The Sewing Machine

When I was young I remember watching my mother sew on her Singer sewing machine at home. I would just stare at her in wonderment. How could she be in such control of that machine? It seemed like the machine was going so fast that it would take her over. Twenty-five years later I found myself in front of an industrial sewing machine. My purpose of being there was to make yoga bolster slips. A friend of mine, who was a sail maker, had sat me down and whipped through a lesson on how to work the machine, and how to make a slip. Standing there I thought that it couldn’t be too hard. He did it so easily; it brought back memories of my mother. This is what a beginner yoga student goes through. They see the teacher show them how to do the pose and the teacher makes it look so simple.
Well I sat down in front of that machine and pressed the pedal to start sewing. The first thought that came to mind was, I don’t want my fingers anywhere near that needle. I didn’t seem to have control. It would be like doing Downward Facing Dog for the first time and the teacher says, “press your thighs back to open your shoulders”; You think, “what are they talking about?” or “how do you do that?”
You know, looking back I remember when I finally finished my first bolster slip and thought it would take forever to complete ten. Then I got to the point that making ten was simple and at that point I thought I had finally mastered the machine. It is something like when you have been doing Downward Facing Dog for years and figured out that you have finally got it under control. What I’ve come to realize about sewing is, that when you and the machine are one, then sewing is a joy. It is like when you practice an asana; you and the asana are one.
Looking back now to when I was a child watching my mother sewing, I can understand now why she sewed so often.