Like Coming Home

This morning when I got on the mat, it felt like coming home. For the last two weeks, I have been paddling furiously to keep up with all the end-of-year goings on.  It hasn’t helped that there was no routine with schools as well as the yoga studios I attend, all closed. My body has been protesting the absence of a good stretch and the grounding it gets from a regular practice. The little I have been doing by myself at home has not been focused enough for real satisfaction.

All the rushing around culminated in getting onto a plane to Mauritius, not a moment too soon.  The rush to the airport included a stop at my daughter’s school to get her exam results – more of that later...And so I woke up in paradise and took myself off to a yoga class. As I sat down, breathed in and settled down, I felt a sigh escape my body. It really was like coming home. I allowed the sing-song voice of the yogi to guide me through the familiar postures my body knows so well - though not without muscles protesting from disuse and abuse. Yes, even two weeks can make you lose it. It was a pure Hatha yoga class which took me right back to my roots in the Ananda Kutir ashram.

A gentle breeze was blowing in from the ocean and the sounds of birds singing and frogs croaking, was all the music we needed. As we chanted “Om Shanti” to end the class, I was at peace.