Control Freak It’s the last day of a five day yoga assisting immersion with a well known yoga instructor from San Francisco named Janet Stone and we are blindfolded. Each morning starts with nine surya namaskar also known as sun salutations. She adds prostration (lying in prone position), which is known to discharge harmful electromagnetic signals from the body and is an ideal way to bow to the infinite source and/or the divine wisdom that created us. The practice is fluid, harmonious, repetitive, and extremely meditative. Here we are blindfolded, video taped, and asked to do sun salutes with no verbal cuing. That is just the beginning of class. For a second I’m thinking, “no way! I’m not doing that, blindfolded!” I’m totally freaking out… My heart is racing, I’m quietly hyperventilating, wondering if I should just sneak out of the studio! I take a deep breath, gather up courage, trust Janet’s wisdom is going somewhere, and go for it. I’m about half way into the first salute and peaked through the blindfold. Second salute, peaked around three times, and probably peaked on the third cycle. I had to know that I was doing it “right” and that I was in flow with Janet Stone. And then I thought… “What are you doing? You’re such a control freak! You know this. You’ve got this, it’s in you, stop freaking out!” Under the darkness that stole my sight, I closed my eyes. Something happened. Something remarkable happened. As we’re flowing, my hearing enhanced like a super power and I went deeply into listening. When do we stop and listen? Really listen? Earlier in the week we learned about neuromuscular reeducation from Harvey Deutch. You train your brain and the muscles and tissues how to work and behave, like a pathway from brain to muscle. Here’s my new super heightened hearing and it was like BOOM! You have to slow down. Listening to the sound of flow and movement, when to rise, fold, lift and lie down, inhale and exhale. The slow, graceful movement of vibration rippling through my heart and mind. Working in union with self and many, many others. It was the true meaning of yoga and self-realization. I found peace. For years I’ve been hearing, “Slow down, Tess! Your yoga classes are too fast. You’re lifestyle is so busy. You’re doing too much. How do you get it all done? Slow down!” It’s a big trigger for me AND I know there’s so much momentum behind this pace and I know that I have to slow down. Forever grateful that all I needed was to flow a round of sun salutations blindfolded with Janet Stone. I wish I would have come to this cross road many moons ago but I probably would have been too busy! Everything begins in the mind. If you want to see clearly, you need clear vision. - Sri Swami Satchidanada