How's the Weather? - Don't You Wish You Were Here?

My brother sent me a text from California yesterday bragging about the sunny warm weather. He then asked "How is it there?" knowing very well that we were going to get temperatures below freezing that night. I could almost hear his sinister laugh as he sent the text. I responded that this week it was cold but I should be back in my bathing suit in a week or two - like I was the week before.

I remember a business trip to San Diego in the middle of our Texas winter. I came out of a store that was up on a hill right at sunset. It was so incredibly beautiful I stopped in my tracks in the middle of the parking lot. For safety's sake I found a bench on the sidewalk and sat down to enjoy the incredible view. I was amazed at all of the other people around me continuing to walk in and out of the stores, and get in and out of their cars without stopping. How could they not pause and look at what I was looking at? Maybe they were just so used to it being perfect all the time that it didn't phase them anymore. How sad.

Getting outside today in the chilly 30 degree weather reminded me that I wouldn't really be able to appreciate the 60 degree weather we are likely to get in a week or two if I wasn't freezing today. We must have a few tough times to enjoy the good. It makes it so much sweeter.

The same applies to yoga. How much more incredible it is for the person who has not been able to touch their toes to actually do it one day. For the person who could never do the splits to actually get down all the way to the floor some day (that would be me!). I delight in these "YES!!!" moments for my students and for myself. But remember - the journey itself is also to be enjoyed. So - don't fret the freeze - enjoy this moment and the inevitable return of the sun.

Ever Elusive Quiet Time

An instructor asked me to teach one of her fitness classes. It was at the same club I was heading to for my yoga class, but there was a 45 minute time gap between the end of her class and the start of mine. No class filled the time slot - just an empty room. I agreed to teach for her. I thought I would use the time to catch up on some telephone calls I had been meaning to make.

After the room emptied from the ab class I set up my yoga mat and sat down to make a few calls. I did manage to connect with one person but most of the calls I made ended up with me talking to peoples' voice messages. That was ok. At least they knew I was thinking about them as I left a cheery Hello. I still had a half hour before my yoga class started. I thought - wow - here is a full thirty minutes to just enjoy silence and meditate and I was trying to fill it up with calls and activity. I put the phone away and lay down on my mat in corpse pose to breathe and enjoy the quiet.

I had missed that place where everything stops except the breath. It was a wonderful thirty minutes and I intend to find more. As the new year takes off and so many of us are looking for more I will be looking for less. Less things to fill my time and more time to enjoy the silence. I look forward to the places my thoughts will take me and the ideas that never had a chance to grow because of all the activity around them.

Happy New Year.