Flip It Around

So much of our path on the yoga journey is determined by context.

Sometimes, we climb a spiritual mountain to gain perspective, but once the perspective has been gained, it is necessary to hike back down the mountain to return to civilization. So, which is the “correct” direction to move in life? Up? Or, down? As you can see, the answer depends on how far along you are on your journey. The real lesson is in remaining unattached to the specifics of the journey, so that you can continue your forward momentum, and in this instance, your spiritual evolution.

Even if you know which direction you are headed, there are times when life presents us with tough choices. It’s not always easy to determine which direction to head in next.

For example, imagine you are climbing to the top of a mountain, and are pretty far along an arduous and difficult trek. You see a storm starting to build. At that point, it would be necessary to retreat back down to the relative shelter of the forrest. But frequently, the mind gets in the way of wisdom because it becomes attached to pleasant experiences. Since the “glory” and enjoyment of climbing a mountain lies in reaching the peak, (And, you’ve worked so hard, and come so far!), your mind resists retreating from the storm, even once you see the lightening crackle, and hear the thunder boom.

But, what if the storm you see developing will only produce a light drizzle, and pass by in a matter of several minutes? The mind also gets in the way of true progress through an aversion to unpleasant experiences. Without knowing for certain if this will be a heavy or light storm, it’s possible your mind pushes you to beat a retreat too soon, because being wet in the cold is truly miserable. (You could catch a cold, maybe even pneumonia! And, you’ll have to spend several days in bed and you don’t have any more paid time off, etc.)

Even if climbing a mountain isn’t the best analogy for you, personally, surely you can imagine an example that would demonstrate the human inability to “let go” of a desired result, or the inability to accept an undesirable result.

The description of this class might sound a bit serious, but in fact, I’m just using a different perspective to present the class to you. I’m trying to flip things around because perhaps you’re climbing the mountain right now, and perhaps you’re descending the mountain. So much of what I see on social media, and in ubiquitous advertising, is light-hearted, skim-the-surface, feel-good-and-have-fun promotions. Although many people need that sort of thing to be inspired and motivated to take a yoga class, certainly that’s not the only perspective people need. Perhaps right now you’re “climbing down the mountain,” and you would appreciate something different.

This class includes a few elements of physically flipping us around. There is no better way to “shake up” the thoughts in our minds than to literally spin around. Due to the momentum inherent to most flips, we start with one perspective, pass quickly through the opposite perspective, and return to the original perspective before the mind has a chance to really focus. Flips are great ways to get the mind to practice “letting go” of visual attachments, in addition to helping us survey our entire context, not just what lies in front of us. Seeing our entire context will help us know if our best choice at this specific moment in time is to continue heading up the mountain, or if it’s time to head back down.

And besides, flips are fun.
And yet, flips are also dangerous.

Everything in life has a positive and negative side to it. Whether you decide to push onward, or head back to the beginning, you’ll never know until hindsight if you’ve made the “right” decision. Therefore, the important decision to make, is to keep going.

Along with a few flips, this class includes Back Straddle, Wheel, and some deep Hip and Hamstring stretches.