Imperfections

(earlier today I posted this newsletter, but realized soon after that I had referenced Schubert as an Australian composer; he is Austrianm  This has been corrected in the text below. My error was in keeping with imperfection.)

Perfect imperfection 
June Newsletter

Haruki Murakami, in his novel Kafka on the Shore, writes, "A certain type of perfection can only be realized through a limitless accumulation of the imperfect." In this book, Murakami's character is someone who likes listening to Schubert while driving, and says about this prolific Austrian composer that "all his performances are imperfect. A dense, artistic kind of imperfection stimulates your consciousness, keeps you alert. If I listen to some utterly perfect performance of an utterly perfect piece while I'm driving, I might want to close my eyes and die right then and there. But listening to the D major, I can feel the limits of what humans are capable of - that a certain type of perfection can only be realized through a limitless accumulation of the imperfect. And personally I find that encouraging.”

In the yoga world, we often see images of incredibly flexible or athletic people doing impossible postures; they look beautiful, even perfect. Yet anyone who has stepped on the mat knows that the process of moving and opening the body can sometimes feel more like a cacophony of errors than balanced harmony. The reality is that even though much of the world celebrates or finds inspiration in picture-perfect yoga, what we actually do on our mats or in daily life is simply figure out how to work best with our imperfect selves. In fact, in yoga or other practices such as qigong or mindfulness meditation, one of the hardest but most valuable ideas we can learn is how to shift away from a paradigm of good, bad, right or wrong (though arguably we are getting it wrong if we hurt ourselves), and toward a new standard of doing, observing, and perceiving.  Our efforts on our mat --  or in life -- are the manifestations of our perfectly imperfectly ways of being human.

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In other news, I've just redesigned and relaunched my website (www.mkdeemer.com).  The content of the site is still expanding, but I've added a few new links, including a community page that has a section on "inspiration" as well as a very empty blog page under "about" - my plan is to begin archiving some things I write, or post things that might count as blog-worthy.

I also have launched a new Facebook page. I created it recently, on June 2, so it's very new, and rather blank, but my intention is to pepper it with things that might be interesting (or could be dull, it all depends) as the days unfold. 

My vinyasa immersion is also coming up in July and August. There are still a few spaces remaining; please let me know if you are interested, or have any questions. You will immerse deeply into all things vinyasa!

And lastly, my teacher Donna Farhi is coming to London (triyoga) June 20 - July 1.Many of her workshops are full, but the 5-day immersion has spaces still, as does her two-day Yoga Nidra workshop. I'll be at the 5-day immersion as a student; hope to see some of you there. 

Wishing you a perfectly imperfect day,

Mimi