I am very aware that my Summer travels have been a blessing. Going so far away, so able bodied, with the resources and people to make it happen are something I am beyond grateful for. Paris, Berlin, and Whistler have been far, far more than anything I ‘deserve’ and well beyond what I’ve worked to earn. These travels and the independence do it all have been a luxury.
Such excessive joy and indulging so much are a bit incomprehensible, especially if you come to such moments neither expecting nor demanding them. Instead, just opening up to opportunity, and accepting.
It’s then a bit ineffable recollecting them all. In part, …because you kind of have to have a glass of wine on the Seine, as the sun goes down and the under lit architecture begins to shine, to know just how much that you can bring you back to the moment and into your own heart. …you kind of have to leave your luxury hotel where the blinds go up and down on their own in Berlin and into the terraces smelling like food and excitement to know just how electrifying it all feels. …you kind of need to be doing a yoga practice under Blackcombe and a waxing quarter moon to Michael Franti to know how freeing and and peaceful it feels, and how all that mountain air smells. Also, though, there are no words. Words, in fact, would simplify the unsimplifyable.
Once you’ve been given too much though, you also immediately want to give back. Back to your friends. Back to your family. Back to your school and learning community. To the known and unknown world and communities that make it all possible.
So here I am the day before the ’12/’13 school year. Words from Sean Corne and an invigourating evening yoga practice are echoing in my head. Like really echoing. She spoke about all the work there is to do in the world for peace and for learning and for the environment and for rights and for equity and for those somehow less fortunate or less free. She repeated over and over again, “What do you need to go forward with this work? What do you need to hear?”
In summer, away after being even further away, I KNEW this to be true. It was a message that didn’t just resonate, it stood out as obvious. I also needed and needed to hear nothing… I was and am full-up. Rested and recharged and inspired.
It’s not always like that, though, is it? Sometimes we do get tired and stressed helping, and working, and serving, and doing what’s right. We get stuck, discouraged, and unsure.
So when you’re having a moment where you need something or to hear something, tell me. What do you need? What do you need to hear, probably just a reminder of something you already know to be true.
I’m stepping up to ask the same; whether you tell me you’re available. Or not.
However it happens, lately I’m being given a TON. So that, I hope and assume, helps me give a ton too, I hope. To my friends. To my family. To my students. To those in need. To the worthwhile and endless movements and gestures.
School starts tomorrow so the easy and obvious place to start is with my students and colleagues. Fall is lining up to be an exciting one; how can I help yours just as amazing as it deserves to be?
If I can juice anything out of my time under the Eiffel Tower or my time on the mat (or in an auditorium) with some REALLY exceptional teachers… trust me, I’m more than happy to think back to all that and tap into some……
…..Hanuman[asana]-style Superpowers. …and more than keen to try!
