A Native in a Strange Land; the Magic of Breadcrumbs

Let’s face it:  No blog is complete without a discussion of yoga (LOL).  Seriously, for me, yoga truly was a soul saver in the year after my marital split.  I had always had an interest in yoga, though hadn’t partaken in any meaningful way, sampling only a few Bikram yoga classes that I found too extreme and "commercial" (the room is heated to like 100 degrees).  Upon the recommendation of an old school friend turned dedicated yogi, I discovered a school of yoga that I found deeply satisfying and refreshingly non-mainstream known as Sivananda Yoga.  Interestingly, the San Francisco Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center was located only about a mile from where I was living. It is named after Swami Sivananda, an influential Indian spiritual teacher of the 20th century.  In 1957, Swami Vishnudevananda, on instructions from his guru Sivananda, came to the West to bring the teachings of yoga.  The culture of Sivananda Yoga is authentically Indian, preserving a several-thousand-year-old tradition.  For accessibility, Swami Vishnudevananda simplified the yogic teachings down to five points, showing specific ways to develop physical, mental, and spiritual health through right movement/postures (Asanas), right breathing (Pranayama), relaxation (Savasana), diet (vegetarian), positive thinking (Vedanta) and meditation (Dhyana).

There was an ego-free, yin quality to the practice, which quieted my mind, expanded my body, and centered my focus.  I awakened to the importance of yogic breath and began a meditation practice.  For a very reasonable annual fee, I had not only unlimited access to the Center’s yoga classes, which were held three times a day, but I could attend evening communal vegetarian meals for which the Center charged nothing, yet accepted donations.

I was a native in a strange land.  I had found a little ashram located in the Fog Belt of San Francisco, where I was born and raised, but had had no idea previously of this place.  It was my first “breadcrumb” on the trail of my midlife spiritual path.  I cherish the community of folks I connected with that whole year of ’04.  I was feeling very alone when my marriage ended, and the Sivananda Center was a sanctuary for my heart, body, and soul.  There I learned about ayurvedic medicine, attended kirtans (singing/chanting sessions), and listened to many talks on various health and spiritual topics.

Sivananda Yoga was my first major spiritual diversion off the highway I had been coasting on automatic pilot on for 40 years.  It prompted a deeper study of yoga on my part, leading me to a Yoga Studies series at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), also located in San Francisco (how lucky I am!).  Immersing myself in the study and practice of yoga introduced me to the concept of nondualism.  Christianity is a theology of dualism; a paradigm of polarity; divinity being separate from the secular.  Yoga, as the term suggests, is borne of a nondual philosophy.  Divinity imbues all; everyone, everything, all life.  All is one, in union with (what Christians term) "God."  New awareness of nondualism exposed my mind (and heart) to a new "operating system."  Yoga, I came to learn, is really any practice (i.e. action, devotion, body poses, and meditation) that "yolks" us to our divinity within, as well as to the cosmic divine.  I was awakening to the power of belief and how the paradigms of our beliefs shape everything in our lives; how we live, how we engage in life, our perceptions, whether we operate by a perception of choice or a perception of fate.  With that awareness, I came to understand yoga (and myself) in a broader, deeper, more universal sense.  It is a practice and awareness that informs me to this day.