Yoga All the Time

After my sweaty yoga practice yesterday morning at Down Dog, I headed straight to a small business lending workshop in Arlington.  Suits surrounded me and there I stood in my professional yoga teacher uniform – black lululemon groove pants, blue canoe twist top and abellaYoga shirt.  Not the point of this blog post, but I do love how I can go straight from a sweaty yoga outfit into a non-sweaty one and get away with it since it’s my profession 🙂

Anyway as typical for a breakfast event, it started with coffee, bagels/fruit and networking.  After the opening remarks, there was a choice of workshops to attend.  As we split up, I picked a seat where the previous person left an empty coffee cup.  As I dropped my bag down and was picking up the cup to take to the trashcan, I said to myself “sure, I don’t mind cleaning up after you” -sarcastically of course!  Not knowing who had been sitting there I continued to think “didn’t your parents teach you to pick up after yourself?”

Within seconds, I kid you not, a gentleman on crutches came back into the room towards the very seat I had put down my stuff.  In that moment I realized given his circumstances, he was unable to pick up his cup.  As it was he was juggling his TD Bank handouts and crutches with a smile on his face.  My mind quickly quieted.

While walking back from the trashcan, the following Yoga Sutra came to mind:  By cultivating attitudes of friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and equanimity toward the nonvirtuous, the mind-stuff retains its undisturbed calmness.  Sutra 1.33, Inside the Yoga Sutras

Can’t get to your yoga mat today?  Carry this Sutra with you and I’m sure you’ll find a few ways throughout your day to practice yoga.  As a Manduka‘s (I think?) current yoga mat print ad reads, practice yoga all the time!