We spent the first few years of our
married life hopping around from city to city, finally landing in St. Louis. My husband had Rocky Mountain dreams though, so this was not
where he intended to stay. We lived for nine discontent years in St.
Louis* thinking, to quote Erma Bombeck, that the grass was greener
somewhere else. That somewhere ended up being South Dakota. Seriously, we lived in Sioux Falls for two years. When we arrived in
January it was cold, negative fourty windchill, and bleak. Ok, time for an attitude change. I
remember the day I told myself (this was pre-yoga), that it was up to
me...I could make the best of my situation or I could continue to
focus on the negative. It was at this time the universe dropped yoga
into my life. I had decided to explore yoga just as we made the
decision to leave Missouri and head to South Dakota. I seriously
wondered what my chances were of finding yoga in South Dakota in the
nineties; back then yoga was still a bit fringy. I found yoga...in
fact, I found the only Registered Yoga Teacher in the state, and she
began to mentor me. Yoga spoke to me and became what I believe will
continue to be a lifelong passion. I still think fondly of my first
yoga teacher; picture a woman who had just finished touring with an
eighties hair band, then add a little Jane Fonda circa 1982, some
tattoos, and seventeen years of yoga experience. What an anomaly she
was out there in the middle of the wheat fields and buffalo herds.
I will be forever in her debt for the path that she helped me to
find.
I have a vision board on my
kitchen wall and right in the center are the words “More Fun”. I
forget the lessons I learned in my younger years sometimes, I forget
to be happy exactly where I am. So this board is a daily
reminder. I sometimes ask my college students to do “homework”. What is yoga homework? Well, this week I asked them to notice what
makes them happy, what makes them smile? Here are some examples from
my own week: I heard a song on Sirius Radio's Coffeehouse station,
it was a young woman, very quiet and mellow, accompanied by an
acoustic guitar. I kept thinking I knew the song, then it hit me, it
was a cover of a Sublime song...smile! Then yesterday, as I was
driving onto campus, I passed a Smart Car. Behind the wheel was a
large man who brought to mind Cam, one of my favorite characters from
the television show Modern Family, and as he passed I noticed a
huge Hello Kitty sticker covering the driver's side of the
car...smile! To embrace our lives just as they are is to practice the niyama santosha, or contentment. I realized long ago that my life, just as
many of you are thinking, is not always easy, we all have our crosses
to bear. Yet, we can make a concious choice despite these challenges to
look for the things that make us smile and to be happy even when
things are not “perfect”.
* St. Louis is actually a lovely city,
I was just too young to appreciate it.
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