Tag Archives: yoga humor
Monkey Business
I’ve just finished a workshop for actors and directors. It taught me something about my yoga practice.Actors are a wild bunch. Gathering them in a room to work on technique for three days is like locking monkeys in a grade… Continue reading
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Celebrating One Year
Almost a year to the day that I reentered the yoga world, and two weeks after returning from an intensive meditation retreat, I sit with a coffee, at 4am, on my living room couch, dressed in my favourite clown-stripe pajamas,… Continue reading
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Grounded Change
One month from today, I’m leaving my professional practice. I graduated as a chiropractor in 1989, hoping vaguely that I’d be helpful to people and that I’d have a good time doing it.What I underestimated was the degree to which… Continue reading
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Paranormal Yoga
Something paranormal just happened. It’s on par with that girl in the Exorcist spinning her head around and making that awful sound that scares the hell out of me more than two decades later. It’s on par with alien abductions… Continue reading
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Meditation Camp
Have you been to a meditation camp before? Having just returned from a five day version, I’d like to summarize the effects for you. This will come in handy if you decide to go yourself. It will also be useful… Continue reading
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Leaving the Circus
“We usually don’t look, we overlook.”Alan WattsI’m off to a meditation camp this morning. It’s a good thing. There are days, like today, when I begin to overlook, when landing fully and immediately in the moment is something that only… Continue reading
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Two Words
Here’s a business idea for someone. In my clinic, we talk some days about having only two words left to say in your life. Maybe your throat is closing permanently, maybe you suddenly find silence far more attractive than words,… Continue reading
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Tagged Beginner's yoga, kristin shepherd, meditation, meditation humor, yoga blog, yoga humor, yoga humour
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A Beginner’s Love Letter To Yoga
If I were to write a love letter to yoga today, it would go like this:Dear Yoga,I know, I know, we were just on the mat together, but there’s something I’d like to say before we meet again tomorrow.We live… Continue reading
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Yoga Trolls
The other day, my sister’s friend invited her to a different yoga studio for a class.
“I can’t do it”, said my sister. “I’d love to, but I’m not good enough. I suck.”
Fear shows up in funny ways. Tory pictures an entire class pointing at her and sneering.
This made me laugh for about four seconds. Then I realized that whenever a new challenge comes my way – going back to class after weeks away, trying a new kind of yoga, going to a different studio – my immediate, insane response is, “I can’t, I’m too fat.”
This is obviously absurd. There is no sign posted anywhere in yoga that says Stay Out If You Think You Are Pudgy. Nor have I met a yoga mat that hasn’t welcomed my solid thighs. (Oh my god, the mats are too small for my lardy bum! I’ll have to put four of them together!) Nor, come to think of it, have I ever encountered a yoga teacher who raises one eyebrow and says, “Oh, you think so, do you? If you were enlightened enough to be in my class, you’d be thin. Now stop crying. You can come to my Class For The Fat and Unenlightened.”
Absurd, excessive, twisted, completely un-constructive, I know. But these are the trolls that leap up from under my bridge when I’m facing something new and scary. Or old and scary for that matter.
I like stating my fear out loud. It looks more ridiculous than ever that way. Gives it a loving kick in the head.
I suck. I’m too this, too that. Do you have a fear that yoga brings to light? Would you like to kick it in the head?
Thanks to yoga for showing me where and how I’d like to be more fearless, and thanks to you for the conversation.
Kristin Shepherd is a chiropractor, actor, and speaker (about All Things Wonderful) from North Bay, Ontario. Join her on Facebook at Dr. Kristin Shepherd or on Twitter at kristinwonders.
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Inner Teachers
One of you wrote a kind note to me recently in which you encouraged me to discover my “inner teacher” during my home practice. This might involve veering off the straight path I’d been on. What a beautiful idea!
Originally, my home practice was basically whatever I remembered from class, in much the same order we do our asanas in class. Not much imagination involved.
All hell has broken loose, since. This morning I thought, I’ve got to reign this in a bit or I’ll never be able to go back to class. Today’s practice looked like this:
I’m in flannel pajamas, which are far more comfortable than my yoga clothes. I sing show tunes during my Sun Salutations. My secret desire (not so secret now, I guess) is to star in Big! Musicals! I picture some Famous! Broadway! Producer! driving down my very quiet street in Northern Ontario and hearing my voice Soaring! out the front windows, singing, Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better, from Annie Get Your Gun. It’s a tough fantasy to maintain given that I am terrified to sing in front of anyone but my dog. I maintain it nonetheless.
I put henna in my hair today for the first time. It’s mucky, it stinks, and the instructions say keep it on for hours, so I do my entire practice with a goopy head.
Toward the end of today’s practice, which includes some completely invented dance moves (in case that Producer needs a Dancer!, not just a Fabulous! Singer!), I find myself saying, “Oh, yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah”, with each forward bend and each spinal twist. How did my practice become so loud?
Savasana, at the end of all this, is a quiet relief.
Is this my inner teacher at work? I don’t know. I understand that there is no mention of show tunes in The Upanishads, but something in my practice feels freer and more creative these days. Lighter.
Do you have inner teachers? Are they serious? Funny? Creative? Are they dancers? Singers? (Do you want to do a musical together?)
Kristin Shepherd is a chiropractor, actor, speaker, and workshop wonderwoman in North Bay, Ontario. Join her at kristinshepherd.ca or on Facebook at Dr. Kristin Shepherd.
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