Learning to see again

I've just spent the weekend taking part in a yoga workshop, led by John Friend, the founder of Anusara yoga.

Now, I don't really tend to start blogging about yoga because (a) what I don't know about yoga would fill an ashram and b) because after 8 hours (yes 8!) of yoga over the weekend, my fingers are about the only part of me still working and maybe not for much longer.

But what I did want to post was something he said yesterday which really resonated with me and has been on my mind since then. He opened the workshop by talking about how we are all so serious about everything and what he asked of us over the 2 days was to see everything the way a child would, to drop the preconceived ideas and find the wonder in things. To laugh when we wobbled in a pose, to try something new instead of thinking 'I can't do that' - to let ourselves imagine what it would be like if we could.

As he was saying it, I thought of a piece of paper I have stuck on my writing noticeboard. It's a heading I photocopied from Dorothea Brand's book, I'm not sure what chapter it is, but it's the one called 'Learning to See Again.'In it she talks about how the key to good writing is to approach everything with the eyes of a child to see the freshness and the wonder in everything. To not take things too seriously. To be curious and drop the preconceived ideas we all have.

What struck me was the way they described it, John and Dorothea, using nearly the exact same words. Now she was around first so maybe he came across 'Becoming a Writer' and thought, 'hey I could use some of this stuff!' Or, maybe the qualities it takes for both aren't that dissimilar. And come to think of it, maybe looking at things through a child's eyes aren't just good ways to approach yoga or writing - maybe it's a way to approach life in general?

Right, enough philosophising for one night...there's a Radox filled bath with my name on it...