Beth Knudson, Registered Yoga Teacher

I just spent a weekend in Austin taking 4 workshops with David “Yeah Dave” Romanelli. David is a fabulous yoga teacher from  California and he teaches us that ecstacy is no further away than a good glass of wine, a tasty bite of chocolate, or a great tune on our iPod. He reminds us that livin’ in the moment is as easy as noticing one beautiful moment, one delicious moment, and one funny moment each day. He’s funny and real and I really liked him as a teacher.

I was inspired by David’s classes in many ways.  I’m inspired to put away my cell phone and computer more often, to remember to slow life down and enjoy those little moments that might otherwise fly by while I have my head down over my laptop. And I will definitely enjoy a good bite of chocolate, if not each day, at least several times a week.  And more wine will flow in my life.

As a teacher, I learned lots of new ways to flow poses together, so my own students may notice some new things happening in class. One of the biggest things Dave has inspired me to do as a teacher is  to actually be myself while I teach, rather than put on a yoga teacher costume and read a yoga teacher script. I’m inspired to make more of my own playlists with my own favorite music.

Another thing I learned this weekend is that I need to shut up.

I traveled with a friend who began as my student, became my friend, and is now also a fellow yoga teacher. She said something incredibly profound to me this weekend. Saturday morning, after a day of driving with me and an evening in a hotel room together, we were having some conversation about something, or nothing, while we got ready for class. I kept getting words wrong or mispronouncing words as I spoke, and I acknowledged this to her. “Maybe today is your day to just listen,” she said.

She didn’t say it in a way that was mean, but it was just a suggestion, like, “Hey, consider this.” It really struck me. The subject of me talking came up again that same morning, in the context of my teaching. I tend to talk a lot during class, cueing poses, giving information about why we do things the way we do, what’s happening in our bodies, what chakras are being activated by certain poses, etc. It wasn’t brought up in a mean way, but it’s obviously a thing. And it’s something I have acknowledged. Maybe it’s time for me to consciously shut up and let my students consciously move and flow and  feel.

Looking back, I realize that I finish people’s sentences a lot. What’s that about? Trying to prove how smart I am? How in tune we are? How much they should like me? How insane is that? Something else happened during the weekend. I thought maybe I had said too much during a conversation with someone. I asked my friend if she thought I had, and she answered very honestly, “Yeah, you may have pushed that a little hard.”

After I told him the story, my husband, Weldon, who knows how I get and who is also a good, good man, told me, “You were just excited this weekend. It’s OK to be passionate.” And yes, he’s right. I was excited and passionate. I was spending a weekend in a city I love with a great friend doing my favorite thing in the world. And along the way got a wake up call and a lesson. Not the one I expected to get either. I guess that’s how they come, isn’t it?

So my challenge is to shut up. I’ll do my best this week to be aware of how I’m communicating. I’ll see if I can communicate effectively with fewer words, and when I’ve completed a thought, I’ll do my best to stop. Wish me luck.

Last night, I took my sister Meredith to the Miley Cyrus concert for her birthday. It was a HUGE show at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. We had a great time, in spite of the two hours we spent in the Problem Resolution line.

This was the first show the AA Center has done with paperless ticketing. There were lots of issues to get worked out and lots of problems to resolve, probably more than the Box Office was prepared for. Scanner equipment wasn’t working right, re-issued paper tickets were showing up on scanners as invalid, etc. Everything sending people back to the Problem Resolution line. We ended up there twice.  The staff was as helpful as they could be and was very apologetic about all the issues. I understood, even after our second 45 minutes in line, that everyone was doing the best job they could.

Many of the people around me were not as understanding. It was embarassing to me how rude and mean some of these people were: yelling at the Box Office staff through the closed blinds to open the windows, calling the Box Office from their cell phone while in line to complain about how long the lines were (and not nicely), and when not actively directing their negativity at the staff, grumbling to each other about how stupid this system is, and that they should let us go in a special door.

What a drain.

I thought I was going to witness an ugly concert mob during my first wait in the line when one lady walked up to the front of the line while we were waiting for the windows to open and announced that she was going to start a new line since there were 4 windows. All the ladies around me started yelling at her! One lady behind me even sidled up to me, I guess because I was being noticeably quiet, and said, “You’re with us, right? We’ll take her.”  Maybe that line-cutter was in the wrong, but was it worth all that? I just shook my head in amazement. I have never experienced adults acting in such a way. Maybe they were just doing the best job they knew how to do, too.

During my second time throug the line, I was behind a group with that same mindset of “they should treat me special because I have to wait,” but the lady behind me was much more easy-going. She kept telling her daughter, “We’re going to be fine.  We’ll be in our seats by 7. And even if we’re not, we’ll just miss a little of the opening band. We’ll be fine. No need to panic.” Some of my faith in humanity had been restored.  There were still people around that could go with the flow.

My sister and I also had some additional issues to creatively solve. She’s diabetic and had to do her insulin shot and eat by a certain time. Fortunately, she had packed a peanut butter sandwich in her purse in case of emergency (a smart diabetic move), so I knew we had that as a back-up plan. We just kept gently modifying our plan as the situation changed. Ultimately, we were in our seats by 6:40, she did her shot and ate her sandwich in her seat by the time the show started, and we had an awesome time being in a Miley State of Mind.

So here’s my hope. My hope is that next time you find yourself in what could be a stressful situation, you stop and think about the ones you might percieve as making it stressful. Are they doing the best job they can? Is it really worth throwing a fit? Maybe it’s the universe giving you the gift of an opportunity to practice patience and kindness. Maybe it’s an opportunity to learn that things really do work out, even when they seem impossible.  I was just glad to be there with my sister. And in the end, this is what it was really all about for me:

Meredith, after the show.