December 15, 2023
Ode to Weidos Everywhere
Elizabeth Brass
Certified Senior Iyengar Yoga Teacher & Yoga Therapist (IAYT)
It's the small progressions in ourselves that often go unseen.
By not recognizing our own progress, it's easy to become frustrated.
The positive changes in our posture, in our energy, in our outlook over time are impossible to measure.
Because we can't measure the transformations that occur in us from our yoga practice, they go under valued.
Lately, I've been feeling like a weirdo again. Again, when I started yoga in 1987 it wasn't a mainstream activity at all then. When I told people that I practiced yoga, they either made bad jokes or looked at me with suspicion. This went on for so long so I carried a sinking feeling often when I met new people, readying myself for stares or taunts.
This changed around 2000 when suddenly, everyone was practicing yoga or becoming a yoga teacher. The same people then had advice about what I should do with yoga and how I could make money. They wanted advice on their back pain and their neighbor's high blood pressure. It was as if we, yoga practitioners, had suddenly joined the "normals club" and yoga was acceptable. After about a decade, that club wasn't interested in us anymore because they thought they already knew us and they were bored. They “knew” what yoga was, and they had “done it” and moved on to something else that would improve their lives. And those same people keep telling us that we can move on too.
So, back to being a weirdo again. The jokes are less, now sideways pitying glances are what I get because I'm still on that yoga train and missed my stop. This time around, though, I'm older and wiser (a bit sassier too), and I'm happy to be in a different club. Happy that I have something to pursue so deeply that, after nearly 40 years, I can still geek out about it. Like when an excellent new yoga book comes out or when I can afford an amazing new yoga prop. I will geek out when I see my yoga students look calm, balanced, and joyful during and after class. I will geek out when I can touch those feelings in myself because, I know how to practice yoga. I will geek out when I'm sick or injured because I can get really creative and out there with my practice.
Sometimes it hurts to feel different and disrespected by the people we know, even those who are close to us. They only know a part of us, the part they want to see. But we can find strength in our individualism, in our ability to pursue what we love, even in the face of resistance. It takes courage to go against the norms of society and resilience to stay with it over the years. We can seek out other people who understand and support them in their pursuits. Who knows, they may help someone with their back pain or their neighbor's high blood pressure?
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