What I've Been Given

Oof. This morning feels a wee bit emotional, a wee bit hard. It's my first Monday in four weeks away from my fellow yoga teacher trainers (my "ytts" which totally looks like and sounds like - in my head - a Sanskrit word - right?). It's also my fifth Monday away from my fam because even though I'm not in Omaha, I'm still yoga-ing away like crazy. I rolled out after supper last night for Lincoln (thanks H fam for the awesome hospitality!) so I could hit pretty much every class on the LHOY-L schedule for today and tomorrow morning. And before you think I've totally lost my mind, I'm not practicing at each one. For the most part, I'm assisting, which is still intense and hard (touching strangers? weird.), but still, it's a long day and a half and I'm still away from my two families that have gotten me through the last month, so I'm struggling a bit. As you can probably imagine, I'm borderline teary every other five minutes this morning. But I'm focusing on how awesome it is to have Ben around for another week before school starts so I can get here and get so much accomplished with the amazing ladies in Lincoln (and did you see my fb post about Starbucks? How can I be grumpy when I have access to Starbucks?!).

The other things getting me through right now are the various-and-numerous-but-really-countless gifts and lessons I have received in the last month. My head is stuffed full of yoga but I still can't wait to learn more. Even though I know we covered SO much, I also feel like I've barely scratched the surface of everything I want to know about the mind, body, and spirit as experienced through yoga and I am so thrilled, so honored, that I have the rest of my life to keep exploring, to keep expanding. Blessed is this life, for sure. And blessed am I for the tangible gifts that came my way at the end of my program last week that are my touchstones as I move through this transitional period of easing back into life at home (even though leaving B & the kids last night was hard, it's good because it gives me a little space back in the yoga bubble before I settle back into my norm at home. baby steps, I tell ya...they're a beautiful thing.)

Look at these gorgeous littles:

The first one to come my way was the "Find Inner Peace" magnet from my sweet friend S. We've exchanged creative gifts before, but this one is probably my fave. I don't know if she had me in mind specifically when she made it, but it was such a perfect gift to send my way. It also totally inspired me to make magnets for the rest of my ytts which was so much fun to do last week.

The second gift was the "Shanti" rock from one of my fellow "old ladies", T, during our second day of marathon practice teaching last week. I love this lady something fierce and again, peace is what we all seek, so I love having this reminder from her to keep a small piece of peace with me always. From that smallness, may calm and satisfaction and contentment radiate.

The third one was such a surprise. My awesome yoga buddy (no really - we were randomly assigned buddies on the first day of training and mine could not have been a more perfect fit for me, as we are totally walking many of the same paths and cut from many of the same cloths) made these chakra malas for everyone in our class. Isn't that/she fantastic?! Chakras are one of the many yoga-related topics that fascinates me, so this bracelet is, again, beyond perfect to keep in me line and keep me moving forward with my practice and my knowledge.

The fourth and final gift came during the closing ceremony of our program last Friday. We all got to pick (without looking) a teaching stone. I was first to go and I waited until everyone in the group had selected theirs before I glanced down at the one I was holding in my hot little hand. Truth? I was totally disappointed at first. I had visions of other colors in mind that would "fit" me as the "stone picks you" and when I first saw mine in the studio, it looked so brown and so plain. Well, metaphor/lesson alert, I then went out into the natural light of the lobby, and looked at it again and saw how much awesomeness is happening with it. It's not brown. It's actually more cream-ish into orange-ish (if any of you are rock gurus, you can totally tell me what the name of the actual stone is, OK?) which is great because the sacral chakra is the same color and my hips, like so many of our hips, carry a crap-ton of shtuff, and I need lots of help opening and releasing from there. I also love how smooth the stone is - a gentle reminder of how I want to approach this life and my role as a mama - with firmness and fluidity. And did you notice how it is totally shaped like a coffee bean? I mean, really - could we pick a better shape for my teaching stone? I think not (even though tea is way more yogic than coffee, but I'm OK w/ that. Maybe I'll be a tea drinker some day/lifetime, eh?).

I wanted to share my sweet littles with you because they are now a part of me. I'll carry them in my heart as I move forward with my practice and my teaching because they are such amazing touchstones of this training journey. I also share them with you to encourage you to find small things that remind you of what makes your heart sing, so you can return to them when necessary. We all need reminders. We all need to be brought back down and back to heart center. And as I continue my re-entry, I'm so thankful to have been given such beauty and light and love.