My mat, My lab

When I step onto the mat, I step into what I call my lab. Like a chemist experimenting on her latest hypothesis about something or another, I walk into my experimental zone. I experiment with fear--where falling on my face is actually possible. I experiment with joy--where laughing in a handstand or abs with a roll is entirely possible. I experiment with power--where balancing in handstand splits, one legged crow, or something as simple as Warrior 1 makes me feel like a force to be reckoned with. Above all I experiment with vulnerability. Experimenting with how open can I be with my heart with myself and with other people that I share my practice with. Some classes I can really open, other classes it's like I'm a vault with a missing key. Above all my time on my mat is my time to experiment; and what I take from every experiment is a little something I call trust, and then I start playing with my discoveries off the mat.  Will I be able to hold my power when stuff gets overwhelming? Will I be able to find courage when I am faced with fear? Will I be able to laugh at myself or find joy in the little extraordinary things?

As a teacher, my lab just got a little more involved. I now am working with the tools that I have practiced on my own mat and learning how to translate them in a way to guide my students to devise and develop their own hypotheses in their own practice. This, is an interesting experiment that constantly makes me go back to my own mat to get a better perspective of whether or not I really do apply the same message that I speak of and if it really works. Teaching is an elevated phase of experimentation--as we say in Western medicine--it's a 4 part phase of Clinical Trials before we actually know if it works.

What works is a matter of experience. But, taking the cerebellum out of the process and looking at teaching and practice more as a playground for authenticity is a terrific and trying experiment. Communicating through connection to guide someone to discover their own process is unlike any science experiment--there's really no way for me to articulate this yet, I'm still in the development phase.

I'll need to get back on my mat for another round of suns and some deep breath work. Our breathing teaches us a lot...but that's another entry.

xo Blessings
Anne