Tuesday, February 19, 2013

a blizzard

It's been a few weeks since Boston got a blizzard named Nemo (cutest name ever for a storm). I have to admit that before it I had felt that global warming must really be speeding up, since I hadn't yet worn my real snow boots. (While I am still worried about global warming, I did wear snow boots.)
The streets downtown were deserted.

It was a good thing there were no cars on the road.
A walk signal yet nowhere to walk!

Photos from my husband, who ventured out into the storm for chocolate bars and milk ;)

Friday, February 8, 2013

on endings and beginnings

Yoga is the meeting of the drop and the ocean. 
     -Swami Kripalu

One week ago I became a Kripalu yoga teacher!

The graduation ceremony was such a powerful culmination of four weeks spent together with my fellow students and teachers. As each student walked a petal-strewn aisle flanked by our fellow teachers-in-training, we spoke our blessings and well-wishes for the graduate. Looking into the faces of these people whom I have gotten to know in such a special way, I felt so connected to them. Earlier in the week, our teacher had used the analogy of a tapestry - we are forever woven together in an important way, for having been so vulnerable and honest together, and for sharing this time of amazing growth.

While I learned so much about yoga, the teacher training was about so much more. Having that time to consistently go within myself, away from all the distractions of regular life, was so insightful. Emotions came to the surface that had long been buried, and then were washed away. At the end of a day of silence and meditation, I realized how free I felt - I had been carrying around the echoes of the past, and now I had shaken them off, and it felt like seeing the world (and myself in it) in a new light.

The challenge now will be to remember that feeling of freedom and tap into that well of connectedness, calm, and love when things gets in the way. Each ending is a new beginning - now to bring that Kripalu magic home, and hopefully share it with others!