Yoga Stories for Healthy Living
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Distracted in a Ditch
‘The centipede was happy quite
Until a toad in fun
Said, ‘Pray, which leg comes after which?’
This raised her mind to such a pitch,
She lay distracted in the ditch, considering how to run’
I called my first book ‘The Distracted Centipede’ because of the ditty’s essential message: we lose our wholeness when our head gets in the way. Before the centipede got her head done in by the toad she didn’t need to ‘know’ how to run.
When we are discombobulated, fragmented, moving too fast, worried about what other people think, we are like the Distracted Centipede; we lose touch with our inner knowing and go to experts to find out how we should walk, what we should eat, how much we should drink, what is too much? We need a psychiatrist to tell us that what we experience has a label called ‘depression’. We’ve lost our connection to the place inside that ‘knows’.
So we need to slow down; stop, breathe, feel and get to know that inner being that is in touch with all the wisdom we need, our childlike nature, curious, trusting, playful and knowing.
I’m just in love with the state of wholeness of the centipede before the toad did her head in. So the Distracted Centipede’s journey continues in my second book, going deeper into retrieving the wholeness; becoming centered and grounded. Yoga with Mindfulness and Breathing is a path towards that wholeness.
We mustn’t underestimate what a deep journey it is to really become aware of the breath - coming and going - from that amazing magical Source that breathes us and keeps us alive, the same source that walks the centipede.
What every centipede knows
The body doesn’t need our interference;
it is a unified system to which we can safely surrender
if we let go of holding on for dear life
The centipede is ‘programmed’ to be a centipede; it simply can’t deviate or go astray. It doesn’t need workshops on how to deal with the complexity of all its legs, provided that it doesn’t get distracted ‘by a toad’. Human beings do get distracted therefore more can go wrong with the human being than the centipede. By becoming distracted we become fragmented and lose the sense of our unified being.
To live in the place of deep connectedness requires being present and aware at every moment. Of all living creatures only human beings resist and deny the need for being present and aware.
If you stop at any moment and ask yourself ‘where am I?’ Like this story
about the Rabbi who comes into his congregation and says ‘Shalom’. A few minutes later he says ‘Shalom’ again, and then a few minutes later ‘Shalom’ again, till one of the members asks, ‘why do you keep on saying shalom?’ The Rabbi replies, ‘Because you weren’t here.’
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About the Book
Open this book at any page, be inspired by its wisdom, and laugh out loud at its humor and common sense. Through the practice of yoga and mindfulness, you begin to tune into your body and identify and let go of unnecessary holding on. You discover inside the tense, unbalanced body a sensible body, which can be effortlessly at ease with energy flowing freely and the mind becoming calm. Each posture is a prayer, an intention to open to the law of the universe and let go of your conditioning. They say it runs in the family; it only runs because we let it. Yoga is not only on the mat; it’s also what you do going about your ordinary daily life. Whether you’re in the office, on a crowded bus, or in your car stuck in a traffic jam, you can connect to your breath. It’s never too late or too early to start and continue aligning mind, body, and spirit. We find it hard to keep going with a practice that’s beneficial to us. May we encourage each other, wishing all of us who are confused, feel not good enough, or are not able to stick to our good intentions, to give it a go and never give up.
About the Author
Mina Semyon was born in 1938 in the Soviet Union. She has been teaching yoga for over thirty years. She was a student and friend of R.D. Laing, psychiatrist, poet, musician, and spiritual teacher, who initiated her on the path of awareness through the practice of yoga and mindfulness. This, combined with an insistence of finding her authentic voice through the study of singing and sound, has led to her unique way of teaching. Her aim is to liberate the mind and body of everything that obscures the spirit of joy, love, compassion, spontaneity, and playfulness.
Mina appeared in the BBC television series and book Every Body Knows and the yoga book Body Life.
In 2004 she wrote and published The Distracted Centipede: A Yoga Experience, based on her forty years of experience practicing and teaching yoga. She lives in London.