OM

Happy Thursday to you all. Thursday is one of the two days I have yoga at the Y which always makes me happy. Today's class was very peaceful unlike Monday's class this week. I should tell you that practicing yoga at the YMCA is probably not the ideal place because YMCAs can be rather loud in general with all the music from other classes going on, the hitting of the punching bag that is hanging right outside the door to the room we use, and just the noise level from having so many people congregated in one place. All of us in my yoga classes struggle with keeping our minds focused inward as we move through the poses in a mood of peace and serenity when there seems to be constant interference from the world right outside our room. Actually, sometimes the interference can be inside the room as well, like when it's a rainy day out and the roof of the YMCA leaks and we listen to the drip, drip, drip of water falling into the big plastic garbage can in the front of the room or like Monday. Sarah, our instructor, started off with having us chant "OM" together as we began our practice. She has started to become increasingly frustrated trying to lead us to peace and serenity through yoga when there are so many distractions. She told us how you can use "OM" anytime you want to block out unwanted noise or distractions. When you get stressed, chant "OM"; when you want to block out what someone is saying to you, chant "OM"; when the punching bag begins to break your focus on your pose, chant "OM". Basically, when anything bothers you, chant "OM". We practiced this for a couple of minutes as the trainer working right outside our room began grunting out instructions to his group and we could hear the first of them begin punching that stupid bag. At every one of his grunts, Sarah would say "OM". We were about 10 minutes into class and working hard to drown out the outside noises with our "OM"s when things just got ridiculous. I guess the front desk downstairs forgot that our yoga class, struggling to stay peaceful and serene, was going on that morning when their first announcement came blaring through the loud speakers; "HEY, EVERYONE, IT'S RICK AND PATRICIA'S BIRTHDAYS DOWN HERE AT THE FRONT DESK, PLEASE STOP BY AND WISH THEM A HAPPY BIRTHDAY". Sarah lets out an elongated "OMMMM" and we continued on. Two minutes later, still oblivious to our class, the loud speakers came on again; "HEY, IT"S MARY'S BIRTHDAY TOO, SHE WORKS IN MAINTENANCE, SO PLEASE WISH RICK, PATRICIA AND MARY A HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODAY". Sarah's "OMMMMMMMMM" starts to get a little louder to keep us focused and I start wondering how many people located in our little YMCA could actually have the same birthday; so much for my focus. Five minutes later "COULD SO & SO PLEASE COME BACK TO CHILD WATCH, COULD SO & SO PLEASE COME BACK TO CHILD WATCH". "OMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM". There were probably four or five more of these "important announcements" that went on that morning during our hour long class. It was so ridiculous that Sarah was blurting out "OMMMMM" every couple of minutes to which we were now all snickering; there went everyone's focus. So much for OM blocking out everything, even OM has its limits. Some days are just like that though, no matter your best intentions things can just be out of your control. Thank goodness most days it isn't that bad and Monday's class actually made today's seem rather peaceful and serene because all we had to contend with were the normal noises, no announcements. So, today if something starts to bother you try giving it an OM. If it keeps bothering you, try again but if that doesn't work just laugh it off and have a great day anyway. Till tomorrow...