I’m afraid I can’t take credit for this title. It was an article about Sting in the Delta Sky magazine that I took from the plane to London. Of course it touches upon Sting being a yogi (and even mentions his infamous comment on tantric yoga way back in the 90s, snicker snicker). I like Sting; like Madonna, his music has been there for a good part of the ride that’s been my life. Synchronicity = 7th grade, “Every Breath you Take” at junior high slow dance, the best concert I ever went to in high school, etc.
Sting does a lot of yoga with Jivamukti founders David Life and Sharon Gannon, and he wrote the forward to their book, which I often recommend (reminder that I am filling up my yoga cup here at the Jivamukti London Centre). Here’s what Sting has to say about yoga, in the Delta Mag article: I’ve studied yoga for 22 years…And what I’ve learned in that time is that the problem the body has is one of conditioning. The reason that we talk ourselves into being inflexible or stiff is a conditioning of the mind. We tell ourselves that. It’s the mind that’s controlling everything. Yoga is really about deconditioning the mind, getting the mind to surrender, so that the body can achieve its fullest potential and movement. I was a little disappointed that he didn’t work in a quote about pranayama that included every breath you take, but oh well.
On our walking tour the other day, our guide showed us where Sting lives in London, and assured us that he probably wasn’t at home since he has about seven other places elsewhere. Which kept us all from ringing the doorbell. Here is my 5 year old on Sting’s front porch.