Grow your kula for a better life
I made it to yoga today and my body begged the question, where have you been old friend? And I responded, old, is the operative word. A week of road warrior left me bloated and stiff much like a poisoned pregnant dog on the side of the road. The message of the day, expanding one’s kula, Sanskrit for community. I likened this to what Rick Reynolds said many years ago when he was going to be the next big thing, a comedian the likes of Eddie Murphy or Richard Pryor, only he was given a television show contract that put the kibosh on his rising star. Nevertheless, he had a list he made every year around the holidays where he would determine who was worth staying friends with and who wasn’t and he was very attentive to his list, agonizing over the details that went into each decision.
Only that wasn’t exactly the message of enlarging your kula today in yoga, but it’s close, it’s about making room for more and different people, those you wouldn’t normally let in because you have become so used to those who look and speak just like you, but if you open up and let your world enlarge, your kula gets more interesting and generates more excitement in your life. The good kind that is (well, hopefully).
So today, twisting all the bad chemicals out of my body (and mind) and trying to find my shape-shifting moment of pose and repose, I thought about my list and thought about how it would be nice to enlarge my kula, but whoever has the time? I barely saw the people I wanted to while in SF as everything was hurry up and mostly business based, and whatnot, that it seemed almost impossible to envision having tried to see someone new, unknown, and not already on the list.
The good news is that by the end of class, I felt the world had stopped for a period of time and there did seem to be room for new without throwing out all of the old.