A year ago, I was sitting in a studio with two dozen strangers eager to become Yin Yoga teachers. I had been struck with blinding inspiration months before. In a flash, I saw how to embody deep psychological work with yin yoga. I just needed to learn how. As luck would have it, a first ever training was starting in a month and the day I called there was a last minute cancellation.
Weeks after finishing the training, I readied my office for embodied work. I saw exactly one client before Covid-19 hit Portland. Ironically, the timing was perfect though it would take a year for me to see the impact of the pandemic as a tragic blessing.
And then…
2020 went on to become a crazy year. My focus was pulled in every direction. It was quite the dance avoiding infection while living in captivity, navigating social relations and attempting to home school a master distractor of a child. All these things and more took me further away from yoga.
Twelve months later the vision is still alive…not as I saw it but as it needs to be. Which reminds me of an old Yiddish adage, “Man plans, and god laughs.” The wisdom of yoga is teaching, once again, about patience, practice and perseverance. Life has its unfolding, despite my best laid plans.
Yet, I know I have some volition. It’s not all random. While little has changed since Governor Brown gave the Executive Order, I’m ending this year on a positive, growth-promoting, dream-catching, god-laughing note with a return to practice. And as I enter back into the flow of yin, I’m holding space for what will become.
