"Dogs" (The Girl That Does Yoga) - Damien Rice

The alarm goes off at 0430 on Friday morning.  It could be graduation day for us!  Us being the 8 other women that I have had the pleasure of getting to know very well over the last 7 days-and will miss immensely.  And graduation from Lex Gillan's Yoga Teacher Training in Houston, Tx. 

I groggily get ready for the day, make some chai tea, pack my "school bag".  Grab the car keys and my lunch and head out into the foggy morning to meet my new car pool friend.  I got very lucky to find that one of the girls in the course lived right by my Aunt and Uncle (where we were staying for the week) and was happy to carpool for the week too and from class.  I was thrilled to have an experienced Houston highway driver to navigate the HOV lanes and toll roads, especially on the way home every afternoon at 4:30!

Rose and I pulled into the Texas Medical Institute of Spirituality and Health at about 6am, we had 50 min to kill before our meditation, so I practiced teaching my three asanas (sanskrit term for poses if you were curious), and quized myself on the 8 limbs of yoga.

I offered to be the "official" photographer for the class, so instead of following instruction as each person led their own mini yoga class, I got to stand back and look at the whole picture-literally :)  It gave me the chance to reflect on my last 7 days there.  As hard as it was to get up at 4:30 every morning, leave my little girl sleeping without a hug and kiss until I got back at dinner, and sit on the floor all day trying to absorb everything I possibly could, I wouldn't have changed a thing.  The mountains of knowledge and wisdom we learned from Lex over the last week was well worth the slight discomfort my butt reminded me of every morning.

I love learning.  I miss college.  And not the online courses, but sitting in a classroom listening to someone passionately speak about something they know inside and out.  Yoga is Lex and Lex is yoga.  I never dreamed that when I signed up for the fitness yoga class back in 2004 as a sophomore in college that I'd be in the place 8 years later that I could be that instructor.  I could drone on and on about what yoga is (most people don't know there is so much more to it than just stretching) and all the business details we learned about opening our own studio, but I'll wait until someone directly asks me for it, then I'll unleash the flood gate :)


I do want to own my own studio someday down the line.  I want to call it Journey Yoga.  Fitting, huh?  Or maybe the Joy of Yoga...I guess it depends on what's available when the day comes.  But I'm so very excited to start building the blueprint for this professional and spiritual journey that I know I'm going to depart on someday.

Namaste.