DAILY I took a master class from Natasha Rizopoulos this past week and have been nudged toward small changes and deeper refinements. One thing she said continues to reverberate. “Bring intelligence to the dull parts of your body.” It reminds me of something the French poet Paul Valery once said, “The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.” Do you find these statements dissimilar? Are you sleepy? Many of us are asleep half the time. We move through Asanas, even life, in a daze only semi- aware of the endless refinement profound change requires. Pushing our inert spirits from the gross to the infinitesimal transforms dreams to reality, conquers difficult Asana, and difficult decisions. Learning from Natasha is a reality course in Virgo technique, for “Virgo seeks self through what they learn.”* As a teacher, she embodies what is best of this Mercury ruled energy. Her requests for re-discovery and reassessment between sensation and discomfort, between what the body imitates, and what it is actually doing, charge students to fully awaken, to bring not only intelligence, but care, to the dull, unreceptive areas in the body. One must be fully awake to make choices between disparagement and discrimination, between potency and assimilation. This is Mercury’s domain, for it rules the ideas behind words, the choice of words, and their execution. The higher initiative of Virgo’s diligence is ingenuity in service so that the harvest prosper. Each choice must be correct, if not perfect, to create vision through practical reality. We learn as much from how someone instructs as from the teachings themselves. We know the body responds to loving attention, not criticism. We learn that careful observation is a powerful tool. Becoming a student again, with a wonderful teacher, is the best reminder of how we… Read more »
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