Monday, July 6, 2009

Life Back Guarantee

If you weren't one who thought of death from time to time, then you definitely have in these last two weeks. It’s been a strange time for the Entertainment World to lose iconic and influential people so close together. Its weird, creepy, and even fun to get to know celebrities from the roles they play. We, the public, feel as if we know them, whether it’s from their characters on TV or from the interviews and press we constantly see them in, they start to become very familiar to us. We don't always identify or feel a special bond to all celebrities, but from time to time there does seem to be a few who catch our attention. That being said, with the tragic deaths of Farrah, Ed, MJ, and Billy Mays, most of us felt a tug in our heart at some point in the past couple of weeks. For me, it was good ole' Billy Mays. I know, what can I say? I don't know if it was his boisterous voice and persistent demeanor I identified with or maybe that his show, "Pitchmen" was filmed in my home state, Florida. Whatever the reason, death was a subject not far from my mind.

As far as I can remember, my mother and I talked of reincarnation. Therefore, when I started practicing yoga and learning its philosophy and beliefs, which is closely tied with Hinduism, a spiritual practice that believes in rebirth, it wasn't something far fetched for me. According to the Hindu religious and philosophical concepts, man is composed of two fundamental principles opposed to each other per nature: one spiritual, the soul (atman), and the other material, the body (sarira). The soul is eternal, immutable, not born, not created, indestructible; instead, the body is temporal, created, mutable, destructible. The union between soul and body is not essential, but is accidental. An easy way to imagine Reincarnation: the soul is immortal and keeps reentering a fleshy body time and time again in order to resolve experiences and thereby learn all the lessons the material world has to offer.

I'm not writing about Reincarnation to project my beliefs on everyone; you know all 15 of you following my blog! But I truly believe that in each lifetime we are here to learn certain lessons and when those lessons are learned, we then move on to the next life.

The more I learn about yoga, the more I realize what an important part of this life it is for me, teaching was just a natural progression from my physical practice. I fell in love with yoga the first class I took over three years ago. I don't have a gymnast or dancer background, I grew up playing softball. But the more I learn about the history, the foundation of which yoga is based on, the more I realize what I'm doing here. I'm not trying to get all woo woo on you, but there is something about being in the room, holding a pose, breathing slowly in and out with your eyes closed and just feeling content. Its not about how strong your arms are getting or the burning in your legs, its about the space you create not only physically, but mentally. Your mind becomes clear and for a couple moments a day you feel content. And for me, that's really what life is all about, finding that contentment, even if it only stays for a few minutes each day. I realized that every time the subject of dying enters my mind, the one thing I hope is that I'm content. I am content with the life I have lived, the decisions and the sacrifices I have made.

I was watching the "Pitchmen" tribute last night to Billy Mays. They showed the time line of his career starting 20 years ago at home shows, always busting his ass making infomercial after infomercial. Only recently did his hardwork start to pay off with respect by his peers, credibility in his field, and a guest spot on, "The Tonight Show." They showed recent clips of him finally enjoying the family he never had time for before, the life he had worked so hard to obtain. So, I asked myself, why now? Why after busting his ass for his whole life, does he leave right when he has become content on who he is professionally, financially, and personally? And I can't believe I am writing this all about the man who is best known for promoting Oxyclean, but I finally realized, that was one content man.

2 comments:

  1. You have such a way with words and identify with so much of what you share, Laur! Since reading your blog, you have brought an awareness about yoga to me and I thank you for that. I have learned about Hinduism through Anil and his father, who was born in India and shares his culture. I have learned about reincarnation through Kabbalah classes I take from time to time with my parents at the Chabbad. The Book of Ecclesiastes reads (and The Byrds sang it well) "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
    A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace."

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  2. You left out Karl Malden

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