I've been living in Melbourne for 3 weeks now, and I've been fortunate enough to find some yoga teaching jobs and I will be teaching my first corporate yoga class next week! For some amazing cosmic unexplainable reason, the flatmate I found is also into yoga. And because I've been trying to find yoga teaching jobs in the recent weeks, it is no surprise that many new people I encountered now are yogis too. My India experience has shown me that yoga really does bring people together, because it is so much easier to make long lasting friends when you have similar values in life.
But what is a yogi? I saw this video on youtube recently - Shit Yogis Say - and I think that is the stereotypical yogi (I'm sorry if I offend anyone! Okay, actually I'm not, it's a pretty funny video!). But is that what you have to be like to be a yogi?
As much as I like to feel free and unrestricted, wear flowy cotton pants from India, anklets with bell attachments, and have long talks about the meaning of life, I really don't buy into the whole "oooh I must meditate and align my chakras and sing kirtans and give up all material desires to find enlightenment" thing (I really actually wanted to use the word crap, but I have nothing against people who do buy into it, and once again, I don't want to offend anyone because that would make me a bad yogi...).
I do my yoga practice to help me cope with life. It strengthens my body and my mind. Doing postures that are challenging not only helps me build muscles, but it builds my mental strength. The qualities I observe in myself when I'm on my mat are qualities I see in myself off the mat, and the yoga helps me work on the qualities I observe that might not be all that great. It helps me breath better and relaxes the tensions in my body. My body feels better, then my mind feels better. And all the yoga stories and the philosophy are wonderful and I believe they do help me become a better person.
But that doesn't mean that I have to be a vegan now, otherwise I'm not a true yogi. It also doesn't mean that I can't have any ill thoughts or talk badly of others, or else I'm not a true yogi. I will still wear leather because it's just sooooo amazing, and I will still love having a medium rare steak, alongside a glass of cab merlot, or maybe two glasses... I'm just human, I'm not perfect, and I accept that.
My one hour on the mat allows me to cope better in the other 23 hours then that's yoga and that's my yoga. Not so difficult to be a yogi afterall~ So let's get our yoga on baby!
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