Hard Lesson in Yoga Training

[Metaphysical Story Teller]

I lived at a yoga ashram in Sourthern California from 1996 to 2000.

A few month after arriving (and recovering from the dissappointment that everybody there weren't saints) I went through a rough lesson in what yoga is really about.

I wasn't much out of high school at the time. Though I had carried a lot of responsibilities on my shoulders up to that point, my perception on "living in this world" was about to change.

I worked in one of the greenhouses we had there, where we grew flowers for sale. Each weekend one of us from the greenhous would be assigned to mann the fort while nobody was there.

This generally meant doing essential watering, and opening and closing the sides and activating/deactivitng the fans/moisturizers as the outside temperature required.

If you left the flaps down, fans and humidifiers off for even an hour when the sun was blazing, it could mean thousands of dollars of plants would be lost.

Well...

It was Easter weekend. The whole day had been complete cloud cover. No sign of the sun coming at all. Very cold for April, too.

After lunch they had a video they were showing. A talk by a swami I was very keen on hearing.

The place where we watched the video had all the windows covered up with boards so we could see the video.

The video lasted 90 minutes.

It was very inspiring. I remember it to this day. Changes my views on meditation.

I sat, after the video, and meditated for... oh, say 30 minutes.

Then I walked outside.

And thought, What a nice sunny day.

Then I gulped.

Ran to the greenhouse.

And found everything open, the fans on, the humidifiers going.

One of the monks happened to be there and saw everything roasting.

He saved thousands of dollars in plants from my stupidity.

If left to me, it would have been a disaster.

That was a turning point. I really started to understand why "Awareness is the pillar of yoga." And realized that how we act and conduct our lives reflects how focused our mind is when we sit to meditate.

[Bentinho Massaro]

Oh nice story. Thanks for sharing.

[InnerAthlete]

Just so that it is not misconstrued from the story...

It is not stupid to be unmindful, it is only unmindful. It is unmindfullnesss when met with willlingness, self-inquiry and teaching that leads to mindfullness.

[Metaphysical Story Teller]

Originally Posted by InnerAthlete

It is not stupid to be unmindful, it is only unmindful. It is unmindfullnesss when met with willlingness, self-inquiry and teaching that leads to mindfullness.

Makes sense. We all know the typical depiction of the professor with an IQ of 400 who is completely absentminded and unaware of his surroundings.

Apparently Newton made many discoveries that he wrote down and forgot about. But that may have had more to do with his constant exposure to mercury.