Traveling with Practice

My family and I have been away from our city on a vacation, and it has been a joy to be by the sea, to smell the ocean air, to clarify the eyes.

We've been staying in our home state, and I have been practicing at a new shala with lovely, generous teachers. The space is large and airy, the windows are open, and we can hear the seagulls as we move from asana to asana. The ethos of this shala: relaxed, stoic, private. Each student sits in his/her quiet. In this space, my practice feels barebones and uncomplicated. I take with me here to this shala all that my teachers have taught me so far, I even use my two blocks for Kapotasana and a little pillow to catch my fear as I jump into Bakasana...and in the aloneness that I meet in this new space, there is a simplicity.

A peace.

It is something I deeply respect about Ashtanga, and about yoga in general. The practice is in the heart. It grows there with every word from every teacher, every adjustment, every moment spent in asana and in vinyasa. Take the heart to a new place, and the practice comes with it. But perhaps the newness refreshes the sequence, airs out the cobwebs of thinking. Maybe a new space breathes new life so that when we return home, we carry a lighter heart.