We Are the Fingers of God's Grace
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to come together with my community at Willow Street Yoga, and experience a teacher's practice with the radiant Desiree Rumbaugh, one of the most gifted Anusara Yoga certified teachers. I have had the pleasure of studying with Des for over a decade, and have watched her blossom. Her enthusiasm, energy, and laughter are always contagious, and as vintage Desiree yesterday morning, she rose to the occasion and did not disappoint!
I always come away with profound insights from her practices or workshops, and I had the opportunity to work with her and gain a deeper awareness into what is happening in my body and why. She gave me some very useful tools to address some pertinent issues, and I started practicing what she suggested just this very morning.
We worked a lot in this practice at drawing muscle energy from our fingers into our upper backs, and melting the heart more by also drawing in the bottom tips of our shoulder blades - not an easy feat to accomplish in many poses.
Desiree began the practice by noting that the fingers are divine connectors to grace, and thus, we need to pull energy from our fingers into our upper backs and our hearts. We kept coming back to this in every pose we did, and a number of people present experienced openings and breakthroughs in their practice.
Desiree was in town to teach a weekend workshop at another local studio not affiliated with Anusara. In the late evening, I basked in the wonderful energies of the day, and before retiring, was further elated to hear that one of my dearest students ventured forth in heavy traffic to cross the river and experience Desiree for herself. This was her first workshop, but she enjoyed it and felt she had been well prepared for it! (Ah! Sigh of relief!)
I had thought earlier yesterday, of how we make connections and touch others, and often, we have no real idea how deeply we impact others. I especially reflected on this earlier in the week when a former student and friend of mine, introduced me to a group of co-workers at an organization I had been asked to volunteer at, teaching yoga and meditation, to a group of women in need. I listened to how my friend described me, and remember thinking to myself, "Wow! Who is that person? Me? Am I really everything she is describing? Did I really have that kind of an impact in her life?"
Of course, what we do, in times that really matter, always is guided by a Divine Presence. At least, that is what I believe. Especially when we touch others most deeply.
We never know who we are going to touch and how. Every good deed we do - or hurtful one for that matter - is like a stone I cast into my beloved river - which sends out ripples all the way to the other side and the riverbank of the neighboring state that my river bisects.
I have been touched profoundly by Desiree - her generosity, her openness, her vulnerability. This is a woman who has suffered tremendous loss and challenges, but who still manages to awaken other hearts and bodies from a place of humility, all over the world. Her message and presence are always fresh and very real.
It does not matter what we do for a living. It only matters who we are - and what we do with that. Let us give intent today - to touch someone - in whatever way they may need!
I always come away with profound insights from her practices or workshops, and I had the opportunity to work with her and gain a deeper awareness into what is happening in my body and why. She gave me some very useful tools to address some pertinent issues, and I started practicing what she suggested just this very morning.
We worked a lot in this practice at drawing muscle energy from our fingers into our upper backs, and melting the heart more by also drawing in the bottom tips of our shoulder blades - not an easy feat to accomplish in many poses.
Desiree began the practice by noting that the fingers are divine connectors to grace, and thus, we need to pull energy from our fingers into our upper backs and our hearts. We kept coming back to this in every pose we did, and a number of people present experienced openings and breakthroughs in their practice.
Desiree was in town to teach a weekend workshop at another local studio not affiliated with Anusara. In the late evening, I basked in the wonderful energies of the day, and before retiring, was further elated to hear that one of my dearest students ventured forth in heavy traffic to cross the river and experience Desiree for herself. This was her first workshop, but she enjoyed it and felt she had been well prepared for it! (Ah! Sigh of relief!)
I had thought earlier yesterday, of how we make connections and touch others, and often, we have no real idea how deeply we impact others. I especially reflected on this earlier in the week when a former student and friend of mine, introduced me to a group of co-workers at an organization I had been asked to volunteer at, teaching yoga and meditation, to a group of women in need. I listened to how my friend described me, and remember thinking to myself, "Wow! Who is that person? Me? Am I really everything she is describing? Did I really have that kind of an impact in her life?"
Of course, what we do, in times that really matter, always is guided by a Divine Presence. At least, that is what I believe. Especially when we touch others most deeply.
We never know who we are going to touch and how. Every good deed we do - or hurtful one for that matter - is like a stone I cast into my beloved river - which sends out ripples all the way to the other side and the riverbank of the neighboring state that my river bisects.
I have been touched profoundly by Desiree - her generosity, her openness, her vulnerability. This is a woman who has suffered tremendous loss and challenges, but who still manages to awaken other hearts and bodies from a place of humility, all over the world. Her message and presence are always fresh and very real.
It does not matter what we do for a living. It only matters who we are - and what we do with that. Let us give intent today - to touch someone - in whatever way they may need!
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