A former student's 2011 reflection on breath, movement, presence, and the deeper experience of Vinyasa Yoga Flow taught by Marie-Aude

From the Archives: When Yoga Became More Than Exercise

Every once in a while, something from the past finds its way back to us at exactly the right time.

Recently, I came across this piece written by David Sleeter, a former student of mine, originally published in May 2011.

Reading it again, fifteen years later, felt a little like opening a time capsule.

David wasn't simply describing a yoga class. He was describing what can happen when physical practice begins to open into something deeper—when breath, body, mind, and presence begin to work together.

What struck me most is that the experience he describes is still at the heart of why I teach.

Yoga has never been only about getting into a pose. The physical practice gives us a doorway. Through breath, attention, alignment, effort, and surrender, we begin to discover what happens when we become fully present.

I wanted to bring David's words back from the archives and share them with you.

Breathe?

Originally written and published: May 2011
By David Sleeter

In the past 12 months, I've been more challenged by a deceptively simple Yogic pose than I'd ever been in years of weight training. I've built aerobic endurance, and struggled with the true meaning of will-power while deeply stretching a ligament.

Yet, in those same months I've discovered all those tired evenings that I'd become so accustomed to were starting to re-animate with newfound vigor.

I exhaled slowly.

Sweat started breaking from fresh pores as I exerted body parts I never knew I had. For the hundredth time I found myself reciting:

“This is for me.”

My oceanic Ujjayi breath was probably sounding a bit more like the gasps of a beached mackerel just about now.

How could I possibly manage five more breaths in this pose?

In an act of utter faith, I expanded my diaphragm and smoothed the air hissing through slightly constricted windpipes, and at the same time tried to remember my teacher's promise that through effort something would open—and it would become easier.

The Art of Alignment

The trembling in my muscles blossomed in full.

Maybe I could fake it.

No chance.

I fell like a rock from the posture, but with thick obstinance, my leg wobbled back into the air and I rejoined the class for the last breath.

Then—silky, delicious reprieve— Child's Pose.

Time for air.

Just then Marie-Aude's hands materialized from behind and started gently aligning my already maxed-out hip joints into proper form.

Oops, she's caught me.

My poor hips had prematurely aged and stiffened at the desk of an American lifestyle.

As she corrected my posture, a laser spot of heat developed deep within some bundle of forgotten sinew, and for the briefest instant, I had the notion of a path back to the suppleness I was born with.

“Two more breaths here,” I heard her voice from some distant mountain top.

Warning.

Muscle failure!

Waves of Breath

“Let go of whatever is going on in there.”

Marie's smooth voice slipped through the room, urging us.

“Be fully present.”

Present?

In my youth I'd been present. What has become of the present?

Life's contracts have slowly robbed me of my now and replaced it with scheming futures, and endless loops of replaying of pasts. My mind has become addicted to thoughts which collide as they fight for attention in this—the all too small space—of a present moment.

But since discovering Marie-Aude's yogic teaching, I've begun to remember, in thin slices, what it's like to be here.

Here.

The scent of a spring day and nothing else. Something long asleep is awakening, and is calling my name.

Time for waves of breath to restore calm in a pounding heart. I found myself floating above the mat, a song without notes humming through my veins. I nearly stole into heaven itself.

But then my mind pummeled me back to earth with a single thought:

“You don't suppose we're doing wheel next?” (Urdhva Dhanurasana)

Not since the moving meditations taught by my 'Gohn-Dagow' Gung Foo master twenty years before, have I experienced such a connection between physical, mental and spiritual. He taught that working with one affects all the others. I was finding that Vinyasa Yoga flow achieved the same.

How I have missed the sensation of something deeper beginning to stir while practicing the simple act of flowing in the physical. Melting back into my mat, I made a promise: I'll not lose this connection…ever again.

Be Fully Present

About the Author

David Sleeter lived in Albuquerque's East Mountains with his wife, Joan, and wrote under the pen name Jay Archer David.

He explored, experienced, and wrote about New Mexico—“this land of enchantment”—where ancient Anasazi pueblos, Hispanic heritage, the Old West, and modern America converge.

This reflection was originally written and published in May 2011, following his experience as a yoga student of Marie-Aude Préau.

Published here as an archival reflection from a former student, with gratitude to David for capturing his experience so beautifully.

Service Areas

I offer online and in‑person yoga and therapeutic sessions for clients in Sandia Park, Cedar Crest, Tijeras, Edgewood, San Antonito, Carnuel, Albuquerque, the Albuquerque East Mountains, and Santa Fe, NM.