No Expectations. No Judgements.
Author: Natalie Basch
Welcome to your first Airo Yoga class! You’ve done some yoga, or perhaps you’re even a certified yoga teacher with years of experience. You’ve tried some aerial yoga, or maybe you’re even an aerial artist. Either way, you will have some expectations, and that is totally okay. But before we begin, I invite you to close your eyes, drop those expectations and preconceived judgement of what yoga or aerial should be, and be open to a new experience.
Airo is my creative spin on aerial yoga, combining elements from my journey into Vinyasa yoga, aerial, and Pilates, with the Airo Yoga swing. And if you allow the mind and the heart to be open, you open up the opportunity for ANYTHING to arise. Aren’t you curious to see what it may be? Yes, I thought so. Let us begin.
This is how my Airo Yoga classes start. Why? Because 90% of the time, students enter the class with set expectations. And you know what they say: expectations are the root of all evil. With expectations, we also begin to create limitations. We allow the beautiful force of life to stop flowing in its magical and natural way, and we just expect things to be a certain way. And then when they’re not, we end up disappointed and think: “well, this sucked.”
In our teaching methodology, we address this by talking about the three different mindsets. We start with the beginner’s mind: open, curious, excited, willing to learn and absorb new knowledge – like a sponge. As we begin to learn more and become more familiar with our field of study, we shift to the expert’s mind. Here we have created some experience; we’ve studied and gained a deeper understanding of what we are talking about. Or so we think.
While the expert mind may be a specialist or authority in his or her field, the expert mindset is a trap – and a big one at that. Once we “think” we know it all, we close ourselves off to anything new. We create a glass ceiling over us. And this is completely silly. Knowledge has no limit after all, and we can thus not ever know everything there is to know. This is when the mastermind comes into play.
Once we understand that knowledge is infinite, and we can never know everything there is to know, we’ve entered the master’s state of mind. And with this mindset, we are always open to new information, new experiences, more learning, and growth. And isn’t that what we essentially seek? Continued growth? Continued expansion and understanding? I think yes.
So, this is what I encourage my students to do at the beginning of the class. Drop the ego, drop the mind, drop the judgement, drop the expectations. BE OPEN! And who knows what magic may arise from this experience.
This week onwards, I will be offering regular Airo Yoga classes at SimRose in Agonda, South Goa. I’m super excited about a new collaboration and to be teaching in person again. Classes are from Tuesday – Sunday at 9:30 am. All are welcome. Beginners and experts, and make sure to be open and free of expectations.
Let’s get ready to PLAY!
Send me an email if you have any questions.
