In Praise of Jane
My wife Jane does a Yoga routine with a Jason Crandell DVD almost every morning before I even wake up. She does it purely for the exercise and relaxation. She’s not particularly interested in all my philosophizing and spiritualizing (except that she’s happy for me that I’ve found something I love so much). I don’t think she’s ever read “Yoga Demystified” or “Yoga in America.”
It’s partly Jane that makes me jump to the defense of what many in the Yoga blogging community deride as “just workout Yoga”. I embrace diversity because we have both extreme ends of the Yoga spectrum right here in my home–Yoga as workout and Yoga as ancient spirituality.
Jane doesn’t need Yoga spirituality because she already embodies all its ideals without even calling it spirituality, much less Yoga. I would call Jane an extreme karma Yogini who would never describe herself that way, partly because she might not have any idea what I was talking about. She is ALWAYS helping other people and making their lives better, just by being herself. It’s just the way she thinks and acts.
She lives in the present, cooks like an Ayurvedist, and is the a natural practioner of all the yamas and niyamas, without even knowing or caring what they are.
Everyday Jane goes out to Milwaukee schools, including some of the toughest schools in the city, and inspires teachers to get excited about their profession again, and to become the best they can be, all for the benefit of the kids they serve.
I practice Yoga partly so I can learn to be as karmic and egoless as Jane already is.
Yoga Demystified 
Bob, that was really sweet, she sounds like an amazing woman!
And you’re right not to discount your wife’s “just workout Yoga”: I’m sure her morning routine helps keep her centered and balanced so that she glows the rest of the day! I truly believe that all the wisdom we need is in the movement and breath. All the thinking and writing you and I do is great, of course, but it’s not necessary for a complete practice- and your wife embodies this. Not just in the morning with Jason Crandell, but all day.
That’s great that your wife’s perspective & attitude to yoga is able to balance your deeper study & journey. It makes me smile that you don’t think she’s read your books, but embodies a lot of the theories and philosophies that you discuss.
Reading your praise of Jane is inspiration in itself. Thanks for the link, it gives me food for thought for the long list of hopes to inspire & impacts. Whether I achieve any of them is another matter… I feel uncomfortable with the term spiritual, for me, to me, it’s either the results becoming a parent, yoga, life coaching or just getting older, through my business that is yoga based, I am finally growing up after all these years…
This is beautiful, Bob! Thanks for sharing (and I’m so happy to see you mirroring your blog here, so we can access Bob whenever we want!).
Definitely, Jane sounds like a “yogi incognito” (I can’t take credit for that great phrase, it was a series that we did at ascent a few years ago). She’s living a spiritual life, without using (or even thinking about) the word “spiritual,” and it’s very admirable. And I have to agree that the reason why I practice and study yoga is so that I can serve as readily and sincere as Jane does. Some people are blesed enough to be simply born that way, and the rest of us have to work, practice, work, practice…
You’re a lucky guy, Bob!
How fortunate you are to be witness to Jane’s grace both on and off the mat. It seems to me a blessing that she doesn’t feel a need to intellectualize her spirituality…she just walks the walk and steps into warrior as a matter of living…that’s more than good enough.
[…] Yoga Demystified: In Praise of Jane – Short and sweet post by the irreplacable Bob Weisenberg. […]
2009 in review: top 15 yoga blog posts! « it's all yoga, baby said this on December 6, 2009 at 7:02 pm
This is a sweet post, Bob! Thank you!
Amen! Yoga personified.
I reckon you hit on a really important point here Bob.
Besides the fact that you’ve got a wonderful wife…
“Just workout yoga” might just mean ” Seeking not required”.
[…] Yoga Demystified: In Praise of Jane – Short and sweet post by the irreplacable Bob Weisenberg. […]
2009 in review: top 15 yoga blog posts! said this on October 8, 2013 at 10:38 pm