Rhythms
“everything has rhythm. everything dances.” — Maya Angelou
My personal rhythms have always tended toward late afternoon and late evening. I have done my best work at 4 p.m. and 3 a.m.—everything else in between takes a monumental effort. Since I began teaching Yoga, those rhythms have been challenged. I took early morning classes (like, 6 a.m.—Oof!), because 1) they were the only ones offered at the time, and 2) I figured if I succeeded in finding full-time work, I'd still be able to teach before jetting off to an office. The last 7 years, for the most part, Yoga has become my full-time work, even though I don't teach full time. During my 300-hour Teacher Training, part of our learning involved understanding our own personal and spiritual rhythms, and it brought me back to the realization that both of those rhythms tended toward later in the day. While I may rise early, I have little desire to interact with the world at that time. It is this extrovert's time to be introverted; and I realized that when I am allowed space, life is more of a dance. I flowed so much better in my work and in the world. Some of the adjustments in my schedule were made by choice; I was able to acquire later classes, and therefore was able to surrender the early ones. Five years in I realized that even if I got full-time work elsewhere, I wanted it to fit into my current rhythms, not fight against them; so any work that I chose to do would have to fit into that pattern of later in the day. Most of the freelance work I was getting did, so that helped me tremendously. The last domino to fall was a 9:00 a.m. class that I taught at Sherman Oaks, my original studio. I had held this class for the last 5 years, and had built a strong following. So it was a tad bittersweet that due to schedule changes beyond my control, I had to surrender the class. This past Wednesday was my last time teaching it. I still maintained the 12:00 p.m. class (now 12:15 p.m.), and added a 1:30 p.m. class to the slate; so while my faithful 9 a.mers will be gone, I'll still have a presence at our O.G. studio, which I enjoy. In hindsight, it was God's way to cement the rhythm I had been slowing re-establishing over the past few years. Every day except Wednesday was part of the rhythm and flowed. Wednesday was always a difficult disruption to it. Now on Wednesdays, I don't have to be out the door before 8:00 a.m. in order to make it across the Valley before 8:30. Now I get to have more than car time to introspect and prepare for the moment. Now, I get to dance into the day, rather than drag into it. In this Year of New Beginnings, I am thankful to begin anew with a consistent honoring of the rhythms of my body, mind, and spirit. It's way past time—I look forward to more dancing.