Rodney Yee - I see this man most days. He is my current yoga instructor. But he doesn't see me. I only see him - on my television set. I have been buying his yoga DVDs since last fall. I practise yoga at home almost every day. I tried to find a school and instuctor in Toronto with whom to practice yoga - but the classes didn't fit into my schedule, certain instructors I didn't like and I couldn't afford to join a yoga studio. I settled on buying a yoga DVD and was pleasantly surprised. In the comfort of my own home I was guided by an excellent yogi. I bought more.
I started doing yoga in May or June 2006. I joined the Yoga Haven in Regina, Sask., which is owned by Lori Lee. She has to be one of the best yoga instructors in the world. She is graceful, beautiful and strong. She has a very magical quality about her. She also employs wonderful instructors to teach other forms of yoga. A woman named Lesley Farley teches ashtanga and kundalini yoga at Yoga Haven, as well as at other Regina locations.
Through these two instructors I learned the ways of yoga. I also realized the parallel connection between a yogi and Yoda. The Jedi Knights practise yoga! They do headstands and meditate. Darth Vader has mastered ujjayi pranayama - that deep sounding breath he breathes is actually an essential yoga breathing technique.
Yee has been more so on my mind since January, ever since I saw his wedding profile/article on the New York Times website. The article tells how Yee and his current wife fell in love with one another while married to other people (!!). They eventually divorced their spouses and married each other.
It's so weird thinking that great yogi's have private lives - let alone the ability to fall inlove with other people who are married.
Yogi's - like Yee and Lee and Farley - come across as very strong willed, disciplined, focused, and aligned individuals. It's odd to think of them loving and falling inlove with people - let alone married people. I think we rarely come across stories where married people actually fall inlove with other married people. It's an odd concept to wrap your mind around. There are so many issues involved - the self, others, the heart, the mind, situation and practicality, circumstance and future, ethics, and they have kids! .. so many choices and descisions which influence so much and so many in both the present and future.
Great yoga instructors - or ANY great teachers - are held in high regard. I personally forget that a great teacher is a human as well, with human tendancies.
Anything can happen and be. Anything is possible. Including another level of love and happiness.
While getting ready to write this blog about people --- I wondered about who I saw often, who I walked by daily. I considered writing about Lindsay, Gary, Cesare, Angela and Mike (our technicians at school), about Harry (my convience store owner), but Rodney Yee stood out. Like some one I walk by or see daily, but who doesn't notice me - he affects me each day I practise yoga and he makes me feel good, strong and positive without really knowing it ... just like Lindsay, Gary, Cesare, Angela, Mike and Harry ... and Vinita and Joyce ... all great teachers who empower me --- regardless of their marital status (!!).
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