Level 1 Yoga with F.Noori & Centering Prayer

Yesterday, I went to Level 1 Yoga with F.Noori. The class was held in the west wing which I'd never been in before. I went in and everybody had laid their mats perpendicular to the walls and had their blocks, straps, and blankets all ready. I felt like I was in the big leagues. I tried to pretend like I knew what I was doing and got all my props too.

F. is a Persian woman with a very gentle yet firm teaching voice. I was happy to realize soon enough that I could keep up. Gentle Yoga with Bruce Schwartz had given me a very good grounding in breathing and fundamental alignments. I definitely had some moments where my legs were shaking like crazy and it was all I could do to concentrate on breathing to keep my balance.

But what I loved about this class was the mindfulness F. kept bringing us back to. We started off with clearing our minds and a little bit of quiet, closed eyes meditation. Then she explained exactly what we needed to do and what it was doing for us in terms of opening up our muscles and ligaments. She described how when we stretch and push our bodies to open up more, especially in our chest, it brings us greater awareness of not only how our bodies are doing, but how we are doing emotionally. At the end of every sequence, she would say gently with a smile, Ok, How are you doing? and give us time to think about it. And then she'd ask, What is your body telling you? Listen to yourself.

She did this throughout the 90 minute session. Bringing us back to the breath. Saying over and over, "be present." Be present to this very moment.

Wow. By the end of my time, the space in my chest had expanded from a miniscule tight speck to an expansive well that could house all that I was and felt. I felt grounded, centered, and unshakable. And of course, my body felt damn good.

I raced off to the first session of a home centering prayer meeting at S.'s house in east Pdena. And here is the really interesting part. She has two cats, Charlotte and Emily Bronte. Emily is excruciatingly shy and never comes out to meet strangers. In fact, S.'s niece came to visit her for a week and it took her three days to finally venture out from under the bed. Well, while we were doing centering prayer, Emily came out and watched us. That in itself is pretty unheard of.

But here's the kicker. After K. left and it was just me and S., Emily came over and sat on my lap and stayed with me for a good hour. S. was stunned and said in 11 years, Emily has never ever done that and it must be because I'm coming off incredibly centered. I'm not even a cat person!

Apparently, Emily is a healer and knows exactly when you're not doing well. Maybe it was a combination of my hard days and being centered despite it all that drew her to me.

At the end of my yoga session, we bowed "head to heart." I didn't understand it at first but then I got it. It's a way of saying heart, before the mind. We will be led by our hearts, not analysis and overthinking. Big happy sigh.