Robert Joiner, my first alignment-based yoga teacher once said that simply keeping your shoulders back and your chest lifted can be an act of courage. I may be bastardizing his words, but the idea he conveyed never left me. The more I work on opening by chest and shoulders in yoga, the deeper I understand what he meant.
I knew I'd been caving my chest for years, ever since I went through puberty faster than most girls my age and my chest felt like the first thing to enter a room. What's worse, as a ballet dancer, it was horrifying to be more endowed than the older dancers in my company. I finally resorted to binding my boobs with surgical tape. Though I would get on stage and perform with my head held high and my chest lifted, when I stepped off the stage or out of the studio, my chest caved. I would think about everything I'd done wrong and find myself getting sad even if I had done well.
Robert talked about when the chest is caved it can actually cause depression. If you think about what happens when you round your shoulders and hunch over like we so often do at our computer, not only does the heart lose space, the lungs are compressed. When our lungs are compressed that means we aren't getting the oxygen we need to function. Granted, offstage I thought by caving my chest I was also protecting myself from torment and improper advances, but in the process, I was also closing myself off from the world. Our chest is the heart center, in yogic and many other philosophies the heart center is where the higher intelligence resides. It is the chamber of the emotional heart.
Robert will always hold a special place there for me. He is an impressive human being; and not just because he is a great yoga instructor, Master karate teacher with a 6th degree black belt, and probably a soon-to-be medical professional. I truly feel honored to know him. He taught me so much in such a short time. I don't know how to repay that. He made me stronger not only physically, but mentally and emotionally --that may sound hokey, but it's true. His uncanny intuitive ability to sense when I needed encouragement, motivation, or detailed understanding of a pose or concept is something I will never forget. He is the reason I chose to gain deeper knowledge in the Iyengar method of yoga. The more I train the more meaning his words seem to have.
I am sad that Robert is leaving Atlanta, but I know wherever he ends up in his new ventures, anyone who gets the opportunity to know him or take his classes will be touched by the magic that he brings to their life. It's taken me a long time to change my habit of slumping; and I slip back into my old ways more often than not. However, I notice the difference my lifted and open chest makes on my well being. I feel better. Not only that, other people who I encounter feel better around me. When I have the weight of Sysiphus on my shoulders, I remember Robert's words and I know this simple act of courage can change everything.
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