I'm Alive and So are You!

Last night the snow turned to ice and there was no way I was driving my car up the hill this morning. I decided to walk 1.5 miles (much of it uphill) at 6:30am to teach class at 7am. Quite invigorating I must say! The cold air outside, me sweating inside my down coat, my breath visible in the air and my heart beating in my chest. I'm alive! What a good reminder. I couldn't stop smiling-just from walking to work. It made me think about how enlivened I feel when I practice yoga. It's the pulse. We work with a pulse in Anusara yoga. You softly expanding as you relax and feel your breath and then contract as you engage your muscles and hug into yourself and then expand again as you stretch and extend yourself beyond the boundaries of your own body. The pulse reminds me that I'm alive and aligns me with the bigger pulse-the expansion and contraction of everything in nature and beyond. Whether walking up a hill in the middle of winter at dawn or sitting quietly on my mat and feeling my heart beat, I am drawn to the pulse and it pulls me into heart to feel who I really am.