Public transportation issues aside, I made my way to Les Levanthal's 9am vinyasa class in the Castro. Nice! I mentally high-fived myself as I secured a spot in the front row of the studio. (duh, where else would I be) As the class begins Les implores us to say hello and "make friends" with our neighbor. Ok, no biggie, after all it’s yoga and we are all here to practice in a community. Makes sense to get to know your neighbor. But then, Les asked us to do the unthinkable...to pick up our mats and MOVE three spots so we are in a different area altogether! This experience was very confronting. I go out of my way to secure a spot that I feel comfortable in only to have to pick up all my crap and move it to another part of the room?! Unfathomable! My higher rational sensibility kicked in reminding me that this confronting experience was merely a metaphor for life, as all of yoga is; yet my immediate and intuitive reaction was unkind and spiteful. Why should I move my stuff? Why can't they move theirs? You see where I'm going with this...but when the guru speaks, the pupil obeys. If picking up my mat and a handful of other belongings was so distressful, no wonder I'm having such a hard time adjusting to life in a new city. A mini-revelation occurred. What happened to the openness I used to bring with me into yoga classes? Perhaps the openness that once used to ebb and flow got stuck. To quote Rumi: "Spirit is the art of getting what's stuck unstuck."

Raga, one of the five kleshas, is a concept in yoga philosophy that pertains to attachment. According to the Yoga Sutras, kleshas are the root of all suffering. We are all attached to certain possessions, people, beliefs and the like, even if they aren't necessarily healthy attachments; therefore, when we are forced to part with these things we suffer. No one likes change...at least initially. Why? Because it means you have to divorce yourself from the familiar. It's confrontations like the one I experienced in Les's class this morning that cause you to wake up and smell the neighbor next to you. If you successfully maintain your composure while doing so in a sweaty yoga class then I salute you.