My close friends know I love Yoga....
There is nothing like Sunrise Yoga at 5:30 am as the sun is "rising" (thus the name)...in a quiet room with just your "teacher" or "yogi" encouraging you to the next position....or, evening yoga as the sun sets.
I have friends who find my love of yoga to be odd...they associate it with uncertainty....religion...Ohmming...and things with which they are not comfortable..
That is okay. But, they are mistaken.
While some practices do all of those things, I have never attended such a practice....
What I find during yoga is the sweet greeting of my favorite Yogi, Melissa and her counterpart, Heather. They greet you with positive attitudes and cheerful hearts. Fellow students enter, grab a space on the floor and begin practice...
The room is quiet and calmness settles in the room...
I even like the names for yoga positions..."Child's pose"..."Warrior I" "Upward Dog"....."happy baby" (not sure about this one being a true yoga term or Melissa's made up word), but she is able to lead us from position to position with just a word...a term....and, amazing to me...we all follow.
She does not yell, she is not critical, she is not impatient. In fact, she is opposite all of that...
Melissa is a kind heart and that comes out in the way she leads us in class. Yoga is her passion and her gift...and, you can by the way she uses her gift that she loves being a Yogi...it completes her..
I smiled often when I first met Melissa because she really has a "wild at heart" mentality....she is, let's say, a busy, active girl...:) She is expressive, verbal and quick paced...
But, the moment practice starts, she is all business. She leads us on our mats as if our whole life depends on us letting go of our stresses and living in the moment of breathing, relaxing, bending and posing...she is attentive to the needs of her students...hurt wrist - modify; bad knee - modify; broken heart - let the pain out on your mat...she does this very well because she takes the sixty minutes she is in class to get to know you...not just as a paying student but as a person whom she grows to care about with each practice you attend.
What does this have to do with my theme of home?
Melissa uses her gift to make those in her class feel at "home"....she prepares the way for each of her students gently guiding them with her voice to go places they might not otherwise go...but, she does not force the effort. She is considerate to notice a particular ache or pain and permits you to modify your positions without guilt. She makes you smile when she is ready to be "Yogi Nazi" and asks you to "flip your dog" with her...
But, most of all, she accepts you...cares for you while you are in her presence and you most definitely leave there with the feeling that you are "home".....Yoga Home....
My challenge for you is this: Do I, in my daily living, at my job or in my home use my passion and my gift to help others feel at "home"?
Do you?
Thank you, Melissa....I pray many blessings on your new practice and know those who join you will feel they have come "home" when in your presence...
Blessings,
Lesa
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