My yoga instructor just announced that she's going to be having workshops this whole year, 6 of them. They're totally affordable for me, and if they're anything like the last one I attended, they're promising to be incredibly useful. At the last one, I learned a guided meditation technique that has helped me significantly with jet lag, and through regular sessions, has gotten me to be more aware of what my current goal is.
The session talked about finding and achieving your greater purpose in life. Of course, when I hear those words, all I can think of is Steve Martin running about wildly screaming "I have a Special Purpose!!!" and giggle quietly in my head. But, when I settle down and really think about it, I don't think I have a Special Purpose in life.
A Purpose. A reason for living. A place in the world, in time. I guess for some people, this is easy. If you're a mother, you could consider that your purpose in life. Or if you're a teacher, a doctor / healer, whatever. But what if you're none of these things, and don't have plans to be them? What if your job isn't your life, you just do it because you're good at it, you don't mind it much, and you get paid well for it? And nothing else you do (hobbies, etc.) really fulfills that role?
It seems that immediately, my purpose in life is emotional stability. At least, when we start yoga practice and we're asked to set a goal for our practice, that's the one that has started coming up since I started these meditation sessions. Whatever my practice is, whatever poses I do, my framework for how much I put into them is based around Would this help me become more emotionally stable. And it helps; it guides me in how far I push myself in poses (Am I feeling stressed emotionally? Then maybe I should back off a bit until I don't feel stressed. Am I breathing calmly? Maybe I should!) and motivates me to get to yoga in the first place, even when I'm too tired to want to go. I do feel more emotionally stable after yoga. And the more emotionally stable I can be, the more I can be a source of strength and support for my husband, or sister, or mother.
Anyway. The workshops coming up are not all about a Special Purpose. One is about Chitta practice (which I love!), another about Fire practice (which I need more of) and even one all about bandhas, which I'm just getting into. Engaging your bandhas is like turning a valve of energy on or off in your body. I don't know if I believe in all the semantics, but I do know that when I engage uttiyanabandha, I feel really great afterwards. It kind of feels like I've given my internal organs a hug or something, squeezed out the ick and kept the bad. I'm really looking forward to them, and I think I'm going to set myself the goal to attend every one this year.
Yoga's so great. You don't have to believe in any of it for it to work for you. And what's strange is that over time, you find yourself making better choices that serve your health and fitness, just naturally, as though you weren't raised on frosting sandwiches* and pork chops. Which, I suppose, it the goal in the long run - a healthy happy lifestyle.
* Seriously. My dad used to take the unused portions of my grandmother's frosting (made of just shortening, butter and multiple cups of powdered sugar) and spread it between two slices of Wonderbread. He called them simply "Frosting Sandwiches". I'm mortified now that at one point in my life I thought these were a brilliant idea.
