I think a lot about life and how to make sense of it all–how to relate to life’s difficulties and how to live genuinely and authentically.
When I was 8-years-old, I first listened to the song, “This Little Light of Mine . . . I’m Going to Let is Shine.” I sang it over and over again. Those were the first times that I experienced what peace felt like in my body. Since then, I’ve been in an ongoing relationship with peace; feeling the mysterious magic of it when it’s there and missing it when it’s gone.
My husband and I recently took our children to New York City and I spent a lot of time thinking about the people who travelled to the United States via ship through Ellis Island. What tremendous courage and faith it took for them to start a new and better life. I thought about the 3,000 people who lost their lives in 9/11 and all the mothers, fathers, children, and friends who are forever impacted by their loss. I also saw how hard many ordinary people work to make a living in NYC.
I thought about what the immigrants’ bodies must have felt like from sailing on a ship for days and weeks at a time. I thought about how little space and quiet people had to feel the impact of their worries and fears had on their inner life. I thought about the emotional and physical heartache that runs so deep in people’s hearts when they experience a sudden and tragic loss like 9/11 or an unknown or incurable sickness on their way to the United States. Many people lived to simply survive.
In the quietness of my own heart over this past week, I’ve been feeling a renewed blessing for the Beverly Yoga Center and the sacredness of being a space that was created to care for our minds, bodies and hearts. A place to land softly and to care kindly for our well-being.
The start of the New Year is often the time we want to better ourselves and/or to change something. For me this year I am focusing on the simple blessings of my life.
I hope that at some point when you find yourself on your mat or cushion in 2014 at the Beverly Yoga Center, you feel the blessings of peace within your own mind, body and heart.
