Times Like These

 

Last week I made a video announcement to our yoga community. I have decided to not renew my lease that ends on June 30, 2021 and I will be taking a sabbatical. In other words, it’s time for me to step away from what I’ve been doing and a business that I’ve built for more than 15 years. The reactions have been varied and not too unexpected. Some people were both surprised and stunned. Others took a few days to process what it means for them and many have expressed a deep sadness for something that has had an impact in their lives. More powerful than that is the tidal wave of good wishes and deep sentiments of gratitude. It made sense to me that the week’s theme was around “times like these”…often monstrous shifts that show up in our lives and can change the course of our lives.

I’ve had many of these shifts: giving up my gymnastics coaching career and bidding farewell to many gymnasts I had known for years; leaving my teaching role at the University of Melbourne where I taught 848 aerobics classes over a four-year period; leaving Australia and moving to The United States and bidding farewell to my sacred heart family; saying good-bye to my personal training clients and group fitness students when we moved from the Bay Area to the desert; leaving a dedicated group of strength trainees in a group class at a gym in Palm Springs when I shifted gears into primarily yoga teaching; and now…stepping into the world as a roaming nomad.

As Paul Harvey said, “In times like these, it helps to recall that there have always been times like these.” And that’s one of the benefits of creating a regular practice that prepares us for times like these---of change, uncertainty, and letting go.

Life is a constant process of creating something and eventually releasing it. We can hope that what actions we take in our daily lives creates something that gives us meaning, purpose, and direction. As we do so, we grow, continue to get educated, and apply what we’ve learned, and when the lesson has been learned, we move onto what’s next. It’s the constant gripping and releasing with grace and willingness that adds richness to our lives.

Amidst the gratitude of this shift, I have also heard sadness and fear. People have invested their energy in stepping onto their mat and with many of them saying, what’s next for me? How will I navigate getting to my mat when you leave? Can you point me in some direction, make suggestions, and give me some guidance? Yes, I can do that but before I do, I want to honor your path and the time you’ve dedicated to it. I want to remind you that all of the answers you seek are within you, not with someone outside of you. The guru is within. You are your own guru.

We all come to this practice needing someone to show us the way and I have been the humble recipient of the teachings of many teachers who have done that for me. Yet, it is completely up to us to receive and embody what we are being taught. I’m the one who needs to commit to getting on my mat as nobody can do that for me. And when we repeat that day in and day out, it becomes part of who we are, embedding in our cells and nervous system and, in other words, embodying what we’ve received. At that point, we can activate what’s within and shine it outward, sharing what has supported us along the way. It very well may not take the form of being a teacher. It may show up in the simplicity of you caring for yourself and, in doing so, you care for others. Coming to our mat makes us easier to be around.

Around 2012, I had a psychic reading done as I was looking for clarification. What the psychic said to me was that I “needed to share everything that I know. That not sharing was adharmic. I needed to share in any way shape or form…writing, teaching, speaking, singing, or whatever vehicle it takes to get the teachings out.” I nodded my head as it felt like an affirmation of something I already knew and, over the past few years, I have done just that. I know that I am simply a channel, tunnel, or funnel for sharing and am deeply grateful to have been able to share what I know to such a generous, curious, and receptive audience.

As the Foo Fighters say:

It's times like these you learn to live again
It's times like these you give and give again
It's times like these you learn to love again
It's times like these time and time again

And it’s times like these to once again release the creation and explore the next chapter of unfolding.