The gift of practice

Honoring teachers on this path

Good afternoon,

This past Monday, someone whose work has influenced my life deeply has unexpectedly passed away.

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“Practice” is a word I use frequently. I’ve written over 60 posts for this writing project, and I am willing to bet that each one contains this word once if not multiple times.

It means everything to me.

Ten years ago today, I walked into an Ashtanga yoga shala in Ann Arbor, Michigan for the first time. To practice. This morning at that very same space, a small group of us took a memorial practice to honor the death of my teacher’s beloved teacher from India, Sharath Jois.

A candle I only light on very special occasions. I have only lit it twice. One of those times was today.

When I first started learning Ashtanga, I immediately noted and adopted the emphasis on regular practice as a core value. It was refreshing to get to know that this was not designed for instant gratification, it was designed as a life long ritual. The promises of a daily practice are those which result from dīrgha-kāla: long time. The ethos of longtime practice is that little by little, through dedication and trust in subtle increments of change, inner transformation occurs - not in one moment, but over the course of many moments strung together. I continue to find this to be inspiring and true. Daily increments of slow evolution are so subtle they can’t be perceived individually. It is only after time weaves a thread of repetition that we can palpably notice any difference. It’s gradual. In a world that is skeptical of the gradual, of the unseen, the unpredictable, this is where trust comes in.

Sometimes all that is needed for trust to take root is an opportunity for it to prove its viability. Teachers provide that opportunity, such as my teacher Angela, who expertly, wisely, and compassionately suggests really not a whole lot more than 1. sustained regular practice and 2. noticing the effects. These teachings among countless others were transmitted to her by her teacher, Sharathji, and to him by his, and so beyond.

The message of this method at its heart is simple. By showing up and continuing to choose to be in union with our direct experiences, we are practicing. By noticing how practice affects us, we are seizing the opportunity to wakefully know and trust ourselves deeper. When we are in tune with ourselves, we gain wisdom on how to become more balanced. And from a balanced foundation, we can better serve others and the world.

This is the gift.

I met Sharathji for the first time last month and got to practice with him. I couldn’t have known exactly how grateful I would be for that until this week. My impression was that he was a simple, happy, kind-hearted, dedicated person who found much passion and joy in sharing this lineage method of yoga with as many people as he could. He passed, surrounded by nature and many of those people, on 11/11, during a visit to the U.S. for a workshop series he was teaching for instructing an adapted series of yoga postures that are approachable and accessible to even more people.

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Why am I writing about yoga in my newsletter for creative practice?

Oh right, the word practice, again…

A few years into this yoga path while running my business, even though a lot of my work is creative work, I had an insatiable pull to have a creative practice. This felt distinctly different from designing, printing and selling goods. In the same way, my yoga practice feels distinctly different than doing a workout routine. Don’t take this in a way I don’t intend. All of the above are great. But what makes practice distinct is that it is a deeper kind of relationship, one with emphases on connection, presence, and process, and this is what yoga teaches me about art, and what art teaches me about yoga. This is what led me to my creative practice as it is continuing to become now. This is why this little writing project exists. It is why I paint. It is why I want to share from many points in a constellation of discovery where the brightest orienting stars in it for me are yoga and creativity. I don’t know if it will make a difference in this life but this is where my heart is, and I owe a lot of it to my teacher and thus to hers.

Instead of wanting more, I am here feeling so immensely grateful for what there is. For a practice to exist despite attempts from colonizers to suppress it. For everything that has been shared and continues to be shared. It all feels important and beautiful and precious especially in the time we are in now, and I will never take it for granted.

There is infinitely more to think, feel, and say but I don’t want to overwrite about this. I could have never sent this. I could have edited it forever, never finding it worthy or doing any of this justice. But this is the day I wanted to write something about it, and this felt like the right place.

Life is fragile and short. Don’t wait.

With infinite beams of luminescent gratitude, practicing for the next practice,

♡