Lila and Shayna
My Giant Brazilian Yoga Mat
by Shayna Samuels
Not long ago I met an angel in Manhattan. She was standing on the corner
of Third Avenue and 41st Street, just outside New York Governor George
Pataki's office. I was there with dozens of other people to protest the
state's racist criminal justice laws. She was there because her husband -
yes, angels have husbands too - was helping to organize the event.
At first I didn't know she was an angel. I approached her because in her
arms was an irresistible baby boy, her son, and I just had to gawk.
Immediately we started talking, first about the baby, and then about life. I
was supposed to be thinking politics that day, but I couldn't seem to peel
myself away from this stranger.
It wasn't just her long, curly brown hair, loose, flowy clothes and ultra
clean pores that made her stand out in this grubby New York scene. There was
something else - a sincerity and tranquility that held me like a magnet. She
was radiant, calm, full of life and breath, untouched by the chaos around
her.
Her name was Lila, meaning "playfulness of the Gods" in Sanksrit. She was
given the name during her Sivananda teacher training program in Kerala,
India years ago. Learning she was a yoga teacher, I immediately started
telling her about my own practice, which after only two years, was
fundamentally changing my life. The invigorating poses had certainly made me
stronger and more flexible, I told her. But it wasn't just that. I started
ending unhealthy relationships and developing better ones. I started working
part time, instead of all the time, to make room for personal projects. I
started to care less about what other people think. All of this was very
exciting, but at the same time, overwhelming and confusing. I didn't really
understand how or why all of this was happening. But I knew it had something
to do with yoga.
Lila understood. By the end of our conversation, she had invited me to
Brazil, where she started a yoga ashram on her father's old farmland. (She
is Brazilian, but lived in New York for 10 years and speaks fluent English.)
"Come, stay as long as you want," she said. "I think you will enjoy it."
Little did she know that just that morning I had decided to look for a
beautiful place to practice yoga to celebrate my 30th birthday, which was
coming up. That's when I knew she was an angel. I didn't know why, but I had
to follow Lila to Brazil.
I think she was surprised, though pleased, when I actually showed up a
few months later. I admit I felt a little hesitant. After all, I had no idea
who this person was, or where I was really going. But after a week at the
Jatoba Terra Prana Yoga Ashram, it all made perfect sense.
I barely left the property the entire time. I had traveled for two weeks
around the country before I arrived, partying in Rio, napping on deserted
island beaches, and fishing for piranhas in the Pantanal, but none of this
compared to the internal adventures I had at Jatoba.
The ashram - named after the giant, ancient Jatoba tree that greets you
upon arrival - is located three hours North-West of Sao Paulo. It sits on an
exquisite piece of land that once served as Lila's family's cow and chicken
farm. Three years ago, Lila returned to find the buildings and surrounding
environs abandoned and unkempt. Tired of her life as a performance artist in
New York, she stayed in Brazil and began to make this place her own. She
worked tirelessly to give it new life as a simple, comfortable home for up
to 20 people.
With help from the small but devoted staff, Lila converted old barns into
peaceful, airy studios, with quiet nooks for individual yoga or meditation
practice. Dying shrubs were replaced with flowers that pop with color come
springtime. And the food - oh the food! - all grows right on the property.
Luscious bananas, papayas, mangos, oranges, avocados, tomatoes, beets,
carrots, zucchini, eggplant - and much more I had never seen or heard of
before - are planted in careful rows. Yogurt and cheese is made straight
from the cows' milk, and the bread is always homemade. Even the water comes
straight from an underground spring on the property.
Of course there's always a downside. No drinking, smoking or coffee is
allowed, which can be painful at first. "I'm hear to cleanse," I told myself
over and over, as the caffeine cravings kicked in hard core.
Meditation begins each morning at seven. Lila plays the drum and leads
chanting of mantras, or sacred sounds, in Sanksrit. She adopts the practice
based on who shows up. Recently, after three years, the farm's workers
started attending. "What is it that we're chanting?" she asked all of us one
day. "Why should we spend our time sitting on the ground making these
strange noises?" Then she helped us understand the answers: to quiet our
minds, listen to our beating hearts and tap into our true selves.
Each day was different. Sometimes people would come from the nearby city
of Sao Carlos to take yoga class with Lila, which after a few days, felt
like was being taught in myliving room. Other days we would just walk around
the tree-lined property, talking and talking and talking.
At first I felt frustrated that the vigorous yoga classes I was
accustomed to in New York were not being offered. But I soon realized that
that was not why I had come all this way. Rather, I had come to learn that
yoga is not about mastering poses. It is about living differently. It is
about thinking differently. It is about reducing the distractions that fill
our bodies (aches and pains) and minds (what I shouldn't have said yesterday,
what I want to eat for lunch today) so that we can sit still and just be.
"We are human beings," said Lila over and over. "We are not human doings.
You don't have to do anything to change your life. If you are quiet
and open, things will just happen."
I felt that was true. After all, that was how I met her.
Cooking Class (Shayna in the center)
I have learned through yoga that what we practice on our mats is practice
for life. That flexibility of the spine leads to flexibility of the mind;
that a strong, open heart leads to more compassion for others; and that
standing on one leg helps teach us how to find balance in difficult
situations.
For me, Jatoba was like one giant yoga mat. I didn't move around much,
but through my daily practice and absorption of Lila, who lives and breathes
yoga each day, I learned so much about myself and the world. I started
understanding why yoga was changing my life, in ways I had never imagined.
But now the real work begins. I left my angel in Brazil, and returned to
New York to begin my own teacher training at OM yoga center. Perhaps one day
I will exude a similar serenity amidst the hectic New York streets, and help
someone else find their angel in me.
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