Why themes are a pow­er­ful addi­tion to yoga classes

You know how the story goes: pray for patience and you find your­self need­ing more and more of it.  If you aren’t famil­iar with Anusara yoga, I would describe the classes as life lessons brought down to earth through the yoga pos­tures.  My last teach­ing theme was “Using obsta­cles for mas­tery.”  As often the case, per­sonal expe­ri­ence usu­ally enrich teach­ing.  Even if a sub­ject is cho­sen at ran­dom, life finds all kinds of cre­ative ways to pre­pare you for teaching…Darn those tantric themes–even a theme like “Life is beau­ti­ful” would be bal­anced with the inevitable “…even when it’s ugly!”  Need­less to say, the life of a teacher is never lack­ing lessons.  If you are a stu­dent of asana (or any move­ment), I encour­age you to grow your­self beyond your 24“x 72“space.  It’s ben­e­fi­cial to learn how to use your body and breath, but not nearly as enter­tain­ing as prac­tic­ing life.  Which would you rather say: that you can do a down­ward dog or that you can see the big­ger pic­ture when you meet an obstacle?