Do you ever find yourself in a situation and wonder how you ended up there? Maybe things are happening in your life in a way you couldn’t have foreseen, and if only you’d known, you’d have made different choices? Sometimes when we’re in the heat of a thing and every path looks full of thorns, it’s really hard to imagine any beauty emerging from all the strife, but the amazing thing about most people is our resiliency. We all want to be happy, we all have a song to sing, and the drive to withstand and carry on is strong.
Yesterday my seven-year old son took my 90-minute strong vinyasa flow class. He hasn’t done that in a few years. The last time he did he was four, and about halfway through he sat down and played with his Hot Wheels. Yesterday, he took the whole class. He was totally focused, and whenever I caught his eye he smiled at me. I have to say, it was pretty f&cking awesome. At one point I wondered what would’ve happened if I’d started practicing yoga when I was really little. It occurred to me that I might have made many fewer mistakes along the way, that I might have been in touch with my intuition on a much stronger level at a much younger age. Maybe I wouldn’t have gotten involved with that guy who was 20 years my senior when I was seventeen. Maybe I wouldn’t have moved across the country with a man I’d been dating for only six months. Maybe lots of things. I bet high school would have been a lot easier, and college, too. But then I thought that if my life hadn’t unfolded exactly the way it has, I wouldn’t have that particular seven year old boy beaming at me from the back row.
Every experience we have, even the most heart-wrenching and confusing, gives us an opportunity to grow and to know ourselves more deeply. I’m not saying that everything happens for a reason, or that someday, everything will make sense to you. Some things are forever hard to comprehend. I’m saying we always have the power to decide how we’re going to respond to what we’re given, and we have the power to choose how much we’re going to work with our pain, and pursue a path of healing so that we can liberate ourselves from anything that is smothering that song we must sing. Also, you just never know what beauty might grow out of your heartache.
Sending you love,
Ally Hamilton
This one really touched me. Your 7 year old in your Yoga class! We practice Yoga with our granddaugghters, Hannah is 8 and Tamara is 7. I have been practicing Yoga too, since childhood, my parents always took us with them to Yoga classes, so we practiced Yoga together as a family.
had you done this all your life, as we did, would life have been easier? I don`t know. I do know that it helped me through my tenns though! I we were also raised as vegetarians! As you know, by psychologist parents. There is a saying that God has a special love for children that have to grow up with a parent or parents who are psychologists, and it is true.
Well, it certainly touched me, too. Your family sounds wonderful. I always love to see families practicing together. My kids are always at the studio, or practicing with me in our living room. It’s so great you practice with your granddaughters. Maybe someday we’ll all meet and practice together:) Lots of love, Aviva.