The name of my blog will be changing soon to sandy.yoga. I have changed domain names so many times I think the WordPress folks are annoyed with me. hehe Frankly, however, I didn’t want to use my full name for a domain dot com name. I tried on several and then decided that this one is perfect. It is easy to remember and easy to type AND I get to actually just use my first name. I did want Sandra but someone already snatched that up so that’s okay. My friends call me Sandy anyway.

SOOOOoooo…. As I am a notorious rambler. I can’t remember if I mentioned the next leg of my journey in my last post. I decided to get my yoga certification. I am currently still working on finishing up. Do I honestly think someone needs to have the certification to be a yoga teacher, nope. I actually do not HOWEVER the world works like that and people want to see that you went to school for it so regardless of what I think about schooling, I decided to do it and it is worth it.

It’s one thing to be a practitioner and another to be a teacher. I can say I am a skilled yogi but when it comes to teaching, using words to communicate, being in front of people as their guide… that’s a different story so I am actually glad I am taking the courses because as some of you may or may not know, when it comes to speaking in front of a screen or to audiences, I am like a toddler who just learned a couple words. I have mastered the art of word soup NOW I need to get a handle on that area. When I am more comfortable speaking out loud, I feel like I will really do well.

I mean, it’s definitely hard to say when yoga feels more like a competition these days. It is definitely hard to not get sucked into that so I do have to remind myself as I always do of the reasons I do anything at all. I do it because it sits right with me and I want to.

To be truthful (Satya) I have never called myself a yogi or yogini the same as I never call myself a martial artist BECAUSE no matter how proficient I am, I never feel like I should call myself that. I think, maybe, when I do, I have to be held to certain standards or ideas that almost always have zero bearing on the actual nature of either art.

For instance, to call myself a martial artist, one expects that because I am a technically an “expert” in the art of hand combat and self defense that I should also be able to deliver a “death touch” or float seamlessly through the air. I can do neither of those things. At best, I can defend myself against a regular attacker but it’s not going to stop a bullet from a gun I cannot see and EVEN if I were in close range (and I have been there) I would much rather use my brain and NOT put myself in situations where I would even have to use it. So in this case, it’s better to know and never need it than to need it and not know it. That’s all. But I also really love martial arts.

When it comes to Yoga, to be a yoga guru one expects that I will balance on one finger (same thing for martial arts), fold seemly into a pretzel and levitate. NEVER going to happen. Maybe someone out there can do that but it’s not me. I also cannot do a handstand. For some people in the world, not doing something as trivial as a handstand disqualifies me as a yoga teacher. The truth is that for many like myself, I have limits as well as no desire to do such things when other asanas will give me the same benefits without having to re-injur or injure myself to begin with.

Deciding NOT to do something and listening to my body’s instincts is smart NOT disqualifying. It IS in essence why I prefer NOT to use kung fu… because why do things that could get you hurt when the whole premise for both arts is to keep you safe and healthy. To have mental clarity and to gain wisdom to know the difference. Most importantly to me, they both are spiritual practices. There is so much to be gained through them but most chose a different path. No judgment, just sayin’.

Alas I have ramble on again as I alway do. I just wanted to share the next leg of my journey with you and hope that you will stick around for things to come. I mean, it might be a little bit yet as I basically loath doing computer stuff BUT I do need to live in the way the world is. I just have to do it without compromising my moral, ethical, spiritual and mental compass.

Namaste’