Jai Hanuman!

I wish I would have had enough foresight to make today's blog a Wordless Wednesday post. You would have seen a class full of yogi's rocking Hanumasana - full splits!

This is not me in Hanumasana

In honor of Leap Day I decided to teach Hanumasna to each of my yoga classes today. Isn't that a cute, creative theme for today? Well, I thought it was. Except it turns out my classes weren't familiar with the story of Hanuman, the monkey deity. So we had some fun while I shared the story with them. And since I got a few of the details mixed up earlier today, here's the real story.

Hanuman was best friends with King Ram, the two were inseparable. King Rams wife was Sita. Sita was known for both her beauty and heavenly qualities.  When the demon Ravana declared war to take over Ram's kingdom, he kidnapped Sita and took her away to his island.

Since Ram was busy fighting the war for his kingdom, he sent his good friend Hanuman to rescue his lovely wife. How does a monkey cross a mighty ocean? With a mighty leap of course!

When Sita saw Hanuman, she said "Oh hell no! I don't want rescued by some little monkey. You go tell my husband to get his warrior self over here and save me himself!" (Although I can't find the exact Sanskrit translation for this part, I'm pretty sure that is how Sita said it.)

So, Hanuman presented Sita with Rams' ring as a promise that he would indeed bring Ram back to rescue her. Of course, Sita was rescued and Ram kept his kingdom.

Ram took a leap of faith in trusting Hanuman to rescue his wife, Hanuman took a leap of faith as he jumped over the ocean, and my class took a leap of faith in trusting that full splits, Hanumasana, were possible.

Although, I laughed when one woman in my lunch time class said, "thank God Leap Year is only every four years so we don't have to do this again soon!"

Don't wait four more years - take a leap of faith everyday!