I am Empty, I am Full - Take Two
On Thursday, my yoga teacher honored me by re-visiting a theme I had used in a class she had observed a few months before. Every year, Anusara Yoga teachers, both certified and inspired, need to be observed by a colleague to maintain their status as Anusara Yoga teachers. It is a wonderful opportunity to experience someone else's teaching, and to share areas of strength, and those that could use some refinement as well.
My teacher used the theme I had used on that occasion - "Emptiness and Fullness", my comments, and a poem I had written - but she worked with a different class template, category of poses, and principles of alignment.
It is so interesting to hear someone else take your theme and comments and spin them in a different way - or read your poetry out loud, in their own rhythm and cadence. I only ever hear what I write in my own head - so it comes alive and is possessed and held captive by another's heart when it is read by someone else. My teacher, Suzie Hurley, truly honored me once again as a student, and later she thanked me for my contributions. I, in turn, thanked her back - for taking my material, and re-inventing it so creatively and exquisitely for a different audience.
Here is the poem I wrote, and which we both used at the end of our respective classes:
(The final quote is from Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. This theme was also used previously, in a class I taught before the one that was observed and which I blogged about on February 23rd of this year titled "Emptiness and Fullness." See February 09 Archives, or click on link below.)
http://aligningwithgrace.blogspot.com/2009/02/emptiness-and-fullness.html
My teacher used the theme I had used on that occasion - "Emptiness and Fullness", my comments, and a poem I had written - but she worked with a different class template, category of poses, and principles of alignment.
It is so interesting to hear someone else take your theme and comments and spin them in a different way - or read your poetry out loud, in their own rhythm and cadence. I only ever hear what I write in my own head - so it comes alive and is possessed and held captive by another's heart when it is read by someone else. My teacher, Suzie Hurley, truly honored me once again as a student, and later she thanked me for my contributions. I, in turn, thanked her back - for taking my material, and re-inventing it so creatively and exquisitely for a different audience.
Here is the poem I wrote, and which we both used at the end of our respective classes:
I am Empty; I am Full
Words repeated,
Fervently uttered
In japa recitation:
“I am empty;
I am full…”
Every life lesson
Discloses both
An opportunity to experience
Emptiness
And fullness,
Like the two Acts of Shiva—
Concealment
And Revelation,
Dancing in
And out
Of the embrace
Of every lived experience:
“I am empty;
I am full…”
One always giving birth
To other—
Each one containing the seed
Culminating in the one
Conceiving the other,
In an endless dance,
And never ending cycle:
"When I look inside
And see that I am empty,
That is wisdom.
When I look outside
And see that I am everything,
That is love.
Between those two,
My life turns."
Words repeated,
Fervently uttered
In japa recitation:
“I am empty;
I am full…”
Every life lesson
Discloses both
An opportunity to experience
Emptiness
And fullness,
Like the two Acts of Shiva—
Concealment
And Revelation,
Dancing in
And out
Of the embrace
Of every lived experience:
“I am empty;
I am full…”
One always giving birth
To other—
Each one containing the seed
Culminating in the one
Conceiving the other,
In an endless dance,
And never ending cycle:
"When I look inside
And see that I am empty,
That is wisdom.
When I look outside
And see that I am everything,
That is love.
Between those two,
My life turns."
(The final quote is from Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. This theme was also used previously, in a class I taught before the one that was observed and which I blogged about on February 23rd of this year titled "Emptiness and Fullness." See February 09 Archives, or click on link below.)
http://aligningwithgrace.blogspot.com/2009/02/emptiness-and-fullness.html
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