Leadership.. thoughts on receiving an award where I have done only what the universe asked of me. The cliché “follow your bliss” sounds hollow, except that it is the only way to feel like I have lived fully, unapologetically; as if stumbling through to the next opportunity/challenge. Made popular by Frank Sinatra, the lyrics to “I did it my way”, whether in French, by Elvis, or Franky, this song accompanied me when I divorced my first husband to follow a future in yoga. It was 1982.
Currently, I see many colleagues, younger than I, walk a similar path. They are facing a changing panorama of the yoga scene. They walk their talk, they have no choice, it is just what they must do, follow their bliss, their inner teacher, their Dharma. It is harder now.
At one point, an embodied spirituality was the invitation. Whether through the main currents of Iyengar yoga or Ashtanga of Pattabi Jois, the millennium era was peppered with American Veda (Philip Goldberg,2010), Madonna, supermodel Christy Turlington on the cover of Newsweek (2001), and Yoga Works. We all cherished the practice, the Sangha, the vision of health, harmony and happiness through yoga asana, meditation, chanting, and community. We sourced the studies to the classics, the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, the Yoga Sutras. We went on long silent retreats. It is harder now.
In 2011 I sat in on an interview between Guruji Shree B.K.S. Iyengar and Philip Goldberg. Phil was on a book tour in India. Phil, 25 years Iyengar’s junior, asked Guruji what he though would happen to Iyengar yoga after he died. Guruji was very candid. He said that his system, if one could call it that, would be assimilated into a more general approach to yoga. Iyengar had no qualms, it was just how things would be. As his faithful student, I was rather stunned. Now I see the generosity in his words. Things change, they evolve.
This was leadership. Study, practice, listen, share, be honest, be humble, and repeat. I have always found the serenity prayer to be helpful.
Divine inner light, grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference.
As I enter the twilight of my leadership, I am eager to pass the torch. Always a bridge builder, whether YOGA with its pristine grace or something new, I invite you to dive into the next era of giving, of prayer, of chant, of passing the sacred pipe, of circling the planet with AUM.