Oui Oui
The French Way to Live Your Yoga
My parents were German immigrants to the United States. You're probably not surprised to learn that my first language was German.
Once I learned to speak English, I resisted speaking another word of German. No other children were speaking German. I wanted to be like everyone else.
My plan quickly disintegrated. As soon as I was old enough, my parents sent me to German school every Saturday morning until high school.
I was a sour student. I regretted that I could not watch Saturday morning cartoons because my German class started at 9 a.m. sharp. As is the German way, Herr Leiss started class EXACTLY on time.
To add to the unpleasantness, I found the language challenging to learn. German grammar is complex. Its guttural sounds are an assault on the ears.
I was imprisoned in classes with other sour and defeated students.
I did not enjoy these classes EVER.
My teenage uprising was to sign up for French in high school. (I desperately needed some coaching on how to rebel.) Immediately, I was captivated by the beautiful flowy sexy sound of the language. Sister Doloretta immersed us in French culture, movies, poems, and songs.
I loved it all!
I even embraced the repugnant French Christmas carol "Song of St. Nicholas." The carol is a story of a butcher who dismembers three lost children and puts their body parts in salting bins. Not to worry though. After seven long years, St. Nicholas arrives and saves the day. The kids magically reassemble themselves without any bad memories.
To this day, I still remember the words!
I still love everything French.
Yesterday, I ran across a phrase I'm sure you've heard before: joie de vivre. Here is the definition according to the French dictionary:
joie de vi·vre
/ˌZHwä də ˈvēvrə/
noun
A way of enjoying one's existence with trust, well-being, and happiness.
Having joie de vivre is to live your life perfectly. Not in the sense that nothing goes wrong, but to live authentically knowing that everything is happening for us, not to us.
Joie de vivre reflects the tenets of yoga philosophy.
Be present.
Know you are a divine being.
As divine, you can't help but become bliss.
The practice of yoga is to remember who we really are. We use yoga poses, concentration, and meditation as the vehicles to remember our divinity.
How do you want to show up for life?
Do you want to be sour and bitter (like someone forced to learn German)? Or do you want to embody joie de vivre?
Every day you get to decide.
Vive le yoga!
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Well, for the record, I do appreciate German more now that I am older. I have regular Zoom calls with my cousins in Germany and the little bit that I remember helps.
This is such a lovely post. I was hoping you will fall in love with German by the end of the post but instead you found French. I am not a linguist but I know three languages. If I could learn another one, it would be Spanish. I find French too hard to pronounce.