To conclude April’s focus on Love and Compassion, where we at Evolutions focused on heart-opening poses, discussions, and meditations, I will share a very simple little story that came up a few times in classes.
The month before, I found myself getting all out-of-sorts about this and that. With a lot of different projects going on and significant loved ones to tend to, it was one of those phases we all find ourselves in, where I noticed myself cursing when I dropped something, feeling constricted when driving in traffic, and impatient when my toddler dragged his feet. A day or two like this usually tells me that I need to increase my self care a bit, but my moods were feeling agitated despite my taking the time to attend to myself in various ways, and they were lasting longer than a day or two. I noticed that my husband was in a similar place–not constantly grumpy, but with a low threshold for life’s normal irritations.
We took a trip one weekend, as planned, to see some old friends in Charlottesville, VA. Within a matter of hours, my husband and I found ourselves moved beyond words. By the end of the first night, I had laughed, as always, with my beloved friend Ty, glowed as I held my friend Erin’s new baby girl, cried as her husband Bert recited poetry, and felt immersed as we discussed life, love, yoga, heartache, spirit–all the things most real and sacred to each of us. As my husband and I fell asleep that night, tucked under blankets that were not our own, we felt completely reconnected with the very deep love all of us had built together over many years, back on the other coast of the country. Somehow we hadn’t thought much about it in more recent years, but it was clear to all of us now that this love had gone nowhere, as it rekindled before our eyes in an instant.
In efforts to shift my mood in the weeks before, I had tried more vigorous yoga, more gentle yoga, more rest, more nourishing foods, more alone time–and all I’d needed was there all along: to remember that I am part of a huge and ever-growing web of people who love me, and whom I love. “You are part of a web of people who adore you” I found myself saying to class one night. And this is what I say to you now. You are loved by many. Old and new, alive and passed. Find a way to remember. Reconnect with old friends, have neighbors over for iced tea, call yo’ mama and thank her, tell your best friends how life wouldn’t be the same without them, whatever it takes.
Tap in.