Patience is one of those virtues that must be cultivated while staying in India. If your an impatient person by nature this may be the perfect training ground for that. I've come to realize in the States how fast things come...there is so much instant gratification...but something gets lost somehow when things come so fast...I don't know what it is exactly...but its just isn't as enjoyable if we are racing through life at lightening speed.
By nature, I have always been a fast walker...on the move. But, after being here for about 3 weeks that has totally went away. I stroll...Ha!ha! I haven't done that in a long time. This morning we were running a bit late for practice and we had to pick up the pace to make it to the Shala...and it felt so strange and foreign to walk fast...and I'm like...wow...what's happened to me! I just hope I can keep that presence with me when I go home. Just because the rest of the world is racing around...doesn't mean I have to follow suit. Even with the vigorous practice of Ashtanga yoga I have taken my practice as if I am a connoisseur of it. Acting as if each asana is a morsel to be experienced and deepened...and ahhhhhh...what a wonderful way to approach the practice...to approach life. Even though the series is the same sequence every time...the depth one can go is like a bottomless well...there is always something more...something more to feel...to realize...to uncover. It never ends...and why would we want it to...we are here to learn...grow and expand with each passing day...hopefully filling that space we have created with more love, compassion and most of all peace...Namaste.