take a minute to breathe deeply

Where ever you go
May that place
be more beautiful
because you have been there.

With your mind
your body and
your spirit.


Hi All,
At the end of each of my writing classes, I
read a short passage aloud to the group.
Above is the one I used this week.

I learned it from my first yoga teacher,
Ruth Williams 27 years ago.
She recited these words at the end of each class
during shavasana (शवआसन),
which is sanskrit for "corpse pose."
You get the idea.

I found the reading so inspiring, that one day
I brought a pencil and paper to class and lay them
near my mat. During shavasna, I rolled off my mat,
grabbed the paper and pencil and scribbled away as quietly
as I could, not at all corpse like, but
I got the words verbatim! Years later, I still love the simple directive.

How do I know it was precisely 27 years ago that I started my
yoga practice? I remember asking the instructor,
Ruth, if yoga was a good way to get in shape after having a baby.
YES! she answered emphatically. Was she ever right.
I have been kept in some form of physical and mental and emotional
shape by yoga ever since. I have been blessed with talented
teachers: Ruth, Page, Maggie and now Erin Jade over the years.
And Carrie, born 27 years ago, is an avid yoga student herself!

Back to the reading:
I have tried to live by these words.
Like so many things, sometimes the simplest ideas
can be the hardest to do!
We can always try.

Namaste