I’m in the process of completing a 250 hour yoga teacher training at Asheville Community Yoga (ACY). What a wonderful experience with amazing people! I wasn’t sure if I’d teach when I decided to take the training. I’m still not sure how much I’ll teach. But something that Amber (our lead teacher) said during training has inspired me: since the COVID pandemic, many more people are showing up at ACY for meditation classes. More for Gentle Flow classes. Less for the power yoga. To me, it sounds like more people are coming for the inner spiritual practice aspect of yoga than before.
A quick Google search affirms what Amber shared. In the U.S., the percentage of adults who meditate more than doubled from (7.5\%) in 2002 to (17.3\%) in 2022. Worldwide, estimates suggest between 200 and 500 million people meditate. Back in the cold war, I worked with my parents in a movement called “Beyond War.” We tried to raise awareness of the immense destructive potential in the warheads already poised for use. The leaders of this movement taught that once a new idea reached 20% adoption, it became unstoppable! I don’t know that much about this science of idea adoption, but my understanding is that self reinforcing change is exponential. I’d say that the benefits of meditation tend to reinforce and encourage others to join!
Focusing on my spiritual practice has been wonderful and fruitful. I did a 4 week silent hermitage retreat in February. I practiced meditation every waking moment. Sitting, walking, tending the fire. I was in a yurt in Vermont, so it was cold outside! Tending the fire was pretty central, along with the breath. I took nothing to read. No journal. No technology. Not even a watch, at first. My hosts made my main meal each day. At the bell I went down to the main house to fetch the food, which I also ate alone. The fruits of practice were profound. Ecstasy came more steadily during the last week. Since then it’s been coming and going in waves of anywhere from an hour to several days. Stronger and steadier over time! I feel very blessed, though certainly not at the end of my spiritual journey.
The world continues to be in a precarious situation. I’m more motivated than ever to stay with my practice in every moment. I’m also feeling pulled back into the mode of teaching and leadership. Can I “go there” without it becoming an egoic distraction to my practice? Perhaps. I hope so!
One thing that I’ve just posted to my yoga teacher training cohort is the Sow and Grow Meditation website I created just before I retired. Unlike when that web page was created, I’ve got a year round home now, where I might start a small meditation group of my own to be one of the initial seeds! Maybe one or more of them will be inspired to do so! I don’t have a lot of traffic on this site at this writing. But at least I’ll get the URL “out there” and see what happens. A toe in the water of manifest social engagement, to balance with my inner spiritual process.