The Dollyama

I’m obsessed with two things right now: Yoga and Dolly Parton. 

They are the same thing. Dolly IS yoga.

Dolly is helping me navigate the complex road that is yoga. She is my Spirit Guide. 

I’m studying to be a yoga instructor. I’m in a zoom study group, taking in-studio classes, taking virtual classes, listening to my Spotify playlist as I guide myself through my own flow, reading books, writing papers, studying anatomy, learning sanskrit, taking notes in the manual, and observing other teachers. (Whew.)

It’s real school. Yoga school. I’m spending hours a day, and sometimes my entire weekend studying and practicing yoga. It’s all consuming (and I can’t WAIT to show you my biceps).

And dude. It’s so hard to stand in front of a room of people and tell the difference between left and right. (Yes, I’ve tried using stage directions in my head - it doesn’t help.)

I have a plan (yes, an actual plan - more on that at another time). One day I was on the phone with a friend (see? THE PHONE! Not being on Facebook has its benefits), and I explained the whole plan to him. He loved it and told me how brilliant I am (ok - he didn’t really tell me I’m brilliant, but this is my story and I’ll spin it however I like). 

At the end of the conversation I said “Well, that’s the plan … we’ll see what pops out the other end.”

In teacher training, I expected to be doing all the things I’m doing: deepening my physical practice, learning about anatomy, and being taught how to teach. 

What I didn’t expect is all the other stuff that comes with it. The philosophies, meditation, and spirituality. (I mean, I expected it a little, but not to the depths of what I am learning.)

You see, the physical practice, the asanas, is one of EIGHT LIMBS of yoga - the third limb to be exact. EIGHT LIMBS! Can you imagine?? The first two limbs have FIVE DIFFERENT philosophies to them - for a grand total of TEN bits in TWO LIMBS! We have to get through ten philosophies first … then we get to be Warriors. I like to think of them as The Ten Commandments of Yoga. 

There’s also this thing called The Divine. The Divine is a big deal in yoga.

What is The Divine?     

I’m really asking here. What is The Divine? I’m struggling with it. I’m asking as a card-carrying, flag-waving atheist. (Oh, who am I kidding, we don’t have cards or flags. We have nothing.)

As far as I can tell, The Divine is what we want it to be. It’s patterns in the universe, it’s energy, it’s God, it’s the essence of us. We talk about it alot, and I’m just not getting it. Perhaps the answer is in those Ten Commandments of Yoga. 

And in Dolly Parton.

Let me expand a bit on those Ten Commandments that make up the first two limbs. There’s a whole lot of “Nons” in them. Non-stealing, non-possessiveness, non-excess (ok, we’ll forgive Dolly on that last one). 

Be a good person. Pretty basic stuff. 

The first 5 are grouped together and called The Yamas. (Do you see where I’m going with this yet? The Dollyama? Oh. You get it. Nevermind, I’ll get back to it.)

The first Yama is Ahimsa: Non-Violence. It literally means to do no harm. I’ll quote the book from my study group directly here “Our capacity to be nonviolent depends on our proactive practice of courage, balance, love of self, and compassion for others.” *

Enough yoga, Alice. Get to juicy Dolly Parton stuff already!

Yes. Ok. Here we go. 

I’m listening to a 9-part podcast put out by Jad Abumrad of RadioLab fame called “Dolly Parton’s America”. (Listen to it wherever you get your podcasts. No really. Go listen, it’s so good.)

I’m on my way home from Yoga School one day, listening to the podcast. (This is basically all I do now: yoga and listen to this podcast.) Jad & Dolly are talking about politics and how Dolly has never, NEVER expressed a political opinion in public. 

She’s telling the story of how she was reunited with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin at the 2017 Emmy Awards. They’re presenting the award for best supporting actor, they’re standing at the mic in front of a packed house. It’s their first public reunion since making the movie 9-5.

Jane: Yeah, well, back in 1980 in that movie, we refused to be controlled by a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical, bigot.

Lily: Really. And in 2017 we STILL refuse to be controlled by a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical, bigot.

Dolly just stands there. All glittery and blond and beautiful. Referring to her famous boobs, she makes a joke about knowing a lot about support (remember, they’re presenting the award for best supporting actor).

It’s Trump. They’re calling Trump an asshole. 

And Dolly’s not participating. 

When she was discussing this with Jad, she explained that what she really wanted to say was “Why don’t we pray for Mr. President? Let’s just pray for our President.” 

I’m with Dolly. She doesn’t want to join in on the bashing. She doesn’t want to hurt anybody. We can’t fight hate with hate. Ahimsa.

We don’t need more hate and venom spewed at Donald Trump. (Shhhh. Shhhh. It’s gonna be ok.)

I can’t consume it anymore. I can’t feed it anymore.

I liken this to a thought I had years ago when everyone was fighting about gay marriage. Everyone was hating their opposition. (Sound familiar?) Do I hate folks who hate gay people? No, I just disagree with them. I decided in that moment years ago that I can’t do it - I can’t bring more hate into the world. I was ahimsa-ing before I even knew that it was a thing.  

Dolly does this time and time again in her life. She does good. She spreads love, compassion, and generosity. Without judgement. She forgives. She is fully present in every moment. She is herself on her terms … boobs and all.

“Our capacity to be nonviolent depends on our proactive practice of courage, balance, love of self, and compassion for others.” 

Dolly says “Let’s just pray for Mr. President.”

She is practicing Ahimsa.

She has also found The Divine. She prays to it. 

I hope that Dolly will continue to be my Spirit Guide and show me the way to The Divine. And I’m sure she’s got something to say about Asteya as well. (That’s non-stealing.)

So, what’s gonna pop out on the other end of this yoga journey? 

I have no idea. But I kinda hope it’s Dolly Parton.

*********

* I thought I should probably cite my source. The book is The Yamas & Niyamas by Deborah Adele. If you’re local, head down to the studio in Point Lookout to pick up a copy (the shop is also great for last minute Christmas shopping.)