A lot of the week's teachings were on the Australian Bullet Ant- a fiercely courageous hardworking ant! Peter wants us to be Bullet Ant Yogis!
1) Have a braveheart and be courageous; you won't know until you have been.
We did a lot a lot of jumping - jumping throughs, jumping up and down.... And a lot of times, our efforts are half assed.... Half the body is jumping and the other half (controlled by the all powerful doubtful mind) is holding us back. "commit to the jump!" And this little lesson has long legs taken off the mat......
2) Be hard-working. Work with tenacity and perseverance.
Peter keeps telling to stop thinking so hard and just DO DO DO!!! You cannot know what your practise has not taught you.
He did warn us to practice Mindfully but Thoughtlessly though.
(words, words, words..... how confusing!!)
The act of being Mindful is doing with the quality of knowing, building intelligence.
Doing with Thought however is doing with the selfish objective of an end result... and if we practice like this, we are stealing from the asana and not letting the asana teach us through understanding of the process. Do like a child; practice with no expectations and let the result be a surprise!
3) Be ferocious; steadfast and unflinching. Stand firm in the practise and not be intimidated by imagined sufferings. But have the dexterity to be kind and generous when necessary.
4) Be loyal and faithful to the practise and trust that it knows the path. Be loyal to your "highest principal" and do not just work to your convenience. When working with props, don't just do what is habitual, or what is easy...... work to the highest truth and understand exactly what the asana is meant to do, what your body needs, and apply the correct props accordingly.....
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Let the practise be a creative work of art. Like playing a piece of music or painting; let there be no thought involved, just let it happen.....
