It was actually pretty funny…

I came into the yoga room and noticed that all the places by the back wall were taken, except for one – there was one spot remaining right by the door, and I would be very happy with it if the man next to it rotated his mat. For some reason, his mat was positioned diagonally, at an angle to all other mats, thus, taking up two places.

“Surely, he will move his mat to let me sit here,” I thought. “He just hadn’t known there would be more students coming in and that’s why he’d placed it like that.”

– Can I sit next to you? – I asked with a friendly smile.
– What? – the man slightly moved his head to look at me. He seemed unhappy to have been bothered.
– Can I sit here? – I repeated, ready to hear something like, “Oh, I’m sorry. Of course! Let me move my mat!”
– You can sit anywhere you want! – the man barked at me with a big scowl, as if he had said something funny. He was looking at the other students in the room, and not even turning his head toward me this time.

I was taken aback by such a response, but I was still confident that this would be resolved in a minute! “He just didn’t understand that that was not a question, but a request,” I thought.

– Are you going to keep your mat like this? – I asked, trying to continue being polite, but more clear about what I wanted from him.
– Yes!!! – almost shouted the big man, as if he was being irritated by some annoying fly.

I walked past him and began unrolling my mat in the front row while feeling shocked, upset and blushed with anger. “Does he know he is at a yoga and meditation center? What kind of manners are those? And does he know who I am? I am in the teacher training here, for God’s sake! He can’t speak to me like this! And I am a sweet person! How dare he be so rude to me?….”

Then I laughed out loud, realizing how funny the voice in my head sounded!!!

I like to think that I don’t have a big ego. Many people describe me as “humble, modest, down-to-earth…,” and it feels true to me, but here it was – proof that I still had some work to do…

Isn’t it funny how the moment we decide that we know who we are, we’re being presented with opportunities to question those beliefs and to get to know ourselves even better?!

Thank you, “The Nasty Yogi,” for exposing the doings of my mind! I am now another step closer to not taking myself so seriously and to identifying with my mind even less…