Practicing Yin Yoga & Faster Horses.
Tom T. Hall, YTT, and me
"I said I was a writer. My soul was all on fire. He looked at me, and said you are a liar"- Tom T. Hall
If you're a parent, then you know that children's music mostly sucks. It can be corny, overly simple, and down right annoying (I'm looking at you, Baby Shark). In my house, we listen to grown-up music that's appropriate for little ears, and we rely on a lot of classic country for that. While I have always been a fan of Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton, my husband introduced me to Tom T. Hall when he started playing Hall's music for our kids. Now, you'll hear Hall's music wafting through our house on a daily basis.
It's hard to believe that I went through much of my life without knowing Hall's music. He was a prolific songwriter and storyteller, and he wrote some really well-known hits for other singers. For instance, did you know that he wrote the song Harper Valley PTA? I didn't until recently.
On the song "Faster Horses," Hall tells the story of meeting an older man that seemed to know the mysteries of life. This older man councils Hall that the secret to life is, "faster horses/younger women/older whiskey/and more money." At first Hall is dismissive of this advice, saying "I said I was a writer. My soul was all on fire." He wants the truth to be deeper. He wants to jump into the truth like a burning fire, but the old philosopher continually tells him, "son, it's faster horses, younger women, older whiskey, and more money." The old philosopher seems to be saying, "you keep asking me for the truth, and I keep telling you. You may not like it, and it may not be pretty, but this is what it is."
I love this song for many reasons. It's a really upbeat jam with some big band instruments backing Hall, which makes it a great song to sing along with while driving. And I love Hall's continual search for truth and meaning, and his insistence that his "soul is all on fire." As a writer and someone about to begin yoga teacher training (YTT) in a week, I identify with this feeling of intensity and wanting to jump into the truth with wild abandon like my seven year old jumping from the high dive again and again.
When I think about YTT starting in a week one of the things, I'm most nervous about is Yin yoga. Yin yoga is a slow, stretchy form of yoga. It involves holding poses for a little longer than other forms of yoga. Yin yoga is the opposite of intense. I know intense. I'm comfortable with intense. What's harder for me is moving slower, allowing things to unfold at their own pace like a peonies bud slowly unfurling in the garden. This morning I did a Yin practice, and I felt like Hall in Faster Horses. We're both ready for the intensity to speed up and heat up, only to be met by teachers who say, "hey, the truth is simple. You don't have to work so hard."
Ahead of the training beginning next week, we have been assigned the book Yoga of Breath by Rod Rosen. When I first began reading it, I thought there would be some instructions for intense pranayama. I have done breath of fire before and practice alternate nostril breathing almost daily, so I was ready to dive deeper. Instead, Rosen spends a lot of time covering corpse pose and Yin postures. Again, I find myself thinking, "surely, this can't be all of it? I want intense. I want flow. I want to meditate with a mantra, but you're telling me to lie down with a pillow."
In some ways, yoga is a paradox. Practicioners are encouraged to meet their healthy edge, but also let things happen naturally. Yogis are asked to balance making things happen and letting things happen. The same is true of the truth. It's a paradox: simple and complicated at the same time. Hall and I both seem to have the making things happen part down. It's the letting things happen that is much harder.
Eventually, the narrator in Faster Horses does admit that the meaning of life is as simple as "faster horses, younger women, older whiskey, and more money." His poet days are behind him, and he is ready to concede that the truth is right in front of him. I may never be a Yin person, but I do want to learn from it and from every aspect of YTT. I hope that, just like Hall in the song, I can see that the truth is already around me, and I don't have to search so hard for it.
