A Perspective on Break Week

Hey Yogis,

Martin Luther King, Jr. day marks the beginning of our week away from studio classes (at least my studio classes!).  I’ll be spending some time reconnecting with my closest people, the little ones, the medium one, and the big one.  And hopefully trying something new to broaden my perspective.  My invitation to you is to do the same:  connect with your people & explore:  Keep trying different yoga styles online and in person.  Keep trying different teachers within the same tradition or style.  Or dip your toe into a new movement practice like Qigong, Tai Chi, cross-country skiing or snowshoeing, or join your people in some of their favorite activities.

Speaking of perspective, when I find interesting quotes or pictures, I print them out and hang them on my walls, so I’m reminded to look beyond my present thoughts, ideas, and opinions.  Currently, I’ve got a lot up there in the kitchen, as well as some random ones in the hallways.

One day I noticed markings on my signs, went up close to take a look, found that someone had been doing some underlining.   A few days later I noticed the little one flitting around the house with her pencil, popping up to my “sacred signage,” and making marks!!  I noticed that this caused me anxiety, as well as surprisingly strong feelings of attachment to these insignificant pieces of paper.  After reminding myself that the pieces of paper are, indeed, insignificant (compared to my love for this little graffiti artist), I smiled, exclaimed my surprise at this turn of events, and kindly asked her to stop.  At which point she sheepishly began erasing the underlines.

Two things happened:  first, my ego-self immediately felt the sacred signage would be even more damaged by the erasures, and second, my true-self realized that I had been too attached and too harsh.  So I told my little one not to worry about the marks but to refrain from making any new ones.

She told me she was sorry and explained that she’d only been underlining the most important words.  I walked over to see which words she had chosen and found these:  Pause, Courage, Mystery, Love, Admiration.

Wow!  I thought,  this was profound.  “Emma,” I said, “You can underline the words on my signs any time!”

“Well,” she replied, “I really just wanted to try out my new mini pencil.”

There are so many different ways of seeing.

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My prayer for all of us is this:

May we practice awareness,
look closely,
pay attention,
and suspend judgement.

May we pause,
take courage,
embrace the mystery,
and love one another
as though our lives depend on it,
as though we are extensions of the same Ground of Being.

May we take time
to look for the jewels
in our own lives and the lives of others,
even when the jewels are hidden in the dirt
and buried beneath the snow:

Pause
Courage
Mystery
Love
and Admiration.

…and try out something new…!

Amen?  Amen.