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Hot Nude Yoga founder Aaron Star took a recent trip to India, where he discovered a new kind of courage on the side of a mountain. Pictured at right, an X-ray of Star’s broken leg.
(Photos courtesy of Aaron Star)
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Editors’ note: Aaron Star is the founder of New York City’s Hot Nude Yoga studio, where men practice the spiritual and physical art form completely naked. Founded in 2001, the studio has gained popularity and spawned a series of DVDs for at-home practice. Star has led a number of groups to visit the Himalayas in India, but during a tour this past fall, while walking down the foot of a mountain, a large rock careened down the slope and broke Star’s leg. Below are excerpts of the teacher’s account of that trip and the deeper meanings he’s gleaned from his injury and ongoing healing process.
"Life is a manuscript, and the author of that manuscript is that which you are … The beginning and the ending of this manuscript are missing. You do not consciously know from where you have come; you do not know where you will go." - Swami Rama
Prelude
What it is that pulls me to the Himalayan Mountains? What, for that matter, draws anyone? What is the allure and why even make a journey to India?
In actual fact, there are more Yoga Teachers in California than in India and the Yoga Asana taught there is much clearer and safer than what you will find anywhere in India. However living, moving and being in India creates a space for me to actualize my practice. Those questions continue to permeate my consciousness, especially in light of recent events when many have asked, “Aaron, was it really worth it?”
After Sept. 8, my yoga practice was challenged in a way I would have never imagined possible, and the pull and allure that brought me to India took me to a place in my practice that would never have happened had I been in New York City or in a more comfortable setting. Yoga gave me the strength, the power and serenity to be content with a state of total helplessness and becoming almost stranded in the Himalayan Mountains. People come to India because they know Mother India has something to give them and, quite often, she gives them what they need but in way which they may not want or expect.
The Indian Himalayas
I have been very blessed to have spent as much time as I have in the Himalayas and for me, the Himalayas are similar to my parents in that they have taught me much. They create and hold the space for me to be still, to experience oneness and to open the doorway to contemplation.
I have found that the Himalayas not only mirror the best parts of me, they also reveal the hidden, and perhaps undesirable parts of me. I also discovered that when my ego has become a little swollen, the Himalayas have a way of revealing this to me and helping to bring me back down a few notches. They teach me how to approach life with a sense of equanimity and reveal my own incredible potential — the potential I often suppress and push aside.
The Himalayas are like my Mother whose valleys are arms that cradle and draw me towards her bosom. As a caretaker of all my needs, her streams flow like milk to nurture me, her trees offer shade when it is too hot and her flowers offer beauty and remembrance at every turn.
The Himalayas are also like my father, who presents challenge and invites discipline — the discipline to stay alert and present and as such, causes me to become stronger as I climb the higher peaks and persevere in unlocking their secrets.
At every crossroad one can experience an enormous gamut of emotions and feelings ranging from fear, clarity of purpose, peace of mind, joy, love, excitement, trepidation, challenge and even anger.
The Himalayas have offered a training ground to me on how to approach life and have given me the opportunity to improve who I am and what I can offer in service to humanity. Through these paternal Himalayan challenges, I see who I really am. I see into my soul and there is no escape.
However, in all of these experiences, the Himalayas continually remind me of the sacred fire that burns brightly in all of us, of those beautiful and timeless saints and sages whom I have met and who live in continuous service of ...
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