Hanuman
It’s Sunday January 10 and I’m on day 15 of my Mysore Challenge, in one more day I’ll be halfway. Today is the best practice I’ve had in a long long time. I feel light and strong, which in the middle of this challenge, is counter to what I thought I’d be. I expected to be tired, lethargic, and trying to talk myself out of it – I would not have succeeded. But as I said today’s practice was good and I felt strong.
When I was at Tim Miller’s teacher training course in 2017 he tells a story about Hanuman, actually he tells lots of stories about Hanuman.
Hanuman is a Hindu deity who is part monkey and part man. He is very strong ( can carry mountains), is faithful to his Lord, and Tim said that he took care of those in distress. *”Lord Hanuman combines two of the most cherished traits in the Hindu bhakti-shakti worship traditions: “heroic, strong, assertive excellence” and “loving, emotional devotion to personal God”.
So the story I’m talking about is when Tim first started teaching. He had hardly any students and could not make ends meet. I think this is pretty normal for yoga teachers. So he travels to India to see his teacher and I can’t remember the circumstances and order of events but he changes his deity to Hanuman. He asks a local carver to carve him a Hanuman statue and he brings it back home and places it in the shala where he teaches.
Tim says that after that placement he started to get lots of students and enough to eventually make a living teaching yoga.
So after my Sunday morning strong practice and it’s still early; I’m the only one up. I decide to stay in the basement and watch the Tampa Bay vs. Washington NFL game, which I had recorded the night before. Next to that TV is a lamp that we have had for years. I’ve looked at that lamp lots of times and thought there are faces in that lamp – I see faces in everything. I see faces in towels, paintings, trees, carpets, etc. etc….
The photo above is that lamp and if you look you can see faces (I do) but if you pull back a little and it’s on an angle, you can see Hanuman’s head. It’s there and this is the first time I noticed it. Kinda weird that I would notice this on what I consider to be an abnormally strong practice.
What do ya think……
Be safe.
Note:
As I post this, Monday, January 11, I am half way through this challenge. Tomorrow is a moon day (woo-hoo!) and then a 15 day stretch to finish. Wish me luck. Rest day sounds awesome.
* Wikipedia