Home Again

Well, I have been gone for almost 6 weeks and I must say it is pretty darn nice to be home!. Kelly picked me up last night around 8:00. We came home and stopped off at Mom and Dad's on the way home to visit them briefly. Mom and Dad are in the midst of decorating their house for Christmas so it was fun to see the work in progress. Mom has Christmas tree ornaments dating all the way back to my nursery school years. looking at their tree is kind of like a walk down memory lane in a lot of ways. So sweet. I find it a bit hard to realize it is now Christmas time. Bring on the road through November and December out me in a completely different mode than holiday prep mode. Driving though town seeing everything all decorated and lit up for Christmas was a bit surreal last night but also a bit heart warming for sure.

It was a great 6 weeks. As I reflect on all the different places I went and the amazing people I got to spend some time with I really am filled with awe and gratitude for this work and for the people who are called to it. So often people look at me and say things like, "Do you like being away from home this much?" and I am always a bit shocked by the question because it falls short of really addressing the heart of the situation. Of course I do not like being away from home a lot.

Ask me another question, I always think to myself.... something like, "Do you like what you do while you are gone?" Then I would have to give a resounding YES! in response.

 or  "Am I completely inspired by the work I do, the people I meet and the places I get to experience?" YES!

or  "Does the hospitality of my friends (and sometimes near-strangers) I stay with move me to tears and make my life fuller, richer and make the world seem a bit smaller and more manageable?"  YES!

or "Does the opportunity to share the teachings of yoga with people all over the country and participate in the life of various communities of seekers create in me a deep feeling of purpose and passion?" YES!

or "Does doing what you love most make up for the discomforts of travel and so forth?" YES!

So like it is in any endeavor, life becomes shaped by the questions we ask ourselves and the answers that we are living into. As yogis we should not be asking ourselves "what makes life easier?"  I, for one,  do not think the highest question is "What makes me most comfortable?" or "How can I avoid inconvenience?" and so forth. I think the Path of the Yogi invites us to ask questions like  "What is worthwhile?" and "What is worthy of sacrifice?" and "What brings me into the field of Ultimacy?"

Those are the questions that inspire me and the sometimes pain-in-the-ass of airports, crowds and delayed flights  and the fact that I live a lot out of a suitcase and spend more nights sleeping in other people's spare bedrooms than I do in my own bed pales in comparison.  Is traveling a lot hard?  Sure. Certainly at times it is. No one who does what I do denies that. Is it worth it?  Absolutely. No doubt about it. The people who now fill my life continually teach  me how to grow into my capacity, to move beyond what is easy and have helped me recognize the web of support that surrounds me and Grace, through each person I meet and work with, has become a tangible experience, not a theory.

All right. Time to practice asana.