Day Five

Since Tuesdays and Thursdays are dedicated to the Philosophy teachings of yoga, today was my first course.  Initially I was apprehensive about the instruction since I've always maintained that while yoga may act as a religion for some, it was my stance to separate it from my own personal beliefs.  And yet I was quite surprised by how well the first day turned out!  The instructor is extremely wise and appears sincere about teaching us the history and beginnings of yoga.


During our discussions we were told to answer the question, "Who am I?"  Each one of us was given a plain white paper plate and allowed to write whatever came to our mind whether in words, phrases, or even drawings.  I immediately thought, "Oh, this is easy, just describe yourself."  But just as quickly I realized how difficult the question can be to answer.  Yes, I could describe myself in relation to others (e.g. daughter, girlfriend, aunt) or to adjectives (e.g. happy, smart, simple) or even physical objects (e.g. a PC vs. a Mac).  But, really, who am I?


Here are some of the words I ended up writing on my plate:
Happy
Cheez-it lover
Yoga lover/addict
Daughter
Long hair
A nerd
Funny
Friend
Shy
Impatient
A vessel to share the gift of God and yoga with others!


We then proceeded to swap plates and guess who each plate belonged to.  While we were doing this I came up with a few other words I wish I had initially written down:


A child (as in the heart of a child)
Food lover


Yet this exercise taught me that while all of these words accurately described me as an individual, it didn't really answer the question "Who am I?"  Another student in the class brought up the point that she was "no thing."  Attachment to labels essentially made her something almost manufactured into a human being.  Rather, she chose to define her existence as simply that - existence with the self.  Now, that might sound a little "out there" for some, but I do understand her point and agree that knowing yourself isn't about knowing which words to chose but rather just being.  


So, with that I suggest to simply try "being."  


_Peace and love