Thanksgiving Day Benefit Yoga Workshop to support Stepping Stones Arizona.
The bodies and rosy faces just kept coming through the door. The weather came down rainy and cloudy. People jostled each other as they waited for us to sort out their names and cash and run their cards for donations.
I was not prepared for the sheer number of people, and neither was Cheryl. We stood behind the desk in amazement, trying to sign people in and orient our new arrivals as quickly as possible. Only afterward did we think to widen the practice space by moving the shoji screens to fit ten more people in the practice space.
Forty-five people packed into the Lotus Bloom studio, which normally holds eight to eighteen people in one class on any given day. Nine o’clock in the morning on Thanksgiving Day. “Wow, look how many people hate the holidays,” one voice said over the commotion. That comment made me smile. Or I thought people just like yoga.
As I sit here reflecting, I have no idea why people came to class that day or any day, but I do know that they were there for a reason. That morning I joked nervously, “I know you’re not all here to see me.” They humored me and laughed, I smiled and fumbled my way through a few more introductions. They beamed up at me as I found my groove and gave my sermon on Grace and Gratitude.
I might never know someone’s real reason for coming to yoga. Motives interest me less and less, but what I am interested in is helping people get where they want to be going. Asana postures (shapes) are just one way to literally put our bodies on the line. When effort is made in the gesture to know oneself fully, that is a worthy effort. Any gesture put forth on the path of yoga is seen and heard by the universe. It is said that when we take one step towards god, god takes ninety-nine steps toward us. I believe this is true.