“I did my first yoga class at Ahimsa at least ten years ago (it was Octopus Garden then) and JP might have been my first teacher.”
I did my first yoga class at Ahimsa at least ten years ago (it was Octopus Garden then) and JP might have been my first teacher. After a week or two of struggling just to keep up, I attended a weekday afternoon class. I had come to yoga tired and stressed from a work day and I was looking for physical movement to relax and get me back in touch with my corporal self. The class was packed; we laid our mats out with just centimetres between us. And while the situation might have been unpleasant, JP directed us to focus inward and to honour the space of our mat. I took a breath and started to follow his instructions. Everyone else melted away and, at the same time, the whole class became one. It was an incredible feeling.
During the pandemic I came to rely on a handful of Ahimsa teachers even more than before. And even though our mats were very far apart, the lessons were the same: honour the space of your mat. I will never forget that. Thank-you, JP.
Alex Anderson