Creativity and love or what keeps you young

Photographer: Mari-Andre

Recently  I reconnected with a yoga teacher of mine. We first met in 2002 at an ashtanga yoga workshop. The workshop tutor at some point suggested that I should start learning from this woman, Linda  (not her real name), who had just started teaching. She thought our energies were compatible. Linda was over the moon about having a student picked by her teacher. We clicked and she helped me to really stretch and learn the finest details of ashtanga, drawing from her own experience and teaching me how to listen to my body.

Ashtanga yoga vinyasa  is a physically demanding form of yoga and if it is not taught properly you can easily injure yourself. Among other things it builds up the upper arm muscles because of the vinyasas, which are inserted between the series of poses,  and which help you to  breathe deeply from the abdomen. To do a vinyasa you lift yourself from a seated cross legged position putting all your weight in your arms then with a deep exhalation you extend your legs backwards lowering yourself to the floor into a "plank" position, then perform "upward dog" and "downward dog" poses.This is done every time you come out of  a pose from the primary series before you get started on the next one in the sequence.

I was in complete awe of this woman, whom I met in class regularly every week and who seemed to be so flexible and strong. In ashtanga you go to taught classes but you also do a guided self practice , which is what really makes you progress.  This teacher was always there for self practice sessions, ready to correct you and guide you through the sequences. I did not know how old she was, she just looked young, she seemed to be in complete control of her body.  I went on a short yoga holiday taught by her and one morning over breakfast after practice  she revealed to all of us - there was a group of six who went on that holiday - how she came to be a yoga teacher.

She had had a fairly normal upbringing during which yoga had been  very far removed from her experience. She left  school after her A levels, subsequently doing some secretarial training. Throughout her teens and into early adulthood she had been  severely overweight and  in bad health.  She smoked heavily as well, a habit she picked up soon after she turned fifteen. She showed us some photos of her when she was a size 18 - she is about 5'6" - , she always carries one to remind herself of the way she used to be. We could not believe it was her but the face was the same, we definitely recognised her. We struggled to associate the lithe woman we knew with the one that stared at us in that picture.

She worked  for a while for her local council and at some point there was a major debacle at her work place and she was suspended, and eventually she lost her job. This stressed her and she went into a state of severe depression. She stopped eating and her weight began to drop dramatically. While she was waiting for the investigation to take place - she gave no details about what happened - she saw a doctor.  Rather than giving her medication he recommended she should start an healthy diet regimen, cut down on smoking and do some exercise.  She joined a local gym where they offered, among the various activities, some yoga classes. She went to one and that class completely changed her life. She decided she'd continue her yoga practise even though she found it extremely difficult.  She had met with a real challenge.

She practised regularly, quit smoking, went on advanced retreats, went to Mysore in India to learn at Pattabhi Jois ashram, the guru of ashtanga. Then she came back, joined other yoga classes in the UK and finally began to teach yoga, after completing her own teacher training. I attended her classes for nearly five years and then switched to Bikram. But recently, as I said in an earlier post, I started feeling restless and wanted a break from hot yoga. So after doing some trial sessions at another yoga studio, I decided to go back to Linda's classes.  I had not seen her in three years and I walked in without prior warning.  She was very happy to see me  again and I have now signed up for more sessions, though I will also continue to visit the Bikram studio.

I dont know how old Linda is, she looks as if she were in her late twenties/early thirties but I know she must be a lot older than that,  because of her life experience. She is beautiful but it is more than just looks. She has tremendous compassion for others and is a dedicated teacher. She absolutely loves what she does and it shows. She has come a long way from the awkward, unhealthily overweight young woman she used to be. As a yoga teacher she travels a lot, organising retreats in various countries - she and her partner are doing one in Sri Lanka in April, I wish I could go!

 Photographer: George Imber

The other day Unbearable Lightness posted about youthfulness and ageing gracefully. I am catching up with all the blogs I follow rather slowly, I was away for a few days and then I was immediately thrown into a lot of work for my DMP course and all the other bits I do, including life modelling.

I meant to comment extensively on that post, which really spoke to me. But I thought that rather than cluttering UL's blog with a long comment I could write here.  Says Unbearable Lightness:
"Sophia Loren, who now has the credentials to tell us longevity's secret, says your mind, creativity, and talents take you far.  Others tell me it's fitness, butter and cake, passion, romance, and the ability to appreciate the simple and the beautiful in life. I think the secret encompasses all of the above.  But the greatest of these is Love."
I could not agree more.  Love for others and for yourself, acknowledging that you yourself are beautiful and a gift of love. If you truly love, appreciate your own talent and  respect yourself, you truly love and respect others and there will be an aura of eternal youthfulness around you. It is a very simple truth and yet one so hard to grasp. I am not talking about selfish love or an egotistical attitude.  I am talking about something else. A love for yourself which is so great and unselfish that it encompasses everything and everyone. To me Linda seems to exemplify this, in her life and in her practice.  A truly inspirational teacher.