Rodney Yee, Yoga, Morning…

For just about 10 recent months, our wonderful old home underwent a kitchen/2 bathroom renovation that tossed my husband Barry and me into a turmoil of displacement.

We love our new kitchen with its expanse of working, storage, gathering and celebrating areas that we created for our family, gaggle of grandkids and friends, but the process meant moving virtually everything into places where things didn’t belong. We love our new bathrooms, but ditto to the above. The “displacement” started out rather organized, but we soon were opening doors to unused rooms during renovations and throwing stuff in. Don’t even think I’m kidding!

One such room is a small upstairs bedroom with a crooked floor and chest of drawers built into a nook some long time ago by the loving hands of the homeowner. This room is at the top of our back staircase. It’s cozy with its three windows, two with a view of our main street as people make their ways in their days and nights, and the third window faces our town harbor. The floor of this bedroom and well-used nook of drawers is what I enjoy the most, the floor sloping about an inch or more from north to south and its perfect nook just right for a small television. The room is charming and peaceful. And settled.

Settled “house-wise” became a reality just before Christmas, but settled physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually became more of a challenge for Barry and me as December rolled into January. It seemed we hadn’t had a moment of “Phew!” or reflection or meditative quiet forever. Our bodies and minds had been accelerating for so long, it seemed so impossible to stop.

So early this morning, January 19th, Barry and I mindfully took our yoga mats, straps, minds, souls and Rodney Yee DVD ~ Gaiam ~ and headed to the sanctuary of that settled, quiet little guest bedroom at the top of the back staircase…

I’ve been doing yoga with Rodney Yee for years and know many of his practices from memory, but there is something so settling about having Rodney in my home, listening to his calm voice, and this is how I prefer my practice.

Barry is much newer to a daily practice of yoga, but a convinced devotee.

It was a wonderful practice. A most wonderful morning. A settling back into what keeps us focused and strong for a day of life itself with all of its blessings and challenges, and a centering.

Settling.

I made a mental note to remember the number 19 as a quick reminder of renewal when I find myself unsettled for any number of reasons in this fast-paced, busy world in which we live and the restorative powers of Yoga with Rodney Yee.

Namaste.