Leap of Faith…… and then some
I had just arrived in Madison, Wisconsin to teach at Bhaktifest. It was a steamy, stormy, hot summer day in July as I unpacked my bags in my hotel room. I pushed aside my big duffle bag packed with camping gear for the next leg of my trip to New Mexico and Summer Solstice and began to unpack for the festival.
I just had come off a busy, short period at home between trips. It was a summer of traveling! As I was landing in Florida the month before to visit my parents I got a text that a yoga space had come back around for me to look at as a second larger location in Michigan. I BELIEVE if it came back around, it was meant to be. It must be time.
When I arrived in Madison, I was still finishing signing documents via the hotel business center. Trying to get them done before I flew to New Mexico. Got it done. Signed, sealed and delivered. Nerves still shaking a bit. Am I ready to expand asks the ego? The soul knew though. It was time; JUMP.
I had decided a few weeks prior to this trip that I also wanted to take some play time this summer and maybe go visit some friends in California. It’s hard for me to always find balance with working. I was determined to carve out some non-work time this summer. Remember this phrase: non-work.
I was sitting in my hotel room in Madison, not having made my decision just yet, a Facebook message from a California friend (I hadn’t heard from in a long time) popped in out of the blue. She said, “I just had to tell you about a dream I had last night. You were in it..etc…” I decided that was a message for me to book the ticket and go.
3 weeks later Delta and I were intimate friends again! I was so excited to get 5 days away.
After some yoga, meditation, beach walks, The 3 Chambers, and good restaurant times in Encinitas, a friend and I drove to downtown San Diego to attend a full moon yoga class at a studio I had heard about.
Ok, now a quick back story: 2 years ago in India I just “happened” to stay at Yogi Bhajan’s house in Anandpur. It had been “recommended” or was it a “message” for me to stay there if I was near by? A mere “near” 4 hour crazy, bumpy Indian car ride away.
The director of the house and grounds was a sweet San Diego native (hmmmm) named Sat Jiwan Kaur Khalsa. Low and behold we became friends over those 5 memorable days and the rest is history. Facebook moments came and went and then that fateful night this past July 2014 we were brought together again, little did we know, at what was soon to become Karma Yoga San Diego.
Ok, so fast forward: I took class, hugged and cried tears for this wonderful reunion. SJKK, as we call her, whispered into my ear that the owner was about to close this studio. I said, “What? It’s so nice. You should take it over.” One thing led to another and by 4 weeks later we had decided to dive in together and take a chance at saving this wonderful community of yogis. It was too special to let go.
What am I doing?! I just signed a lease a month ago for a 2nd yoga studio after 11 years and now a 3rd a month later?
Jump. Trust, allow, accept and let go…………
One synchronicity after another continued to appear. In addition to the existing staff, there were Michigan yoga teachers that I either knew or had even trained that had moved out to San Diego over the past 10 years! It was like the characters of the play had been being assembled for a long time.
Remember, I didn’t go out to SD to look for a yoga studio, trust me, it was not in my radar at all. After all, I had just signed a lease in West Bloomfield, Mi! This was a “non-work” trip.
Trust, allow, accept and let go I tell my students all the time. And here it was up to me to do the same. Spirit was presenting quickly and either I had to trust or miss the opportunity to serve more. Oh yes, I’ve had sleepless nights when my humanness and ego reared it’s ugly head but I made it through those insecure moments and prayed for guidance and signs. They kept coming.
If we don’t take risks, how will we ever know? If we don’t try, how will we ever grow? Standing on the edge of the cliff of transformation is the practice. It’s too easy to sit in the comfort zone.
Day in and day out whether we feel like it or not, we practice this “edge” on our mat and meditation cushion to help prepare us to “ride the waves of the world ocean” as Guru Nanak recites. Daily sadhana is key.
“The greatest reward of doing sadhana is that the person becomes incapable of being defeated. Sadhana is a self-victory, and it is a victory over time and space. Getting up is a victory over time, and doing it is a victory over space. That is what sadhana is. And when you do a sadhana in the sangat, you enrich yourself in multiple ways.” – YB
Sadhana, Sadhana, Sadhana…….
xoK
