i get lost in the beauty of everything

yoga training session #3
for our third session, i got to devour all of the sanskrit my little heart desires. sanskrit is the classical language of hinduism, full of beautiful words and symbols. my teacher explained that it wasnt necessary to learn sanskrit because most people recognize poses by the americanized names these days- for example, what you might think of as mountain pose or standing pose is actually tadasana- but doesnt that just sound lovelier? i like to think of it as a grand announcement for when i stand up tall and throw my arms in the air- TADA! sana.... why wouldnt i want to say things like uttanasana, and savasana and even natarajasana (i'm still working on pronouncing that last one). the word asana means pose, so the first half of the title explains what type of pose it is. we went over pages and pages of wonderful asanas and i believe i've developed an undiagnosed yoga-centric ADD. i went through every single pose on paper and asked "whats this?", "whats that?", "show me!", like a kid in a candy store, while my teacher gladly obliged... it was heaven.

then i learned two very important things- first, i discovered that my teacher and i share a penchants for tattoos. secondly, and perhaps more importantly, you should NEVER ever tattoo the word or symbol for "om" on or near your foot. its disrespectful to the gods. so dont do it. dont even think about it. if you've already done it, have it removed or put an "m" in front of it so it says mom, because i bet your mom is a pretty awesome lady and you probably dont tell her enough and a tattoo would show her how much you appreciate her. problem solved. your welcome.

lastly, my teacher taught me a word that i will carry with me in my practice and hopefully will eventually flow over into my daily activities. shri. it means finding the beauty in everyone and everything. i hope you all find the shri in two thousand and twelve...


xoxo yogis and yoginis