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Yoga Teachers, Speeding Tickets And Irony

You know what the definition of irony is? A yoga teacher getting a speeding ticket on her way to teach a yoga class. I mean… Right?

I spent few minutes, ruminating about how I wouldn’t have ended up with a ticket, if I took a different route to work that morning… but then of course, it occurred to me, that I also wouldn’t have ended up with a ticket if I was… you know? driving the speed limit. And complaining about a ticket when you were speeding is kind of like complaining about the weather… not very intelligent.

At the beginning of the yoga class, I asked my students if they ever found themselves teaching a lesson that they most needed to learn themselves… It’s like an overworked mom hollering at her kids to “stop running around”. Indeed.

And so lesson? Slow down.

At some point, faster turned into a synonym of “better”. However, there are just too many exceptions to the rule. Instant coffee. Microwaves. Speed dating. Fast food. Certain gyms offer “speed yoga”, for professionals living a fast-paced life, who wanted to salute the sun before work. Quickly.

I was reminded of the interview on the radio few weeks ago with Carl Honore, one of the proponents of slow movement, a shift towards slowing down life’s pace. Honore talks about having an a-ha moment a number of years ago. At that point, his life was as fast-paced as ever. Even reading a bedtime story to his son turned into a race of its own, as he was speed-reading Snow White and cutting down the number of dwarfs. The moment of truth came as he was reading (skimming!) an article in the newspaper about time-saving tips, and one of the suggestions referred to a book of “One-Minute Bedtime Stories”. All the children’s classics condensed into 60 seconds or less. “What a great idea!”, was the first thought that occurred to him. Followed by “Wait a minute… “. [pun! get it?]

And so, he set out to slow down. Enjoy life. Re-discover the beauty of “hanging out”.

On that note, my weekend was… slow. Filled with snow, and solid nutrition of baked goods and ribs in Niagara-on-the-Lake…

Awesome.

Children’s book at a local gift store – highly recommended by Sigmund Freud…

And, of course, for the other flavour of dysfunctional family dynamics…

Wishing you some slow moments this week.

Signing off, Solo.

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