Y O G A A N D T H E P A T H O F T H E U R B A N C H I C A G O A N
“Yoga and the Path of the Urban Mystic” was one of the most reassuring, motivating and calming reads I have had in a while. Being part of our required reading during my Hot Yoga teacher training, I was hesitant of the text at first. I kept putting it off, thinking of it as a chore and that it was just another book to add to the list of books I was already reading at the time. That was my ego talking. Something Darren Main, along with any yoga teacher who has undergone a teacher training program, would argue is the reason for those explosive surges of nonsensical thoughts that appear inexplicably during Downward Facing Dog, What am I going to make for dinner tonight? or during Ardha-Chandrasana, My body can’t do this, I give up or during High Plank, I wonder if I remembered to record True Blood tonight? If it wasn’t for Darren Main and CPY's various discussions concerning the ego, I would be utterly lost in my practice. It is in understanding the ego and its various forms that a yoga student moves forward on his path to becoming an "Enlightened-yogi;" because it is the difference between deciding what toppings to put on your homemade pizza at home after class (gluten-free, meat-lovers, or whatnot) and taking the moment to acknowledge your inner Enlightened-in-training-self by focusing on your breath during a particular asana.
At the start of my teacher training program we were told to record our experiences in addition to the weekly lessons – how we evolve over the weeks, our thoughts on the lessons, why we’ve chosen to take this path, etc. – which was a struggle for me. I took notes throughout the weeks, covered the packets in annotations; but, as far as journals are concerned, I misplaced one with 2 entries, scribbled a couple entries here or there, and overall battled with writing my musings down routinely. I don’t have an excuse for it seeing as I am extremely fond of writing and routinely stick to some sort of yoga schedule. That being said, at the moment, I am much more fascinated with looking back on my experiences over the last 2 years of keeping a yoga routine for the first time in my life.
Stepping into the Chicago, South Loop studio in the winter of 2011 for the first time, I fell in love. The atmospheric mood it set. Its hot, candle lit studios, looming over the peaks and valleys of downtown Chicago complimenting the warm outreached arms of fellow yogis. With the rush of all this positive energy circulating the room and my mind, it was unfortunate for my ego to make me hate my early experiences with the welcoming community. Yet I kept taking classes. I persevered. I struggled and complained, yet there I was standing in line with my mat to check in for class. I kept coming back to the same studio, and eventually branched out to others, my inflexible body confused by the new regiment, my mind fascinated more and more each day.
A month or so into my practice I discovered other classes: Hot Power Fusion, Hot Yoga, and Core Restore being the most frequented. And, now, 2 years into the future, I’ve completed a Teacher Training program, become so overwhelmingly involved with the CPY community before moving out of Chicago, and have grown to such a drastic ongoing extent.
"When I decided to begin yoga, I was a bit intimidated by the idea that I may not be able to keep up with the class ... but Victor is awesome and made everyone in our class feel confident in moving at their own pace. He knows his stuff and I left with my body and mind feeling inspired and capable! Can't wait for our next class!" -- Dee Amore, Henderson, Nevada
I can look back on those early days, taking a C2 or a Sculpt, when I would voluntarily give up when my ego would berate me with nonsense like, You can’t do a pose as long as that person up front so you might as well give up or the studio becomes a competition all of a sudden and the ego whispers, This [body part] hurts but you’re going to keep pushing yourself to look like that person in the corner. And, honestly, I wasn't really confident in myself. I was 6'4," at the time, and incapable of mirroring a lot of the poses some of the other students and, occasionally, the teacher were able to do flawlessly. So I would whine. I would badger myself on the inside. I was afraid to immerse myself into some of the poses and just forget about the nonsense outside the studio door. But that persistence, that was drawing me back week after week paid off. I can officially, without any strain in my hamstrings, reach down and touch my toes, something I've never been able to do. Minuscule, it may seem, but my flexibility has skyrocketed in the handful of months I've begun taking miscellaneous yoga classes. I have a calm mind, or at least now know methods in calming it in moments of stress (High Plank into Downward Facing Dog or Garudasana into Balancing Stick being a few of my favorites). I have sequences under my belt that I can pull out and teach to my imaginary dog whenever I want. Being such a passionate yogi is something I’ve never planned on becoming and undergoing the training is not something I’ve even thought about prior to moving Chicago 3 years ago. As a result of going on a whim and my utter spontaneity, I've acquired a lot of positive energy that surges through my veins daily. I breathe differently nowadays and I love every minute of it. Now that I've moved back to the West Coast, I am thrilled to dive into the yoga communities scattered around here and hope to eventually become involved with my beloved CPY in California.