Undoing the Holidays

This morning  I was woken up by the phone ringing,( never a good sign), telling me that the facility I was to be teaching at in 2 hours was lacking power, and there was a possibility for class cancellation.  My immediate reaction was a loud *YAWN*, and to get up and make some coffee.  As I walked out of my bedroom, all of the holiday decorations were screaming LOUDLY to me to be taken down and put away.  NO MORE CLUTTER!  I guess this is what happens when you start paying more attention to your immediate surroundings and staying present (day 2 of my new years resolution! so far off to a good start!).

As the was coffee brewing, the cats meowing for food and the phone ringing again stating power was back on.. and therefore so was class.. I raced around the house to get ready. I made my way over to the fitness center.. to be greeted by 37 smiling faces wishing me a Happy New Year.  They were so happy to be taking their first yoga class of 2011 with me.  

Immediately, I was brought back to the reason I embarked on this yoga journey 16 years ago.  I taught, what I thought was a fairly mild class (although i was assured it was a HARD class by many students), and when we got to the best part.. Savasana (meditation), I asked the students to ask them selves this one question: "Why are you here?" What brought you to yoga in the first place.. surely there HAD to be something else better these 37 people can be doing on a dreary Sunday morning, aside from grunting their way through one of my classes.  After class I asked them to share with me what their answer was, if they wanted to.  less than half came up to me to share, but all had the same answer.. to better themselves, to connect to their bodies and find a sense of peace. 

My job as a yoga educator is to assist students in doing just that.. connection to self, breathe and soul. And with each person I come into contact with, just reconfirms why I chose this path in the first place.. 

So if you haven't tried yoga, or haven't really give it a fair shake, come back.. try one more time.. you have nothing to lose and SOO much to gain1