So much has happened in my life in the four months since I started teaching yoga classes in Sonora.
- I fulfilled my dream of starting a yoga business and had a grand opening launch party that was everything I hoped it would be and more. (Many thanks to Debra, one of the most generous souls I know, and my parents for helping set everything up, then take it down 2 days later when we realized we'd need a bigger space.)
- I reconnected with friends I didn't even know I had. I didn't really expect to have much of a social life when I moved back to Sonora but have been so happy to have friends to go to lunch with, have margaritas with, go walking with, go to campaign rallies with (!), co-host nutrition and yoga seminars with, and do big city shopping in San Angelo with. (Target, nails, HEB, Starbucks -- in that order.)
- I replaced bad memories with good ones. It's kind of an open secret I didn't always have a great experience growing up here. For too long I let bad memories haunt me and define the way I viewed this town. Now, instead of thinking of how much I hated living here (let's not count how many years ago, but it was more than a decade) I feel how lucky I am to have this cocoon of a small town to live in. I love the slower pace of life compared to the city, I like walking on Eaton hill and feeling sunshine, seeing flowers and hearing the birds, and I like seeing friendly, familiar faces wherever I go.
I also love the super nachos at the Steakhouse (no meat, jalepenos on the side).
- There have been other changes too, but I wanted this post to be about YOU, the people I am honored to call my students, and not me, so we can talk about the other stuff over a cup of coffee or glass of wine later. :)
What I want to say is this:
Whether you came to one class or twenty classes, you made my dream of being a yoga teacher come true. I couldn't have done it without you. I finally know what it feels like to have a job that is so much fun and so gratifying it doesn't feel like work.
I've seen your practices blossom and grow from the first day you stepped on the mat to weeks later when you were steady and solid and knowing what you were doing! The credit for that goes to YOU, for showing up to your mat even when it was hard, being present, and pushing yourself.
Remember this: any sense of peace or well-being you may have felt in yoga class was in you all along and is still with you...you just have to be still and present, and you can tap into it anytime you want.
And this: we call it a yoga practice, not a yoga perfect. Even if you can't do a certain pose as well as you wish you could - yet- ...keep at it. Yoga is not a competition with anyone else or even with yourself. You bring what you have to your mat, do your practice, and all is coming.
And finally this: My all-time favorite song for savasana. Listen to this any time you need a little peace and relaxation. ~bring me a higher love~
Thank you all for sharing your practice with me.
Namaste,
Andi
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