Reading Reflection Week Two: How Yoga Works 9-16

The first thought that came to mind when I started reading this book was surprise. I did not expect to be able to relate to any of the characters as I expected them to be discussing “Eastern philosophy” in terms I could not understand. However, I find myself relating to the Captain and admiring the narrator. I was definitely impatient like the Captain (and have been every time I have tried to take yoga back up again) in wanting to do the poses quickly and without attention to technique. For that reason, I am particularly interested in how he learned patience and became less lazy. I was intrigued by the motivation of compassion to make him practice his yoga everyday, and I am searching in my own mind someone that can serve as my own motivator. I also liked the idea of being able to use breath to send energy flows to parts of the body that are hurting in a pose. I am going to try to remember this when I am working through some of the harder poses in class. I also really enjoy listening to the inner monologue of the narrator. I loved the moment in the “Breath and a Smile” chapter where she reminded herself that her happiness did not depend on where she was. I admire that contentedness and suspect she was able to make that realization through meditating. And that’s not to say that meditating is happiness, but meditation can give you the time to find and realize what happiness is to you.