we’re just about halfway through yoga teacher training. it’s incredible how people change, shift, face their fears and grow. it’s more than incredible, it’s … there are no words … but no doubt this journey is changing my life. i will never forget this moment. guiding 11 people through the transition from yoga students to yoga teachers, is wonderfully illuminating, like beautiful soul magic. they are all so incredible. they blow my mind. they bring me to tears. they are really doing the work—and they are doing it under pressure. this course spans over 15 weeks and we are at the 10-week mark.
needless to say, i feel emotional, empowered, confident, impressed, excited and just plain stoked.
because i spend so much time guiding, coaching and teaching them as they go through all of this work, it feels NECESSARY that i stay on top of my own game, walking the walk as i talk the talk. i’ll be honest with you, i’ve been working through A LOT.
over the last 6 months i’ve been digging so cussing DEEP it pulls the breath out of me. in every aspect of my life, i’m asking myself, “what do you want?” i know that if i don’t like where i am, i get to make new choices about where i’m going, but first, i have to know where i want to go if i want to see whether or not i’m choosing what i want.
some parts of my life feel good and solid and certain while others are unsettled, in motion and not completely in my control. there are things i just don’t know how to address, things left out of sync, and things that still need my attention but i’m ignoring them because i don’t know what to do.
my future is very uncertain but i’m not especially concerned with it. i want to dig into this moment right now. just by taking the time to get more and more familiar with me, with my heart’s desires and what i REALLY want, i’ve been experiencing a lot emotionally, physically and spiritually. i’ve been recoiling, expanding, writing, sharing, hurting, healing, and curiously through it all, nurturing, thriving, and growing.
today, one of the students in my yoga teacher training taught the first half of an hour-long class for the first time. she fucking nailed it. she opened the class with the usual breathing, listening, mind/body connecting like we always do and right before we started to move she said:
“keep an open mind, and be here” — sometimes the universe tells people to say exactly what you need to hear. i needed to hear that as a reminder to set my focus on what’s happening in my body on my mat today and i needed that as a reminder to set my focus on what’s happening in my life right now.
part of the work i’ve been putting into myself has included breaking my habit of dreaming of something better than what i have. i’m constantly bringing myself back to the present moment and digging into emotions, feelings, and things happening right now that make me want to look away and dream of something better. i want to know why i insist on wishing, hoping, and dreaming of something better when i have more than enough power over my life to make different choices to work towards balance in the things i lack.
i want to listen to what my heart has to say, i want to put my finger on what i know to be true and mark it down for me to review. all i really want to do is “keep an open mind, and be here”. this is my work. at times, it seems this work will challenge me forever, but today, when she said that, the never-ending work became infinitely worth every hard lesson and challenge.
when i “keep an open mind, and be here”, the absolute truth is: life is good, life is precious, life is a gift—even when i pretend it’s not.