If in your head you undertake hatha yoga as a form of exercise or body building, you will end up with just what you reached for ... a more beautiful body. On the other hand, if you undertake hatha yoga as a form of yoga then it will, in a relatively short time, bring about a profound metamorphosis in your body calmness, sensitivity, and lightness ... all of which will facilitate your sadhana.
- Ram Dass
So this was the seventh - and penultimate - meeting of this "Opening up" group. I wrote about the sixth session last week. Sadly, because of family crises, a couple of people hadn't been able to get to this evening's meeting. In fact, of the five of us at this session, one arrived late. Rather than simply get going and possibly want to update the late arrival once they were with us, or wait for them rather than getting started, I used a method that often seems helpful when somebody is a little late. So instead of starting with a verbal check-in, I suggested we all take ten minutes to write about how we were feeling now at the start of this evening, at the penultimate meeting of this group. As usual I explained that I wanted them to write very freely and deeply about their emotions and thoughts, but that they would t