Are We There Yet?
After graduating from Cornell in 1992 and delving into the textile and clothing design world for more than six years, my supposedly envious life in an apartment overlooking the Po River in Turin, Italy, was not exactly satisfying. I returned to New York to embark on a graduate studies program in Childhood Art Education at the New School. Two semesters in two of the best schools in New York City later, I found myself in Cyndi Lee’s yoga class at Crunch gym in mid-1997, laughing, crying, and knowing I had found a path.
Cyndi’s first teacher training was at the first OM Yoga studio on 14th Street, and I will never stop thanking her. Her style was a revolution for me, and I began teaching at her studio as soon as she’d asked. I met John Friend, founder of Anusara® yoga, in the summer of 2000 and slowly began the long, demanding road to Anusara certification. While on that road I met Dr. Douglas Brooks and Hugo Cory; they have each profoundly influenced the texture of my teaching—helping me to translate the yoga mat into real-life relevance and experiences of grace and gratitude in our daily living.
Recently, about fifteen minutes after receiving word that Kris Carr was interested in my writing (a complete honor), and just seven minutes after watching the Crazy Sexy Cancer trailer for the third time (and weeping, again), a sparkly conversation erupted with a colleague on the subject of “home.”
As a collective, we long to find “home” within ourselves. In my search for home I’ve traversed ashrams, meditation, drugs, seva, chanting, yoga, childbirth, parenthood, teaching, social networking and back. What I’ve found is that our true home is a place of fearlessness in the heart—your heart, my heart, every heart. Furthermore, and much more importantly, home is not some fixed point toward which we aspire; it is steadily expanding state.
So the question remains: Are we there yet? The answer is a resounding YES.
“We need not find our way back home to our divine beginnings; we need only appreciate that wherever we wander in Consciousness we are already where we need to be in order to be fulfilled.” -Dr. Douglas Brooks offered that in a discussion about affirming what already IS. Our yoga practice grounds us, even alkalinizes us, and shifts our vantage point to a place or gratitude, where we can sense that ever-present expansion. There are no fixed stopping points in the poses—if you watch yoga practiced in the Anusara method, you can see that the parameters of the body are always growing.
The only definite is that expansion is always occurring. Now comes the practical question: How do we uphold this expansive awareness in our real-life interactions? How can this fact of eternal, ever-present expansion keep us from contracting within ourselves [and reacting] when we encounter challenging moments during a regular day?
The one-word answer is GRATITUDE. Gratitude is the most expansive attitude we can claim: when we are thankful, we invite levity, more space, more abundance. When we are grateful in a difficult context, we manifest a pause between an occurrence and our reaction to it. With thankfulness, we imprint receptivity on our bodies- we can take in more. With every incident of focused gratitude, we return home to our expanding hearts. Especially when it seems improbable or impossible, use one deep, expansive breath to create the conditions for gratitude to emerge, and you are home.
- Posted by Elena Brower on February 26, 2010 at 4:00 am
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Tagged as: anusara, gratitude, growth, home, meditation, Yoga
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Thank you! I’m grateful for your article and for Crazy Sexy Life. I wake up and read wonderful, motivational thoughts each morning and it helps me focus on the joy in my life.
Elena! This is a lovely piece – the reminder that we have already arrived. I first “met” you via one of the most beautiful yoga videos ever – produced by Elephant Journal. I watched it over a year ago and was so moved by the clarity and grace of your yoga that I started my daily practice again. I wish I would have stopped in for a class when I was in NYC a month ago. But – next time!
I’m working on expanding my gratitude everyday… for the farmers that harvest my beautiful vegetables for the unconditional love of my family. I need to express it more often and this is a great reminder. THANK YOU!
Thank you for this beautiful reminder that home is only one breath and one thank-you away.
Thanks for the beautiful posting!
Fearlessness keys our ability to move ahead; thanks for pointing that out.
Years ago I benefited from one of your classes in NYC; now from your writing.
I look forward to reading more here and following your path further.
Beautiful post with a great message and inspiring video! Thank you.
Ciao bella!
I also lived along the Po (Parco Valentino) during the Winter Games in Torino. While sipping on capuccini day after day, I longed for home. Someone said, “Wherever you go, there YOU are.” I love your post and look forward to reading more. Best, Sierra
Thank you for the ah-ha moment–
“When we are grateful in a difficult context, we manifest a pause between an occurrence and our reaction to it.”
thank the Po river for pushing you forward. happy thanks is what I feel around your energy and you have inspired me to remember this in many moments. rock on Elena! xo
Such wise words, Elena, and shared with such a beautiful, open heart. I’m thrilled you’re contributing to the CSL posts. Peace and love to you, Martha
thank you for the thoughtful comments everyone. together, onward, upward! any topics you’d like to discuss for my next offering here on CSL? with respect, e
as usual e ~ so grateful for your delivery ~ remembering that even when i contract, regress, mess up, and do more of those things that some part of me rushes to judge ~ remembering that i continue to expand is so helpful. Thank you for reminding me today of the vibrational impact of my process
simply beautiful and truthful , inspiring , and lovely !
I enjoy being inspired everyday , by my practice and by the everyday beauty in life ~, gratitude to you Elena~ !
“any topics you’d like to discuss for my next offering here on CSL?”
maybe u could talk about how the home in your heart has maintained an ever-expanding state as you circumnavigate the globe.
Daniel, please email me and elaborate on your idea. I’ve already submitted my next post, which has some relation to what you’ve suggested, but i’d love to get some more questions answered so i can really serve ~
Daniel, just re-read my next post which should be up soon.
It will help to answer your question… it’s in any situation, keeping that home expansive requires awareness of our reactivity and willingness to move through it while residing IN and FROM our hearts. get back to me after the next one is posted. i’m at virayoga@gmail.com. don’t hesitate to write with questions or inquiries.
Elena, thank you so much for your eloquent and effective way of describing what I’ve been unable to articulate and explain in words! True brilliance! I’d love to see more of your writing!