Well, I never intended to do it honestly. Not really. It was 11th anniversary of the founding of Anusara, and Darren Rhodes was holding a special 2 hour class. It had been strongly suggested over the past 6 months that I meet Darren, so after a day of climbing I ended up there with my mat rolled out next to Scott Turpin, on of the most advanced practitioners in Arizona.
The class was amazing, full of good energy and inspiring stories. One such story related a 4-hour practice that Darren had shared with Anusara's founder John Friend. About 3 hours into the practice, John had turned to Darren and said, "108 dropbacks". Darren stood there smiling...thinking it was a joke. A few moments later, he was approached by yogini Amy Ippoliti who said, "Um, I think he is serious."
Moments after finishing the story, Darren invited a student who had never done a dropback to the front of class. He assisted her with a few, and then to her surprise, he had her do one on her own. She was pretty overwhelmed with the feeling of empowerment that came. So much of what keeps of from out potential is fear.
He then told us we would all assist each other into doing a few. Then he turned to Scott.
"108 dropbacks" he said. They he looked at the girl to Scott's right. "108 dropbacks." As walked back by me, he looked at me and with a raised eyebrow said "Anyone else want to join them?"
His eyes were not challenging me to the task, they were inspiring me.
I stepped to the front of my mat, centered myself, brought my hands to the front of my heart and arched up and back. As soon as my hands touched the ground, I smoothly lifted back up.
"One..." I thought.
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