Today, I must take a moment and thank God for my Mother!
It was a few months after my Dad died that my Mother began yoga practice at the ripe old age of 77! Never really one for exercise and never really into eating good or fitness, she took her mat and boldly entered a class of senior citizen yogis. I give her credit for just getting there. Lying on the floor and breathing weird with strangers has to be pretty intimidating in old age. Yet she never complained. She was happy, content, and thrilled at the prospect of meeting new people and making new friends. Unfortunately, 6 months later she became ill and suddenly died. However, a few of those new friends came to her wake. I remember her teacher especially. She was a tiny, able lady, bursting with gratitude from even knowing my Mom and reeking of the fresh smell of garlic. She was 86 years old. It was precisely at that moment, with out my consent, my mind took a snap shot. Little did I know I would visit that picture over and over again until I too would begin a yoga practice for myself.
Today, I am fifty six years young and a certified yoga instructor. I see why my Mom really enjoyed yoga. Because yoga is fun! Yoga is not just a form of exercise, it’s an experience! Where else can one roll around on a mat with your eyes closed and call it a workout? How about looking at the world from up side down in a headstand? What form of exercise encourages making funny faces while breathing or twisting yourself like a pretzel? Only yoga my dear friend!
It is hard to explain yoga to people. It is like going back to a place you used to know but somehow forgot. It’s a innocent place, like when you were a child in the outdoors, dancing in the gentle wind as the sunshine warmed your shoulders. Free of boundaries, free of control. and just flowing in the ever present, spontaneous surrender of your body, to movement. That is the yoga experience in words only. You must experience it for yourself.
Lately, I have come to realize that for me, yoga is also a portal back to my childhood. It is a place I loved with all my heart and I called home once. It is a place I could never forget but sometimes it is painful and yet wonderful to remember, and always worth the visit. My Mom is alive and well there. It is my childhood and I am my mother’s daughter again. That is the feeling I get when I work my body in yoga. That same feeling of security and purity, comfort and warmth, family and home.
We all begin yoga for different reasons. For me it was my Mother. I believe that in God’s immense wisdom He is able to use many different things in our lives to keep us going in the direction that He wants us to follow. Sometimes, I even think He makes us a portal back in time in order that we can move forward in life.
Today, six years ago, I woke up and I no longer owned the title of daughter. Although it was devastating, I thank God for the wonderful Mother that He gave me to experience for 50 years here on this earth. I feel intensely thankful and joyous for her. Today I celebrate her life and all the wonderful things that she did and all that she taught me. I celebrate knowing her and for her love, for being 77 and not giving up on life but trying something new. That was my Mom. That was my childhood and I visit it sometimes when I do yoga, with joy!
Happy Mother’s Day 2016
HALLELUYAH!
