June 17, 2009

The Adventures of Yolanda the Yogini ....... by Ranya Verson

Yolanda had been doing yoga for 18 years or so when she first discovered her super powers. She was a devote yogini, first training under one of the most established teachers in Chicago, moving on to receive a certificate to teach yoga herself and finally finding Tracy Von Kaenel as her ultimate inspiration for claiming her super powers at last.

When Yolanda first began her adventure in yoga, many things hurt. Her lower back constantly pinched and ached, her neck and shoulders screamed and her over-flexibility met praise and accolade, in spite of imminent danger. Like many yogis and yoginis alike, she was a devoted student, making slow but steady progress, completely unaware of her super powers.

When she learned how to use her breath properly, she thought she had found her super power. Although extremely useful, she was to discover that breath alone would not lubricate her limbs into alignment with her core. When Yolanda got certified, she discovered a modicum of upper body strength and was able to do chattaranga with increasing ease. Much to her chagrin, chattaranga did not enable her to transcend into the power and release of a meditative flow. Then Yolanda met Tracy V. Tracy V., a super hero herself, was not forthcoming of where precisely to locate a yoginis super powers. She surely demonstrated super powers and taught her students in the hopes that all her yogis and yoginis would find their super powers, but alas, many wonderful tears and releases later, but still no magic flow.

Then one day Yolanda opened her closet and starring right in front of her was her Bolivian wool blanket that she heroically captured while running over the boarder from Peru to Bolivia in search of much needed warmth from the chilly Andean air. Without a thought, Yolanda toted this blanket to Tracy V's yoga class .

When the blanket appeared in yoga class, her fellow yoginis were suspicious, not to mention a tad jealous. Tracy V. noticed the blanket and named it bankie. Yolanda’s class mates teased her because of bankie in spite of a secret desire to get close to it. With bankie at her side and without warning, she began to feel and move differently.

Then, one day without thought or effort, Yolanda engaged her core, aligned her limbs and stretched into a glorious Warrior One pose. Bankie was at her side. Another evening, Yolanda’s classmates became concerned about the increasing temperature of the room. Yolanda, with a reptilian-craving for warmth, shivered with dread when someone requested that a fan be turned on. The sensation was enough to throw her yoga practice into the toilet, yet she imagined bankie thrown over the fans in the room and completed her “impossible” last chattaranga within form and without collapsing. After following Tracy V, in her re-energized, super-sweaty, Spring sessions, Yolanda welcomed savasana with new meaning as she laid bankie down, creating a cocoon for relaxation. She traveled to an unknown place and deep relaxation that is not of this world.

With bankie at her side, Yolanda can journey to places that she has not gone before. The illusive and hard won, meditative flow is within her reach. Yolanda has found her super powers.

Where do your super powers lurk?