Great Spirit-The Eagle

Yesterday Anahata and I went for a walk near our home. On the trail we saw a man and a woman on bikes stopped off to the side. The man was looking up, the other biker was on her cell phone. Of course I looked up also to see what he was looking at. A majestic bird, up quite high, in full wing span flew over my head. Next, the man yells, "watch out, he dropped it!" Not knowing what was happening or where "it" was I moved forward a little quicker. I then heard a loud thud behind us.

A falling prairie dog. The sky wasn't falling, but a prairie dog was. The man said it was an eagle and that he was glad he was there and said something or it would have hit us. I asked him, "how close was it?" He responded, "very close!". I walked on a bit dazed, but not too terribly freaked out. I was looking for the meaning of it all.

I called my sister in law, Sue West. She had an animal book with meanings of these kind of things. This is what her resource said. What a message!

The Eagle is a representation of the Great Spirit. It is of the realm of spirit and of the realm of earth. Take heart and gather your courage the universe is giving you the opportunity to soar above the mundane level of your life. Broaden your sense of self beyond the horizon of what is presently visible. Attack your personal fear of the unknown. Love the shadow as well as the light, to see beauty in both and take flight like the eagle.

Peace is Every Step

For the last three nights, my daughter has woke up in the middle of the night, screaming. Those of you who are parents have been there. Those of you that are not parents, you might be able to relate to this by imagining what is was like for friends, family or your parents. It is terrifying.

Anahata is only 1 year and so far can only sign, "milky". So telling us what is wrong is out of the question. With tears down her eyes, her little back arching and her crying loudly, she tries to communicate that something is wrong. Stephen and I are challenged to speak and listen to one another as we panic. We wonder if we should be heading to the emergency room as we helplessly trade her off to comfort her and flip through our pediatric health book. I wonder if the piece of yoga mat she ate earlier today is lodged in her intestines or if the eucalyptus oil I used in the bath and on her bed is burning her skin and nostrils.

The more we panic, the louder she cries. After singing, "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and dancing with her in a circle, Stephen hands her off while I try to comfort her. I decide to calm down and really listen to her. I try to connect on a level of intuition. I am quiet. Peaceful. I breathe in and out. Soon she is quiet too. She takes my breast and starts to fall asleep. I stay here on the couch for another 10 minutes or so. Then we go to bed.

Peace is every step. It is every moment. Present moment. Wonderful moment. Even in our fear.

I thank Thich Nhat Hanh for his wisdom and inspiration.

Rejuvenate this Spring

April 26th at 2-3:45 I will teach the Rejuvenate/Restore Yoga class at The Yoga Workshop.

For more information you can scroll down to prior postings or go to www.yogaworkshop.com

Sraddha=Faith

Just 1 year and 1 day ago a huge blessing came into this world. Our daughter, Anahata, was born! The journey to that day and the journey to today was a huge leap of faith, sraddha. In 2004, I found out that I had three large tumors on my ovaries. They had to be removed because of the risk of them rupturing or twisting my ovaries and damaging my ability to have children. So, 6 weeks before my wedding I decided to have open abdominal surgery to remove them. It was supposed to be a 1 1/2 hour surgery, it took over 4 hours. When I came to, my doctor told me that we would have to see if I went into menopause since over 1/2 of each ovary had to be removed. I prayed. I chanted. I believed I would be able to have a baby, to not go into early menopause. I had faith that what ever happened it was a journey into the unknown.

4 weeks to the day after my surgery I had my cycle. I celebrated like it was my first cycle! About 4 months after that, with a clear bill of health, we decided to start trying to get pregnant. We did about 1 year later, but lost the baby soon after finding out that we were pregnant. So, back to the faith! After another year, we got pregnant again and then our sweet Anahata came to us on April 6, 2007.

In Pantanjali's Yoga Sutras, 1:20, Pantanjali writes, "Wholeness is preceded by faith, energy, mindfulness, union, and awareness. " We need to have faith in the process, the practice, the outcome, the teacher, and the yoga. Faith is made up of trust in ourselves and trust in the experience of life working out. Faith is the williness to step forward with no guarantee that we won't fall. The mystery of the universe and our existence in it demands faith in all that we do.

Cheers to Faith........Sraddha!