Community and Family

Many thanks to all who came and participated in the yoga fundraising class for Oxfam.  Special thanks also to Suzie Hurley and Willow Street Yoga for making the space available.  True gratitude for the practice of yoga itself.  Together we raised $935 for Oxfam, sharing our own abundance with those who are needier.  Many blessings on this holiday weekend to all of you.

11-11 is the eleventh day of the eleventh month of our calendar.  It is Veterans’ Day (still on 11-11 and not on the nearest Monday).  It is a day to contemplate what I, as a citizen, can do to invert a National policy of creating war and turning our young people into soldiers and then neglecting and abusing them when they come home wounded physically and psychologically.  Surely, it should be the reverse:  we should be doing everything we can to avoid war and then do everything we can to take care of the health and welfare of those who have served.

11-11 is also a day for me to honor my own ancestors; it is the anniversary of the day my beloved Grandmother Rose left her body.

11-11 is a day of celebration; it is my mother’s birthday.  She has said that when she was a littlge child, that she thought the parades and the day off from school were for her birthday.

11-11 is also a delightful treat of relative leisure (Federal Holiday in the middle of the week).

It is rare for me that a single day has so many different personal imports.  Each day, though, indeed each moment, impacts all of us so differently depending on our life circumstances.  Some of those impacts just happen; some are chosen; some are how we react both to what happens and what we choose.  I’ll be enjoying my day off to the fullest, but will also be sending loving energy to those in need, especially those suffering from current and past wars.

Tonight I will teach my last class at CHY’s current space after having taught nearly every Wednesday night for 5 1/2 years.  I am deeply grateful to Marianna, Leyla, and Julie for having pulled together the community and continued yoga in the space when Dancing Heart moved, and to Stacey for joining them and keeping the fire brightly burning.  I feel deeply fortunate for having been given the opportunity to teach at CHY while I went through my teacher training.  I am also deeply thankful to all my CHY level 2 students who went through the Anusara certification process with me; the class that led to my ultimate certification was taught at CHY on the 10th anniversary of Anusara yoga.

I extend my gratitude to all the students who were with me on this path of expansion, exploration, and delight and who have taught me so much and shared of their hearts.

Although I feel a profound sense of loss with the Stanton Park studio closing — how will I know when to end class without Wilbur the dog letting me know it is time to end savasana? — I look on this as an opportunity for the community to coalesce in new ways, and for each of us to deepen the community and our practices.  I regard all of you at CHY as my friends, as well as students and neighbors, and look forward to seeing you in yoga classes on the Hill in new spaces and at other events in the neighborhood.

E