We attended Sunset Namaste (put on by TONS of great people) last Sunday at Birmingham’s beautiful Railroad Park. Local yogis gathered to complete (or attempted to complete in my case) 108 Moon Salutations. If you are curious about what a moon salutation consists of watch the extremely boring (but informative!) video below. It is the closest version I could find for what we did.
Unfortunately, I made the ill-fated decision to have fettuccine alfredo for lunch that day. Between the heat and the multiple forward bends, I did not make it as far as I would have liked. Sean really wants to try hot yoga in the near future, and I have already warned him that I will attempt it but make no promises. I definitely will not have alfredo before we go though! Sean made it a bit farther than I did, but neither of us did all 108. Truthfully, not many people did. One hundred and eight Moon Salutations is way harder than it sounds, and it sounds pretty hard. Our friend Emily did it, though! She was awesome!
So Sean and I sat on our mats, and took in the peaceful setting and relaxed. It was one of the coolest things I have ever done in Birmingham. As we sat there looking around, we saw several familiar faces, various people we have attended class with over the past few months. Then something very interesting happened… A lady we attended a Yoga Workshop with in April came up to us. We quickly caught up with the “how have you been” and “where have you been practicing yoga” type conversations. Then she thanked me. She thanked me for sharing my perspective on meditation during the Yoga Workshop. I was stunned.
At the workshop, while discussing various types and uses of meditation, I shared with the group my view of meditation. For me, prayer and meditation make up my conversation with God. Prayer is when I speak to God. Thank him for all of the blessings in my life, ask for guidance or peace, it’s my time to talk. Meditation is when I listen. I give God the opportunity to talk to me. So often we focus on the prayer aspect…what we have to say, but we forget to listen.
Don’t get me wrong, meditation is difficult for me. It’s very hard for me to be quiet and control my racing mind, but it is so important. As strange as it sounds, most of my meditation takes place either in the shower or during my moments of insomnia. It is my time to be quiet and just listen.
When we pray we ask for answers, but how can we hear the answers God has for us if we don’t take time from our busy lives to listen?
Let me reiterate, that I was stunned when she told me how much of an impression my statement made on her. I have always thought of Sean as the teacher in our family. It is his passion, not mine. I hate public speaking. It makes me all nervous and my chest gets splotchy and I just hate it, but I loved the feeling that I made a difference. The only thoughts I have ever given to being a yoga teacher some day were so that I could safely teach my family members. One on one training, I could do, but class training? That terrifies me. But having that moment where you know you have made an impact, even a small one, in someone’s life makes that overwhelming fear seem so insignificant.
