Waiting To Exhale

Are you like me and love this movie?

Scene: April, 2000. After studying for months on end, I had finally taken the LSAT. For those not familiar with this test its one of those we call the “neck hurters” because your neck literally hurts bad, like so bad after this 4 hour ordeal.

After the test I recall meeting up with all of my friends. We were all approaching graduation and could see the light in sight; there would soon be an end to our college experience. My friend plopped in this movie and we all made dinner and took our own exhale moment as we watched Whitney, Angela, and Loretta take theirs. Are you also waiting to exhale?

I can totally understand if you are. Tonight my husband shared the sweetest story. He held our little baby tight in his arms, calming her down and preparing her for bed. There was a moment when he lightly touched his cheek to her face and he heard her take a deep breath, and then her whole little body relaxed, she closed her eyes, and like that she was on to a good nights sleep. Too many people, too many of our neighbors, too many of our loved ones, have nervous systems in over drive, gray hairs galore, and they are waiting for that moment to exhale and be told “everything is going to be alright.” Today, I took class using an audio recording. (I love virtual recordings!) My mind instantly felt peace with the gifts of repetition of the Bikram yoga practice and through my deep concentration the words that I had heard so often from my teacher came to my mind and warmed my heart and body. “All the pain in the world is not able to take your peace.”

Many teachers, including myself, love to remind students of a beautiful gift that can be channeled and developed through a regular, consistent, Original Hot Yoga practice. The practicing yogi is truly comfortable, being uncomfortable. The practicing yogi is truly able to thrive and grow in the face of uncertainty, adversity, and even fear. And right now my friends, is the perfect opportunity to practice being comfortable, when you’re uncomfortable. It’s how we will continue moving forward and we will continue to find and see the new opportunities that exist, even those new ones that we didn’t even know about last March, and even when they are different from what we had envisioned.

And at this time of year, we are called to be a light and spread cheer to those around us who, for whatever reasons, have not yet realized this supercalifragilisticexpialidocious yogi power! Now, I am not at all saying that this level of self-realization makes all problems go away. Not at all. In fact, this level of awareness provides the space to help us more clearly see our many blessings instead of seeing our many problems.

This, my friends, is good cheer definitely worth sharing!See you on your mat, and we can both exhale together.