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Yoga, lockdown, and connection

How a simple online yoga session with a friend brought me to a whole new understanding of "connection" during the pandemic

By Liryk AlPublished 3 years ago 5 min read
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Yoga, lockdown, and connection
Photo by Samuel Austin on Unsplash

"He'll be here any moment now. Not as if it's a scheduled class", I think to myself. Sure enough, within 60 seconds of that thought, the flashing signal for a guest wanting to enter the room appears, on the lower-left area of the screen.  My dear friend, Dale, is linking into the Zoom room that I set up for our impromptu yoga session.  I accept the request and let him into the room.  He is in his naked glory, which I appreciate, this being a clothing-optional zone and him a naturist at heart. I admire anyone who can be in the comfort of just...being, in any environment. I, myself, am clothed for the respect of the environment in which I am in, my friend and roommate in the next room, me in the living room/common area of the apartment.  Nonetheless, Dale and I are both comfortable, in our respective spaces, him being in Austin, Texas and me being in Brooklyn, New York, with the time difference being only an hour. 

We had FaceTimed earlier to catch up with one another since the last time we spoke.  We chatted for about 40 minutes. Dale stated that he was looking for asana practice and he mentioned it a few times enough where I realized I had free time later that evening and that I could actually use a practice myself.  I was headed back to my home in about half an hour, after having had a session with the client. I offered to do a session with him when we spoke, which was about 5:00 pm.  We slated for a 7:30 pm/7:45 pm time slot, and sure enough, I got into Brooklyn around 6:45 pm; by 7:45 pm we were Zoom'n in LOL. 

I begin with a basic intro of "why we were here..." and "the purpose and yada yada...". BUT...

...within an instant, I realized what we really needed more than any kind of asana (posture), at that moment, was a connection, with each other. Just connection...  through basic conversation and improvised freedom of movement, with no set standard in which to direct us, for this last-minute session that we agreed to hours before.  He had the remnants of someone just waking up, from a midday nap, I myself, physically traveling down from Riverdale/The Bronx, New York into Brooklyn, via subway, after already having had a socially distant personal training session with a client earlier that day, was certainly feeling the days' end.  Yet this to me, was just as important as any client correspondence, class, or appointment.  And I'd say it turned out most productive. 

Neither one of us decided on a format or who was going to lead. After all, we agreed to this session just a mere few hours earlier.  Other than the fact that we are both certified yoga teachers/instructors, we did not discuss, in any way, to follow a structured format or do what we normally do. Almost from the start, I'd say within the first five minutes of us connecting, I wanted to come out of "teacher mode" as I stated to him.  Quite naturally, I started in that way, him just innately following along with my instruction, as he has attended my previous classes online months prior, and in-person years ago, so it was unanimously decided I'd be the leader of the session.  However...

...we ended up having really deep, thought-provoking conversation and learned a bit about each other in a very informal yet informative way, all the while moving throughout our space and staying aware of what and how we were moving, via Zoom.  We were connecting and unifying ourselves as friends, brothers, comrades even.  I could appreciate that form of energy, that original bond that ultimately united us, even if only over the wifi networks we were using.  We had a visual of each other and audio that translated our voices to then hear each other A.K.A. the microphone.  To me, this all was still a form of yoga because we were still finding a way in which to unify our connection.  Yoga simplifies to mean "union" or " union of...".  That in and of itself is enough to interpret what we were doing that evening as practicing yoga.  We did not stick to any specific or structured form in which we would normally practice, such as Sun Salutations, or the primary series, we just let our conversation travel, and our natural beings carry the next 45 minutes away.  I learned more from him in those 45 minutes than perhaps I may have known about him over the course of two years.

With that in mind, I was thoroughly grateful to have had, even for a brief moment, an accountability partner, in which to practice my own commitment and connection to myself as well as others.  I went into the session beforehand with a feeling of responsibility, as a teacher.  I came out feeling much more like a student, in learning from another through conversation and movement exploration.  He exposed his background as an Irish catholic, me as an African, Indigenous, Euro American mutt which translates on both ends into All American LOL.  Both of us are inexplicable "All American" men living in a time and place that we are most grateful for, where we have the freedoms and liberties to do what we want to do, within reason, and have the choices that we have at our leisure.  Even the choice to be thousands of miles away in different timezones, yet find a way to connect in real-time, is a privilege to me.  A privilege that most do not have around the world, I can imagine.  I appreciate these modes of communication in a time like now.  The COVID-19 virus, which caused a worldwide lockdown, has robbed us of being able to physically and most intimately be connected in the ways that we normally do. YET, on a bigger level, if we use what we have been able to create, such as online connections via social media platforms, blogs, and Livestream/video conferencing, we can opt for the former while still finding those interactions that make us human, keeping us learning, growing and innovative.  Sharing space now means more than physical encounters within live, "in-person" space, but now includes the online communities of "space". 

What this and other experiences have taught me is that connection can happen in many ways and that sometimes going a "little off the script" can actually be more beneficial between contemporaries, especially when all we really need at times is a hug. We have to consider the conditions of todays' world in the lack of being able to connect physically because of the circumstances. Let's find a way to "hug" each other over the connections that we DO have and can utilize.  "A simple hug travels a long way...".  Said no one, but me :-)     

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About the Creator

Liryk Al

Multidisciplinary artist in New York

Finding ways to thread my experiences into relatable and informative material

A bit of a "walking contradiction" so, that's my condition

Live life to love and then... just let live what already is

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