Eye of Newt

I have nearly reached the end of my tolerance for someone telling me his/her opinion about aspects of my life that they find disagreeable.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I have done a lot more yoga over the last year.  Disliking yoga until 2016, I was forced into it because of my lower back/spine, and the need to adjust to a primarily low impact lifestyle.  Now, I have come to love yoga and find myself benefiting from all aspects of it.  I have lost weight, I have toned and strengthened my body, and I have found peace and tranquility and a feeling of enlightened joy.

Round about the cauldron go,

In the poisoned entrails throw.

Toad, that under cold stone

Days and nights has thirty-one

Sweltered venom sleeping got,

Boil thou first i' th' charmed pot.

I also have experienced someone (who will remain nameless) who has continued to warn me of the dark magic and spiritual mumbo jumbo I can be subjected to by practicing yoga.  I have been told that it is dangerous, that I need to "guard my heart" and even that s/he was "praying for my soul."

This near-exorcism reached its peak when I recently attended a New Moon Social at my neighborhood yoga studio.  The way I described it (which is exactly what it was) was a workshop/yoga class where students are able to recognize the hardships and difficulties in the previous month, and then close that chapter and move onto the next month with a bright and fresh perspective.  It was about positive new outlooks.  I received two days of lecture.

Of all the "dark things" I value in my life, I would not consider yoga one of them.  But somehow, it is being considered a heathen art.  I have never used my voodoo doll but, I am starting to regret that decision almost as much as mentioning I practice yoga on a somewhat regular basis to this judgmental individual.

Fillet of a fenny snake,

In the cauldron boil and bake.

Eye of newt and toe of frog,

Wool of bat and tongue of dog,

Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting,

Lizard’s leg and owlet’s wing,

For a charm of powerful trouble,

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

First of all, this person has never taken yoga or researched it.  S/he discusses what s/he thinks happens in the practice and warns me to stay away.  But stay away form what?  Stay away from feeling strong, confident, listening to your heart, letting go of struggle and inner turmoil?  Hmmm, doesn't sound that dangerous to me.

Secondly, we all have a dark side.  The difference between him/her and myself is that I embrace it.  I don't fight it, push it down, hide it.  I love it just like the other parts of me.  And I have yet to meet someone in my life who has inspired me to change.  This person will not be able to either.

Thirdly, as a non-Christian person, I see pros and cons to its teaching.  A pro is its encouragement of embracing all people, even the poor and destitute, even those who are not the same as you.  To come from a place of love and inclusion.  What this individually is saying to me on a regular basis seems rather exclusive.  Trying to change who I am and what I value rather than accepting me for who I am—how "non-Jesus" of him/her.

Lastly, as most things I love, I usually don't try to push them on anyone.  I love yoga and love if people want to go together to a class, but I am not one to try to force them to do something they do not want to (boyfriend not included).  I love certain types of music, certain clothes, books, even food items, but I am not interested in changing others to do what I do.  This IS the nature of what this person is trying to do with me.  It won't work.  

So if the fact that I practice yoga, I believe in working on yourself, I believe in honoring and respecting yourself, I enjoy seeing pounds drop on the scale, and I enjoy challenging myself makes me a witch, than witch be I! 

Double, double toil and trouble,

Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

**Excerpts are from William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Act 4, Scene I (as the three witches enter)