Stand in alignment

I was walking down the street to Farmer's Market. Thinking of the new yoga "immersion" program I just started on Saturday.

We learned how to stand in full and complete alignment.
I did all the tweeks and adjustments while I was walking.

Dina (the instructor) had made the point that... when you're grounded and feel steady and in alignment, the world will notice. People will sense it.

...

So I'm walking down Divisadero; the tiny balloon in my chest lifting, my throat softening, my tailbone giving in to gravity, my ribs sinking back down, my shoulders driving energy down my back and my collar bone driving energy down my arms.

I start noticing the notices from people I was passing.

And then someone notices and he doesn't look away. And he starts a conversation. And we run into each other later at Faletti's. And he asks me out to coffee. And he said that with my hood on, I reminded him of the "Afghan girl" from National Geographic (add that to the narcissistic blog post). We exchanged phone numbers.

Then not 10 minutes later, I'm sitting at the bus stop and this beautiful, warm and friendly woman gives me a compliment on my gray boots. To which I returned the favor about her pink boots.

We continued talking on the bus; learning more about each other. It comes up that she's Buddhist. My ears perked. Yadda yadda yadda, she invited me to some event on the 31st of January that I'm actually really interested in. We stood on the corner after we both got off the bus finishing our conversation. We exchange phone numbers.

...

I took class with Dina tonight. One of her public classes. Yin with Flow. FUCK. Fucking CHALLENGING for me. Interestingly, it was by far the least physically involved yoga class I've ever taken.

I started crying at one point - not super out of the ordinary. But what was new for me this time, Dina ("the instructor"... ooh, intimidating) came over and asked me what was going on. And then she checked in after class as everyone was rolling their mats up and heading home.

She and I sat on the floor in the empty studio for 20 minutes talking about my experience and how I can continue on and learn and grow and release what I need to.

Before today, none of my other yoga instructors have even known I broke my back.

She said "I think your highest self... brought you to me."

...

Today I didn't shy away from anything. Especially when things got ugly and messy and confusing and uncomfortable. As soon as I made the decision to embody that, I immediately started noticing the effects; coffee date, Buddhism friend, trusted instructor.

You put it out there - you get it back.

...

Stand in alignment. Stand up straight. Look the world in the face and don't try to be someone you're not. Don't act OK if you're not. Don't turn away from things that are challenging. Don't get up and run away because you have tears streaming down your face and you don't want people to see it. Don't believe that "your story" is bigger than you. You're the size of the entire room. "Your story" is a tiny tiny part of that. See it. Experience it. Ride with it. Watch it fade.

Understand how to Be. With. It.

....

A lot going on in this post - this is more a journal entry than something I expect the public to be interested in. Whatevs.