Ahimsa For All

So here’s one for the books:

A couple weeks ago two ladies and I were in yoga class. I was teaching, they were following.

Our nod to a bit of Jnana Yoga was a talk about connecting with ourselves. About remembering to think about our Self once in a while, to be selfish in a good way and not sacrifice our betterment and health for the world all the time. Moms seem to be keenly accustomed to this kind of lifestyle. And understandably so; children need guidance every step of the way and sometimes they just don't get that Mom needs a little moment to herself once in a while.

So we take a moment once a week to go to a Yoga class and connect with ourselves again.

The ladies were all nods and smiles at the beginning and so into the Hatha practice we went. Each inhalation and lifting of our eyes, I reminded us to lift our hearts and open to the world, experiencing the Self that lay within.

We were just getting into the intensive part of the practice, everyone was in Adho Mukha Svanasana - Down dog - when I looked up to see how their alignment, breathing and postures were. I glanced over at “D” and saw that about a foot away from her right hand was a massive Waterbug, more commonly referred to as a Cockroach. With eyes wide, I quickly glanced over to the ladies to see if either of them had spied the bug as well. They were deep into their poses, making good work of their inner attentions, so no one had seen the little bugger, but me. It was upside down and still as death. I knew the owners of the establishment poisoned regularly - as everyone in South Texas does. Unfortunately the common side effect to poisoning for roaches is that they seem to choose to crawl out from their hiding places and die in the middle of the floor. This little guy had missed the morning sweeping.

As I gingerly walked off the platform and over to the roach I asked them to listen to their breath and consciously steady the in and out flow. Honestly, I was hoping they wouldn’t look up and see where I was going.

If you’ve never seen a Waterbug here in the South before, let me offer a little background on them. They’re brown, 2 inches long average, they live in trash and on your uncovered kitchen food, impossible to kill, and can live for a ridiculously lengthy amount of time without their heads. In any other context a truly amazing creature to study. But NOT in the middle of a yoga session.

I approached the roach and imagined that if I kicked it just right, I would send its dead little body sliding down the edge of the wall, under the toe kick and to the back of the room and no one would be the wiser. Just a silent little flick and we could all move on without worry.

So I flicked it with my toe, a move I have performed a thousand times over since growing up in South Texas, only this time my aim was immensely off and it landed right on “D’s” mat near her right foot. I quickly stepped over and told her to not move as I attempted once again to expertly toe flick the bugger off her mat to the side.

Not only did I miss it completely, but it wasn’t dead at all, just apparently stunned. With the cockroach now fully awake, it turned and started running up her foot. Naturally, I started swatting at the bug, and her foot, repeating “Don’t move! I got it!” All the while
”D” saying “I can’t see what it is, I don’t have my glasses on,” and donkey kicking her foot back.

I finally landed a good swat and sent the offending roach sliding across the floor to the back of the room, stopping with an audible ‘thud’ as it hit the back wall. So much for practicing Ahimsa.

After some laughs and quick anecdotes about our own experiences with roaches, I wondered if we were ever going to get our attentions back to the task at hand and make this class a fruitful practice. Thankfully, no one in that room that day was a stranger to the wiles of South Texas Cockroaches and we were all able to put the experience behind us pretty quickly. After a bit of meditation to center ourselves again with our Self, we proceeded with the session and ended with, surprisingly enough, lunch.

What a wonderful group of ‘flexible’ ladies. :)