In my early teens, while everyone else was grooving with Heart and Styx, I was marching to the beat of a different rhythm. I had fallen in love – with punk rock music. Early punk really spoke to me – the anger, the sense of alienation, the desire to stick a finger to the “man”. Finally, something made sense to me and seemed to resonate with my world view.

But after years of being angry, I found that I got tired of it. I was sick of finding darkness everywhere I looked and I began to hate hating. In other words, I started to “mellow”. Age does that to a person.

Something else had changed in my life. I started doing yoga. And doing it every day. The more I did yoga and meditated, the less I hated. Suddenly, things that used to get to me simply stopped. I began to feel peaceful.

And then I started inching my way into the yoga community. Finally – a tribe that I could relate to. Uh…not so much. Once again, the alienation came back. I didn’t wear the “proper yoga clothing”. I wasn’t vegetarian. I said the F word. I wouldn’t join Yoga Alliance (too corporate and government for me). Kirtan bored me to tears (I prefer Eminem). The whole “kumbaya” thing started to smell like bullshit to me.

I dropped out and fell away from it. And meditated on that conundrum. I came to the stark realization that I didn’t need to be angry but I didn’t need to assume some “yoga personality” to be peaceful. I could still listen to gangsta rap and punk, I could still eat a steak, I could still not like working for the “man”. And even a little cynicism wasn’t such a bad thing. In other words, it was okay to simply be me as ME.

I still do my practice. I drop in on classes on occasion. I attend workshops when I can. But I will not compromise to fit into any “group” much as I won’t push my body into any pose that doesn’t suit it. Yoga is about being authentic to who you are and finding peace with that.

“It’s a repressive society where you can’t be horrible, I’m not horrible, they made me horrible, I’m just honest.” ~ Johnny Rotten

Om Shanti,
Theresa

http://innerdivinityyoga.com/blog

On second thought – that move didn’t go so good so I will keep both addresses.  Damn wordpress.  (Or I’m incompetent.)

~Maya Angelou

Lie on your back with your feet flat on the ground and place your hands next to your ears, flat on the ground.  On an exhale, push up strongly into an arch, straightening the arms as much as possible.  Hold for a few breaths and come down carefully.

Avoid if you have wrist issues, back problems, high or low blood pressure, heart problems, diarrhea