"This will go well with my adversity!" - Theo Huxtable

Have you ever seen that episode of the Cosby Show when Theo comes home from college to raid Cliff and Claire's fridge. There is a conversation about the adversity for a college student and Theo pulls some sauce (which resembles shrimp sauce) and says...see Blog title.

As Yogis, we get a lot of flack!! Flack manifesting in comments, looks and just general attitudes toward us. We are taking the path less travelled ...and even though there have been thousands and thousands of people that macheted the path before us there are still some rough patches and thorns. I recently got a set of Mala beads, which I wear around my wrist with pride (but not bad pride). But looks, comments...no one really understands...but if I were to wear Rosery beads..that would be handy dandy with everyone.

Although sometimes the jokes are all in good fun...(for instance one of my co-workers calls me Karma-man!!) Sometimes it's just ignorance on their part. As we Yogis know Avidya (ignorance) is the root cause of all sorrow and all afflictions. The question is, how do you educate? I think, most times its just better to let comments roll off like rain. Some people don't want to be educated and I'm not gonna preach because preaching is not my styles. I will sing the praises of Yoga straight through to my next life but I will not preach to people about Yoga.

I will, however, tell people not to knock it until they try it. It's a powerful thing and you just need to get through some of the stigmas related to Yoga. My co-worker (previously mentioned) thinks that Yoga is for girls. One of my favourite retaliations is to say, "While you're hangin' out with a bunch of sweaty dudes at the gym I'll be hangin' out with the pretty girls doing Yoga."

I feel great when I see another guy in Yoga class. My Ashtanga class is full of guys...it's awesome to see the dudes openning their minds about Yoga. Even the basic Hatha classes that I teach are attracting the gentlmen (mostly because their female counterparts drag them to class) because once they realize that it actually can be quite demading they gain a whole new respect for the practice. And then it leads, like it did for me, to greater awareness. Even if that awareness come in just a physical aspect...It's awareness non-the-less.

So if you happen to read this Blog and you have not tried Yoga before or maybe you're from a certain lineage of Yoga and are interested in another...Just F-in do it!!! Yoga has something to offer everyone...And I mean everyone.

Namaste...shanti...shanti...shanti