, you will be a certain way. The more time you spend together the better you get to know someone. If you get married, and you have to spend the rest of your life together, then too, you will be a certain way. He joked about only being able to stand him for two hours in class. If we had to spend more time with him, we may not want to, because we may think there’s only so much we can take of Prashant. (I wonder if he knows there’s some of us who can’t get enough!) Similarly, if we are doing a pose knowing we will stay a short time, we do it one way. If we know we will stay 5 minutes, we may do it a different way. When we are beginners, we just want to do the pose. As we progress, we want to stay in a pose. When we advance, we want to get to know the pose more intimately. And that intimacy only comes with time. Like a marriage. We get to know all the intimate details of our spouse the longer we are with them.

All I can say is that the more I am in Prashant’s classes, the more he gives me to contemplate on, and the relationship of my body to my mind, my mind to my breath, and my breath to my mind increases. The relationship between a student and a teacher is one of the most sacred ones there is. Not only because of what the student receives, but perhaps in a small way, the student gives back to the teacher an empty vessel for the teacher to pour his knowledge into. And this emptying of their own vessel perhaps makes room for more wisdom contents to pour in. And then pour into us. Hopefully some of that knowledge will be spilled on to our own students after simmering in our own mental stoves. 


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