A Midsummer's Night Theme

The Yoga Fairies

Your Why:       I teach to help everyone find stability on the mat, and clarity in life.

Theme:            Wayfinding, journey and the yoga fairies.

HOV:               Serendipity and Searching, Work and Chance, Clarity and Curiosity

Anecdote:

Here it is midsummer already and I thought I’d pay tribute to Shakespeare. In the play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a mischievous fairy named Puck plays tricks on the humans. He turns one into a donkey and makes others fall in love with the wrong people. In real life, there are also yoga fairies. They give you a pose that you desperately want – once. Then they take it away. Worse yet, they sprinkle fairy dust over your eyes so all you want is a pose that is probably wrong for you.

Contemplation:

It’s hard to appreciate the twists and turns along the way and even the yoga fairies. I know when I’ve lost a pose it may be temporary, or it may be forever, but it’s only partly in my control. A pitfall of alignment is it leads you to believe that if you do everything right, you will get the pose. And it’s often not true. The fairies bring a sense of serendipity to our practice.

Golden Nuggets:

·      Relax. You’re not in charge.

·      Leave room for serendipity.

·      Alignment takes us only so far.

·      Yoga is a skill. And also a game.

·      A pose is just a stepping stone.

·      The Universe conspires for you.

·      But the fairies will mess you up.

·      Are we wayfinding?

·      What is real?

·      Wanting will get us there.

·      Lord what fools these mortals be.

·      Let it go if that feels right.

·      Give yourself permission to fail.

·      Being goal-oriented can miss the way.

VP:      If you rely entirely on the work, you miss the serendipity in life. Work will get us only so far; Desire and chance take us home.

Quotes:

·      “It’s not the having. It’s the getting.” Elizabeth Taylor

·      “The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire; the size of your dream, and how you handle disappointment along the way.” Robert Kiyosaki

·      “Life is anything but predictable.” The Rock

·      “Most discoveries even today are a combination of serendipity and of searching.” Siddhartha Mukherjee

·      “The course of true love never did run smooth.” Shakespeare

·      “Lord what fools these mortals be.” Shakespeare

·      “Though she be but little, she is fierce.” Shakespeare

·       “There will always be serendipity involved in discovery.” Jeff Bezos