Never Too Old or Too Young to Dream Big Dreams!

"Someone's got to dream the big dreams. Why shouldn't it be you?"

Jeanne K. Doss at the airport, yoga bag on one shoulder and backpack in the other hand.

"The world needs those gorgeous ideas brewing in your mind, or who else will make them happen? The world needs all of that passion that goes along with the burning desire in your heart to make things better and to fix what is wrong, or who else is going to do it? And, honey, all of those hard things you are learning, those lessons, those trials, ALL OF THEM, those are the things that will bring the wisdom and the experience that is so needed in the world. Because, if not YOU, who else will have it?

In case you are wondering...let me remind you that you're qualified, you're deserving, you have a 'right' to be the one with the huge dreams or the beautiful wisdom. YOU.

Get ready, sister. There are big things planned for you. Keep dreaming, keep fixing, keep helping, keep learning, keep sharing."  Brave Girls Club

I begin my training today at Kripalu Institute.  So many people have asked me why now or why the effort.  I must say that I have asked myself the same questions on why I feel compelled to hire 42 subs to teach for me while I am gone, where the money will come from, why the effort at 56 years old as an ERYT, and how can I be away from my best friend, Brian, for this time.  My only answer is a deep yearning inside my soul for more.  More knowledge, more practical experience, more hands on training, more yoga.

If you wonder if yoga is my passion, just ask; but, be prepared for a long discussion.  When I was on the plane ride from Chicago to Hartford, a nice young man (former college football player) told me he practiced yoga and how could I work the practice of yoga with its Eastern roots with my Christianity (I am guessing he saw my cross necklace).  Poor guy.  We talked all the way through the almost 2 hour flight.  He was practicing yoga once a week at his gym for 45 minutes in Dallas.  

Through the whole conversation of anatomy, breath practice, yoga poses, why or why not inversions, arm balancing (he had never heard of them) poses, and final relaxation (his teacher often shortened it to a few minutes or none at tall), I continued to tell him that yoga can make a profound difference in your life with consistency, the gift of time, and continual learning.  At the very end, as we were preparing to disembark to our various locations, he said, "I am under a lot of stress with my commission type of job, and my dad died at 53.  Do you think yoga can help me live longer?  I need to provide for my three young children (ages 1, 3, 5).  

I simply answered with a smile and said, "Yes, the best part of the physical exercise of yoga is to prepare you for the last five minutes (minimum) of Savasana (final relaxation) and meditation (five minutes daily or more)."  You can do this if you will add meditation and prayer to your life.

Just the yoga poses, exercise you with the intention of physical work to prepare you to sit.  Patanjali, Yoga Sutras and the Eight Limbed Path of Hatha Yoga, said one verse about asana, physical posture, "Sthira sukham asanam."  Steadiness, strength, ease, flexibility, in a comfortable seat (balance).  Our breath practice, our meditation, our concentration, our way of living (how we treat others and ourselves), our relationship with God, letting go of our senses to withdraw our attention, all contribute to our practice of yoga.  You cannot have one without aiming to include the others.  

It is my path, my way of drawing my crazy busy mind into a quiet place for rest and stillness.  Won't you come, too?  I believe it gives me the tools in my toolbox, so to speak, to be a better Christian and live out my faith in a whole hearted way.  Have I achieved this passion yet?  No, I have only just begun.

But I am on my way.  It is my dharma, my path.