what to say?

At 6:30 pm I sat cross-legged on an orange bolster. The backs of my hands rested upon my thighs as my palms faced skyward.

To open our practice, our teacher guided us to focus our attention on our left palm. We were instructed to inhale while envisioning beauty, love, and gratitude from our lives flowing up our left arm. We paused and allowed the love to rest in our hearts before we sent it down our right arms, out through our palms, and into our space — our city — our world.

…

Earlier… at 5:24 pm I received an email:

Due to incidents in downtown Waukesha, we are moving Yin Yoga to Badger Health Center on Sunset Drive. Email me if you need directions.

Incident?
What Incident?

…

I queried my black rectangle.
At approximately 4:39 pm… Somebody drove a vehicle through the Christmas parade?

…

Earlier… at 2:30 pm I left the house of a friend, just a few blocks from the scene of the incident. She and I met on our mats at Reaching Treetops yoga studio years ago. Yesterday she hosted a clothing/book swap with a group of 20 ladies — all leftover items donated to The Women’s Center in Waukesha: An organization providing safety, shelter, and support to empower all impacted by domestic abuse, sexual violence, child abuse, and trafficking.

I attended a meeting at the shelter once and recall my unsettled feelings about the security required to get into the building.

People locked inside for their safety felt wrong in so many ways.

At my friend’s home I didn’t know anybody except for the hostess. While there I met a woman who makes natural body care products, a painter, and many massage therapists. A new friend explained a deck of Tarot cards to me. I was dazzled by a nose ring and heard Urania inside of my head… Stop staring! Tal and Cal cut me some slack. They understood my brain was trying to process something new.

Learning, learning, learning.

There was a time when I would have fretted about publishing this piece. I might have worried about sounding too… weird?… for breathing beauty, love, and gratitude through my heart space — for learning about Tarot cards — for hanging out with painters sporting bejeweled nose rings.

I’m not fretting about such nonsense today.

The way to overcome darkness is with light.

I recently read a quote from Mother Theresa… If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.

Will you also take a moment to remember all of the beauty and love in your life?
And then hold gratitude in your heart for a moment before exhaling it into the world?

That’s not weird.
It’s healthy… for all of us.