PARACHUTING YOGA!

532Yoga Studio Owner, Suzanne Leitner-Wise preparing for her first jump!

I fell in LOVE with YOGA the first time I went parachuting. Yep! My mother added my name a a list of volunteers who were prepared to jump out of an airplane to raise money for charity. It was one of those things she knew I wanted to do, but I remember thinking ‘but do I want to do it ‘now’? A group of us went. We were working at the RAC Club in Epsom, England, and we headed out for the weekend to train and to jump. Let’s fast-forward to the jump itself. It was my first experience of Yoga. What?!

So, the definition of Yoga is "a union of space and time and body and soul that enable you to be in the present moment." Yoga is an experience of the present moment. See?! I definitely ‘did’ Yoga that day. From suiting up to preparing to jump out of the Cessna, to being told ‘now!’ to jumping out of the airplane, I was totally ‘doing’ Yoga – I was totally present and totally aware of where I was and what I was doing. And the jump itself.. well that was the epitome of yoga. And I fell in love. Without knowing anything about Yoga, I found myself in the present moment. Away from doing to just ‘being’.

Let’s use a few adverbs here; BRILLIANT, AWESOME, AMAZING, FABULOUS, EARTH SHATTERING, INCREDIBLE. . .I could go on . . . ! From the moment I jumped out of the airplane, the world became ‘my’ world and everything transpired in slow motion. Floating in the air, falling through the sky, everything was still and quiet and real and ‘now’, and yet everything around me was so small and seemingly insignificant.  I was superbly happy. I was experiencing every single second of some few minutes before reality set in and I had to start ‘doing’ and get ready to land.

I never realized I was practicing yoga until I actually practiced it for the first time.  Didn’t enjoy the class at all, but right there at the end of the class, in Savasana, I had the very same experience that I’d had as I was descending through the air; being present as a single entity in the world whilst simultaneously being a part of the whole world and being superbly happy.

The next day, despite being 8 months pregnant, I signed up for yoga teacher training. I wanted that same experience, and I have worked towards that same experience every day since. I practice yoga every day. I try to be as present as I was on that day floating to earth. Some days I am. Some days I am not. I work to continue to experience ‘being’ in the moment.

I have been parachuting and skydiving 4 more times since my first jump and have been teaching and practicing yoga every day. Thanks mum!