Right now, my yoga practice is Bikram Hot Yoga in a studio that is located in a hotel in Phuket. A few days ago, a new student joined the class. Her husband sat outside waiting for her. I could see him in the mirror. He was holding a tall frosted glass of a drink that could have been a strawberry daiquiri or a watermelon cooler.

As I was sweating in the hot room, I wanted the cold drink more than anything else at that moment. I wanted to excuse myself from my mat, walk out of class down to the bar and order one for myself. But of course, nobody ever does that in a yoga class. Absolutely nobody!

I remembered the words of my beloved Yogi, “…..the moment I accepted my path life became easy, joyful even.” You can read about his interview with my niece here. So:

  1. I concentrated on my standing head to knee pose ferociously.  Hell, if I am going to have to suffer, I may as well do some good! As I concentrated, I forgot about the drink an began to enjoy where I was;
  2. When it was time for water break, I really enjoyed my humble plain water, drinking it with gratitude (it wasn’t strawberry daiquiri or watermelon cooler, but it was something!);
  3. When I got home, I made myself my own special recipe watermelon cooler (with ice cubes, mint and lime) but guess what, the water during the class tasted better!

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So, as life is a corollary of things we learn on the yoga mat, these are the lessons:

  1. Focus, so you are not distracted by sweeties outside your path;
  2. Be grateful for what you have;
  3. What you think is soooo good/exciting is never as good as what that is with you throughout your life.

Faithfulness and gratitude!