You don’t need a big, flashy yoga origin story. I did not always accept this so easily. I felt guilty that it wasn’t true for me, and out of place in my yoga teacher training because my journey so far had been slow and seemingly insignificant compared to the stories of my teachers and peers. For example, I didn’t come to yoga because I faced severe physical or mental health challenges. I didn’t see my grandma doing a headstand naked, or cure chronic pain with asana after years of ineffective attempts with other treatments.
I came to yoga because I was curious. That’s it.
I took my first yoga class, enjoyed it, and wanted to learn more…so I did!
I know now that everyone’s path to yoga is equally valid. Over the past seventeen years I have experienced mostly minor and forgettable suggestions that my yoga practice is beneficial and important to me. Those inconspicuous reminders keep me learning and seeking subtle yet meaningful ways of experiencing and understanding this existence.
Not everybody’s life is Eat Pray Love, and that is not a criticism of Elizabeth Gilbert. In fact, it was she who wrote that mere curiosity- not passion- is the secret to creativity. The point is that we can eat, pray, love, and practice yoga in our own bodies and homes, in quiet devotion to self, to others, to the animals we embody on our mats, and to nature.
It doesn’t sound so insignificant after all.
But I’m still a little jealous of the grandma-in-a-headstand story… 🙂
