“If we have been in exile from our self for a long time, when we begin this waking up process we may encounter a poignant nostalgia for what we missed all those years. Our teacher demonstrates a posture with the agility of a cat, and we recall the time when we were limber and felt a natural connection to life. What did we give up in the process of becoming an adult? And to what degree has our accumulated experience overshadowed wonder and delight with the stultifying instrument of cynicism? As we release long-held tensions, we may dredge up old memories and negative patterns of thought and behavior that have plagued our lives. Yet if we could not have imagined the Pandora’s box that lay waiting when we signed up for our first yoga class, neither could we imagine the ease and the lightness of being we feel after only a few hours of this remarkable practice.”

To be who we are, we must first come to understand who we are not - Lao Tzu