Choices...................

Her smile lights up any room I have ever seen her occupy, and commanding a space is what this woman does amazingly well.  This Summer I got to spend a couple weeks with her as we worked towards our 200 hour yoga teacher training certificate.  But it is her story that won't let go of my heart.

I live in a small town.  But still on any given day there are numerous places I can go and do yoga.  The studio I go to is amazing and open to many types of yoga.  I have learned of a variety of forms, through excellent teachers who articulate breath cues, body postures and encouraging words within the framework of each way. Then there are other yoga communities or studios that I could go and check out, and am actually encouraged to do so by my teachers.

I took it for granted.  It didn't feel like a choice. It didn't feel like a luxury.

Then my friend's story, she lives in South Africa.  The yoga program I participated in has a large heart to bring yoga to the people there, all the people there.  It is still a very class/race issue.  There aren't necessarily the choices and opportunities I have.

Not only did her story impact my heart, but I would find other stories as well.

 I heard about how yoga was being brought to individuals with ADD,ADHD, and Autism and their families/support system.  I heard about how yoga was  being brought to incarcerated youth. I found my heart was being awoken to yoga for people who wouldn't necessarily find their way into a yoga studio.  Yoga would have to come to them.

To the homeless
To the veteran
To the elderly
To the sick

 I stay up at night, reading story after story.  It wasn't about any one person being anything in particular. It was about all becoming..  It wasn't about the program. It was about people.

Give a person a mat
Empower some one towards a mind that is more at rest.. more at peace
Teach them that their body is their own and that it can move and breathe and awaken and grow in strength

Relate to each human being as an individual in their own right
Experience the wonder of sharing space and energy
Accept that which a body and mind can do and allow for the wonder of how different we all are
Live.... live each day and each moment for that which it is, with whatever the circumstance.. Life is a gift..

Today... I am grateful
Grateful for choice
Grateful for my mat
Grateful for space

Grateful for a modality that has empowered me to know...
My body and mind and spirit are mine first....
I can breathe.. It might be harder then I ever anticipated but I can really fill myself with breath
I can find stillness and peace and joy and strength and weakness and all at the same time
I can modify when I need to without shame or doubt or fear
I can use supports (bolsters, blocks, straps, blankets... friends, teachers, therapists, family) to help me
I have choice

So for those who don't have the choices I have in life.. whether through life circumstances or whatever events have come their way, I want to open up a door of choice to them. It is hard to feel cornered and not know where and how choice is going to come. It is frightening to want something and not know the path to walk upon.  It is hard to face the world when the way your body or mind is wired is different then whatever agreed upon existing "norm."        

Yoga on and off the mat has taught me more than I could articulate.  It has definitely set me up for choices. For that I am very grateful.

When you don't feel you have any choices left....  breathe, find child's pose (a heart like a child), and breathe some more...  Find where to place your foot and breathe again.