Hip Openers 3

During the time of my malingering hip injury I was traveling quite a bit, including to India, the Philippines, South Africa and other interesting places. I kept up my yoga practice to some extent on these trips, but when I got home there was always a recovery period. One day when my hip was giving me trouble, Kimberly said to me, “You know, you should really stop travelling and do sesame oil enemas if you want your hip to get better.” Welcome to ayurveda! I wasn’t having any of that, and I wasn’t ready to listen to what my body was telling me about the travel. It was exciting and the work felt important. But it was good advice.
My friend Chip Walker, a poet who practices and teaches at Yoga East, speaks to this experience:

Teachers guide

          patiently

Reach inside

          gently

Pull things out

          slowly

Expose the scars

          lovingly

Students get scared

Thinking that it hurts

That it's death

Knowing that it is

Teachers smile

         and stand back

         allowing room      for such a birth

Chip Walker, "Lineage" in Half a Mala: Threading Towards Wholeness (2011).