The #1 Question

As I'm beginning my yoga certification, the #1 question that keeps coming up (at the open house, orientation, first day of class) is what brought me to Yoga Yoga and what do I hope to gain during my training.

Honestly, I hate getting asked this question. It seems to be the question everyone loves to ask when groups come together for the first time. I only hate it because I'm not the type of person that is comfortable speaking in a large group of strangers...I totally get nervous! I can't collect my thoughts that quickly and what comes out of my mouth sounds like gibberish. I usually end up giving some standard answer and about 2 minutes after I've said it I think to myself, "You dingleberry, what kind of answer was that?!" Oh well, cest la vie...

So, now that I have had time to reflect on this question and have had time to compose my thoughts here is my answer to the #1 Question (I'll be as brief as possible).

But first, my lame answer that I gave was that I discovered yoga about a year ago, had fallen in love with the practice and wanted to be able to share my passion with others. Boring! Now you tell me, what does that say about me? Nothing at all...I give no one any insight to M-E. On the spot jitters, I have no ability to think. Perhaps this journey through Yoga will improve that. Hmmm.... Okay, moving along...

Here's the real answer: Ever since I graduated college I've been living the rat race. Work, work, work, have a little fun, tack on a little bit of debt, work, work, work, have some more fun, add on a lot more debt...endless cycle of ups and downs with happiness. C'mon, you all know what I'm talking about!! I had dreams of working in the fashion industry as a fashion designer and found myself working in retail management. Ugh! It's not even worth my time or your time to go into the madness of it all. I finally decided, I mean really decided (I had a terrible habit of returning to retail whenever I left "for the last time") that I was finished with retail and the fashion industry. I just thought, "there has to be more to life than this!" I quit my job, moved back to my hometown and back into my parent's house. Holy cow, right?! Well, so what? I'm not embarrassed at all. My plan was to have no plan. I left myself open to whatever was going to come my way. I had read Deepak Chopra's book, The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire, and Wayne Dyer's book, Inspiration, and decided that life was going to lead me to my destiny if I would finally pay attention! Well, guess what? It did! I fell into taking yoga classes, loved what it does for me physically, mentally and spiritually, and decided yes, I want to become a yoga teacher so that I may share this passion I have for Yoga with others.

The last 2-3 years have been a journey for me and my discovery of yoga is a part of that journey. I have really been finding the "real" me and I'm still discovering who she is. Everyday presents its own set of challenges that I must work through. Have you ever asked yourself, "Why am I here? What is my purpose in this life?" I challenge you to do it if you haven't already. I threw everything I thought I knew out the window and gave myself a clean slate to start with. I decided to live life with a truly open mind and an open heart. I realized that my life is MY life...not anyone else's. Who I am is not what my parents want me to be, not the person trying to live up to a standard of how I think my friends want me to be, not what society says I should be... who I am is the person that God has made me to be and if I don't start listening and paying attention I will lose sight of my purpose here on earth.

And that's how I've come to Yoga Yoga to obtain my certification to teach Yoga. There's more to tell, but I'll save that for another day. My brother says I should write a book, but I wonder, "is my life all that interesting?" To me, it definitely is!

Om Shanthi Shanthi Shanthi (Om Peace Peace Peace)