Yoga, Ayurveda and acro yoga in Budapest - classes, philosophy also in English

2010. június 5., szombat

Open to the world, I am walking aware on earth

Today I discovered on Facebook a wonderful new option, that I can export my blog to my facebook profile. Wow, I thought, that is great, than every time I post something, people can instantly read it. But then I looked at my friends, and turns out I have more "foreigner" - as Indians would say - than Hungarians. Basically, I planned my blog to reach out and touch my "own people", but I have to admit, my life and my experiences have far outgrown the boundaries of my home country. In my spiritual practice I try to connect to the Universal, and this is somehow reflected in my human relations.

The reason behind this blog is the wish to share my joy over finding my path, and to tell about my experiences and insights to anyone interested. I want to inspire and provoke. I think this is really important, this sharing and influencing, since this way people can touch each other's heart and soul, and see that they are not alone in their spiritual quest.

I find peace and joy in my yoga path, which is a wonderful scientific way of exploring and expanding your human potential. Yoga is not just a set of funky exercises but it is a state of being, a way to wholeness, and a very pure and healthy lifestyle.

The story I wanted to share today dates back to last week, when I was in Poland participating in a theatre festival. The worskhops were absolutely not classical, every teacher tried to give us a totally new concept of theatre which is more based on active participation and interaction of the audience. I tell this, because I just wanted to highlight that the majority of participants were very open-minded, adventurous souls.
The last day of the festival we had to do our performances, it was really great fun, they were going on since five till the evening, and the last one before dinner was a performance by the dancer group. Quite unexpectedly, they did not prepare anything in particular, but their teacher, a fellow Hungarian;), decided to invite everybody to their last exercise. The whole worskhop was about "sensing the space" around yourself, and she announced the last exercise as follows: "You are invited to walk with us from this wall to the next (approximately 30 meters of distance) during 40 minutes. You cannot change direction, you always have to face forward, and you have to move as slowly as you can. At the end of the 40 minutes there will be a sign, but you may continue. If you wish to participate, then please lign up with us, otherwise please keep to the side."

To be honest, it was quite a challenging invitation, people were already quite tired after an intense week and the performances of that day, so I could hear many people saying, "40 minutes, no way!".
But this is exactly the moment when I got excited. For the whole week I could not do any yoga, just no time and space, was confined to my mental exercises, but even those were hard to realise, since on the other hand, happily enough, I was constantly surrounded by friends. But this exercise just seemed nothing more than a perfect opportunity to try walking meditation that I have never done before. So I joined the few and we started the walk.

We were there standing shoulder to shoulder, given full attention by the gazing crowds. After about two minutes I had to take a step forward and come to the lead, that is my nature, I must be an individualist. There, enjoying more space around me I could really start my walk. At the beginning my legs were trembling as slowly I was lifting my limb off the floor and were trying to put it back down. Such an easy move, yet with this much attention I was realising how hard this can be. In ordinary life, we just move too fast, in a robotic manner, we don't even pay attention to these basic functions. However, the way you move, walk, run, sit can tell a lot about you. I could feel how much tension I had in my body. Slowly I was trying to release all stiffness and move more and more smoothly. As I relaxed, after around 20-25 minutes my walk became softer, more harmonious, and I started to feel the relaxation in all my other body parts. As I totally opened my senses to focus only on my bodily responses, I slightly started to experience some energies. As I was approaching my leg to the floor I could feel a magnetic, warm pull, and as I was lifting it off I was up in the air again, taking total responsibilty again for my own steps. This nice sequence was just repeating itself and I was on my way, looking in one direction, going towards the same goal with a dozen others. This group energy was tangible and it helped me to continue with zest.
But of course some challenges were still  present. When I thought, I am fine now, and relaxed, I switched off my intense focus for a second, a set of thoughts came immediately, and I had to see the consequences: at the next step while in the air, I lost my balance, and almost fell over my own feet. To avoid further distraction which could hinder my nice walking, I had to double my concentration efforts. From my side, then I was ok, but then even bigger distractions came. Some outsiders were walking through the space, well, it was still public space, the street, facing us and going the opposite direction. The disturbance varied from loud talks to people walking too fast when passing by us. In this latter situation, I was afraid that someone slaloming around me with such reckless energies will push me and I might even fall. It required really a lot of focus to stay calm.

I started my walk with folded arms behind my back, it just seemed easier for me. But by the last third of the journey, I could feel that my hands got tingling and they slowly started to liberate themselves. It was an interesting feeling, since I did not control it, but my arms, after they opened up themselves, gradually and with a very continuous fluid movement started to come forth and then stopped by the side of my body. Now I started feeling a sort of field around me and lots of subtle vibrations. It was wonderful, but then the biggest challenge arrived. Some kids turned up on the corner of the street, and they were mocking us. True, I can understand that we looked rather strange, and these little guys perceived us like some walking zombies. But like in the case of the other passers-by, somehow I could not understand, why did not they respect us? We had a bunch of our "audience" following us with silent contemplation, and the whole event was so solemn. The concentrated focus of the participants had a very powerful aspect in my opinion. But I had to learn to expect no understanding "on the way". Yet, this should not annoy you, just get prepared for it.

Finally, time was over, and we did not even reach to the other wall. None of us. But that was not the point. The point was the journey itself. My friend stayed all the way at the beginning completing only a 5 meter distance. But she was so sweet, she was wondering loudly: "I cannot beleive it was 40 minutes, it seemed only 10. I wanted more."
 Oh, yes, being present is like this, you enjoy it and time is not a matter anymore.

Hard to explain why, but at the end, many of us remained silent for a couple of minutes, and I naturally had to grab the hands of the person next to me, our energies were just flowing (oh, my Reiki hands were totally activated), and then we hugged. Somehow it seemed we are not all that different, we were one and united.

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