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Discovering
While driving acros Cannda last year where I visited – Vancouver, Victoria,Banff, Jasper Calgary. Edmonton, Hamilton , Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, London, Halifax. and St Johns – I came across this book. Basically a true story about a talented gymnast who is leading the good life at college yet has begun to have unsettling dreams and a sense of impending unease.
In the begining I just finished 50 pages, but as travled to Bali, Thailand, Costa Rica or Hawaii, London, Greece, New Zealand, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth , I was actually able to finish it.
So as the story continues…one night he can’t sleep so he gets on his motorcycle and stops when he finds an old gas station that is still open late at night. There he meets an unusual man, who is destined to become his personal teacher and coach (aka guru). He nicknames this man, Socrates.
Socrates demonstrates strength and wisdom beyond what Dan has seen or known before and he is so captivated by what Socrates can do, that he wants to learn his ‘secrets’.
In brief, Socrates is about; service to others, teaching, love, hard work, destiny, mindfulness, meditation, letting go, focus, awareness, practice, silence, breath, body care, massage, eating healthy, waking up, living in the moment, having the mindset of a child, monitoring one’s internal organs, process, purpose, wisdom, surrender, getting over one’s fear of death, using anger as an alchemy to remove fear and sorrow, acceptance, virtue, will, self responsibility, consciousness, and unreasonable happiness.
Lessons
Slowly Dan is able to understand step by step what, why and how Socrates is pushing him into learning many wise lessons about life, even as he struggles with his learning!
But during this budding relationship where Socrates constantly challenges and guides Dan, Dan in an angry frustrated moment is involved in a very serious bike accident and loses the use of one his legs.
Now Dan isn’t allowed back onto the competitive gymnastic college team and he is devastated. But after some time of emotional and mental adjustment he still goes back to seeing Socrates for his ‘lessons’ at the gas station.
But there he is surprised to hear that Socrates expects him to go back to his training for the college championship competition coming up!
Dan doesn’t understand, as he believes with this big pin in his stiff damaged leg this is an impossible dream. But because Dan has learned to trust Socrates’ teachings Dan begins training his body back into shape even though he sees no future as a gymnast.
Yet, eventually Dan learns with Socrates help that he is now even better at his craft than before his accident! And Dan ultimately is able to compete in competitions with mindfulness, confidence, strength and grace that even his teammates want to know what Socrates taught him!
But Socrates has moved on as his guru and slowly in real life Dan goes on to become a writer and motivational speaker, based on what he learned during this period of his life.
Similarities
I didn’t realize the similarities between what I learned from The Way… were also qualities found so lushly in the study of yoga that I have been discovering during my Yoga Teacher Training Class.
These are three of my most memorable lines from The Way….
What time is it? Now.
Where are you? Here.
There are no ordinary moments.
The following is what I have discovered in The Way… that is a match to what I have discovered in my deepening study of the subject of yoga. I have put the comparisons in several catagories; What, How, Qualities and Tenets.
What:
Yoga changes lives.
The Way… changes lives
The Way… is about living a purposeful life
Yoga is about finding one’s dharma (destiny/purpose)
Yoga is challenging
The Way… is challenging
How:
Yoga has teachers/gurus
The Way… has teachers
The Way… is about enlightenment
Yoga is about enlightenment
Deep study of yoga ultimately demands one’s full attention
The Way… also demand’s one’s full attention
Yoga is about mindful eating
The Way… is about mindful eating
The Way… believes that a poor diet can give a certain amount of energy but it can also make one groggy, affect one’s mood and lower one’s awareness
Yoga believes in a healthy diet
Yoga practice encourages daily meditation
The Way… encourages daily meditation
The Way… says to listen to your own body intuition
Yoga says to listen to your own body intuition
Yoga understands and believes in body wisdom
The Way… understands and believes in body wisdom
The Way… is about letting go of arising thoughts
Yoga is about letting go of past and future thoughts
The Way… is about focusing on one’s movement
Yoga is about focusing on one’s movement
The Way… says to look at one step at a time
Yoga moves ahead one step at a time
In yoga focus is important
In The Way… focus is important
Yoga believes in self restraint
The Way… believes in self restraint
Yoga is about mastery of the mind
The Way… is about mastery of the mind
The Way… believes in spiritual inquiry
Yoga believes in spiritual inquiry
The Way… believes in giving up attachment
Yoga believes in giving up attachment
The Way… believes in life unfolding
Yoga believes in life unfolding
Yoga requires commitment, time and practice
The Way… requires commitment, time and practice
The Way… believes in treating your body well and pay extra attention to injuries
Yoga believes in treating our bodies well and in paying extra attention to injuries
Qualities:
Yoga is currently a mixture of Eastern and Western ideals
The Way… is about a mixture of Easter and Western ideals
The Way… believes in integrity
Yoga believes in integrity
The Way… is about strong health and body
Yoga is about strong health and body
Yoga is about how one thinks
The Way… is about how one thinks
The Way… is about service
Yoga is about service
The Way… is about being infinite awareness
Yoga is about being infinite awareness
The Way… is about peace and remaining calm
Yoga is about peace and remaining calm
Yoga is about mindfulness
The Way… is about mindfulness
The Way… believes that a conscious lifestyle increases one’s energy and positive energy field
Yoga believes that a conscious lifestyle increases one’s energy and positive energy field
Tenets:
The Way… believes we are responsible for our state of health, happiness and circumstances
Yoga believes in karma
Yoga is often about a simpler life style
The Way… is about a simpler life style
The Way… has a philosophy to follow
Yoga has a philosophy to follow
The Way… is about being part of all creation
Yoga is about being part of all creation
Yoga is about mental discipline
The Way… is about mental discipline
Yoga is about knowing oneself
The Way… is about knowing oneself
Yoga is about the metaphor of the battle between good and evil which represents the inner conflict in the human mind.
The Way… is about the metaphor of the battle between good and evil, which represents the inner conflict of the human mind.
Yoga has qualities to aspire to
The Way… has qualities to aspire to
The Way… believes in right action
Yoga believes in right action
Yoga is about waking up
The Way… is about waking up
Yoga is about being happy
The Way… is about being unreasonable happy
The Way… believes that breath is a bridge between the mind and body, feeling and doing.
Yoga believes that breath is a powerful tool to both relax and stimulate the body and mind