these days, i’ve been feeling a bit like forest gump.  the past couple of weeks of adventures have been surreal.  when mtv decided to come to the wildflower video shoot, i thought, wow…this is bizarre.  when i got to sing the anthem for a pro game, i thought, hmmmm…i feel pretty lucky.  and then last night…

last night, lakshmi and i danced at royce hall (ROYCE HALL!!!) and met a very special man. everyone in that packed house came to honor a very special man.  his name is b.k.s. iyengar.  also known as guruji to those who are his yoga disciples. 

he is in his 80s and has complete freedom in his body.  i saw the power of yoga when i was lucky enough to meet him.  when he came back stage.  lakshmi and i fell to his feet and were touched when he offered his blessings to us. 

we waited for the invocation prayer to complete and then the spotlight lit us from above as we began our piece on ganesha (ganapathi), the remover of all obstacles.  we had so much fun as we have been dancing together for 10 years and at this point can sense each other even when we are not in each other’s sight line.  it’s a pretty amazing experience to have that much synchronicity with someone.

in the middle of annette benning’s interview of guruji, the fire alarm went off and everybody had to file out of royce.  when we were in the loading dock area, guruji came to lakshmi and myself and said in tamil, "you did very well, but can i give you one piece of constructive criticism."  i replied in tamil, "of course sir.  please tell us."  then he looked at me and said, "you have good rhythm in your feet and hands.  it’s all good.  the expression in the face; it’s good too.  but the expression in your knees, this you have to work on."

in bharatanatyam, the default dance position is in plie and me being so tall, i’ve always struggled to look as though i’m in a deep enough plie.  and when he said that, i got a huge smile on my face as even now i struggle with this element and he picked up on it.    technical discussion aside, i was completely moved to get this gentle feedback from a man who talked to me with so much love and light in his heart.  it was absolutely touching. 

my yoga teacher, Shiva Rea, has said, "the yogini is a woman whose body has become her temple, her source of discovery and renewal, the place of remembering her life force."  so much of my life has centered on my knowing my body and the lessons i’ve learned have been invaluable. 

guruji said on wednesday night that pain is a great teacher.  both in body and in spirit.  i have definitely felt that.  it’s in the toughest moments you take the time to reflect, to unravel your misguided belief systems.  it was a lovely reminder to not be afraid of the pain or to wish it away as it comes bearing tremendous gifts if we can trust enough to sit with it.

and since i’m on the topic of who said what recently, a friend of mine just sent me this quote from george carlin, "they keep talking about drafting a constitution for iraq. why don’t we just give them ours? it was written by a lot of real smart guys, it’s worked for over 200 years, and we’re not using it anymore."

i like that one.

we shot the video for here and now last weekend and it’s going to be fantastic.  directed by tony tharae, the video will have all kinds of cgi (computer-generated imagery) in it and i’m excited to see the final product.  by the way, wildflower world is premiering this sunday.  more soon.

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