The seeds of yoga

As a child I was full of energy, always working on something or playing outside in the sun. My mother tried her best to keep me busy in a safe manner. On rainy days, I used to sit by the sliding glass door and watch the rain, waiting for it clear so that I could resume my outdoor adventures. I vividly remember sitting by the glass door and for the first time I witnessed rain while the sun was shining, completely amazing to my young mind. On days like this, my mother had to find an indoor activity for me or the house would become a blanket fort/art project. So one rainy day, my mother gave me my first vinyl record, a very strange record…

‏Growing up in a home of music lovers, we had record players throughout the house, I even had one in my room. I was aware of how to play a record and the delicate art of setting the needle down in just the right spot. Alone one morning, I put the LP on the old hand me down record and started to listen for familiar music. No music came out, instead it was a mans voice directing me to do weird movements with my body. Both sides had a man speaking softly and directing me to take my body into weird shapes! All these shapes had nicknames; butterfly, cat & cows, inch worm, bear, snake rocking horse, rainbow etc…

‏Out of curiosity I decided to play along with the record, I went through each shape and then turned the record over and did it again. The first few times I remember feeling confused but it did seem like a game so I continued on. Over time I became completely obsessed with this record, I would even stay inside on the sunny days to practice along with it. When I was taken to the sitters house, the record would come with me. It kept me very busy and out of trouble, I imagine now that the adults were very happy about my fascination with this recording. One of my favorite shapes to take was rocking horse, I would reach back and grab my ankles and then kick into my hands, lifting me up as I stayed on my abdomen… Also known to me now as dhanurasana.

‏It wasn’t until much later that I realized the record was directing me through a yoga sequence for children. Now as an adult, with many years of practice, I see where seeds were planted, taking root, only to produce blossoms much later in my life. I never did find out what happened to the record, I must have been about ten when I moved on to other things, sports and toys. I like to think it was passed on in a yard sale to some other young, fortunate and hyper active boy.