Day 272 – Today’s reading on pranayama is technical; it is on the regulation of the breath with precision according to duration and place.  Always the teacher in me, I think of the orchestration of a classroom of learning and discovery.  In middle school, our year–like most years–begins frantically, at a fevered pitch.  We pant our ways from period to period somewhat haphazardly, with no attention to the depth, detail, or retention of any sort of learning.

As we establish the norms and routines, we begin to appreciate the place that learning can reside–the quiet, the metered groupings, the sometimes-more-than-occasional surprises in what seems like chaos and ridiculousness.  So, too, in yoga, as I begin my practice, I appreciate the place that breath resides, and I see that it is easily accessible, but not does not always feel easily maintained.  Nor should it necessarily be so.  Practice, in any form, is imperfectly placed.  It is only in our presence and mindfulness that the magic happens.