The Summer of 2013

I first stepped on a yoga mat in August of 2012, a mere 7 months after the birth of my little Aug Pie.  I was asked to participate in a yoga session in the backyard of a sorta colleague (Cynthia student taught at PLHS) so she could practice her yoga teaching skills seeing as how she was recently certified.

I liked the idea of getting out of baby mode, so I agreed.

In that backyard on that glorious day, as I awkwardly figured out what asana meant and what sit bones were (your butt apparently), I awkwardly began walking a path that I once thought frivolous.  I mean practicing yoga is couched in privilege.  My beloved mother never had the chance to roll out a mat and focus on her breathing; she was too busy working the night shift to feed her kids.  Getting to go to a yoga class costs money.  Period.  And getting to practice (on the mat, at least) costs time.  But with all that aside, yoga did change my life and is far more than warrior pose and namaste.

The second yoga class I ever attended was with a brute of a teacher who literally put me in a headstand and subsequently knocked me over.  After class I sweetly asked if there was someone else perhaps a little less...focused??  That led me to a beautiful soul named Sarah and to an immersion program in the summer of 2013.

That summer I cracked wide open.  And while all the details aren't meant for your lovely eyes, one thing I will share is that Sarah taught me what a good teacher does.  At the end of our time together, she gathered us all around and gave each attendee mala beads and a yoga pose to practice.

I received tadasana.  That's mountain pose...a standing pose.

Sarah explained why.

"Yolanda - Tadasana, so that she might experience that her firm connection to the ground, and thus to all things, is indeed her base for ascending, for living the loving kindness she so naturally exudes."

In that moment, I felt seen.

I felt I mattered.

I understood the role of a teacher.

I hope I have done that for some of you.  (Ultimately, my goal is to be the kind of teacher Sarah is...)

Thank you to all the first day presenters.  It takes a lot to speak in front of your peers and I saw each of you today.  And each of you matters in Room 853, our Indra's Net.

See y'all tomorrow.

Love and Light,
Beltran