25 Jul Have Faith
I have been urging my husband to go with me to a place I think is “Heaven on Earth,” the Himalayan Institute in Pennsylvania, for some time. It is a place that I go to at least once every year. Like food feeds our bodies HI feeds my soul; visits are a must for me, but they have been done alone for the past few years.
This past weekend we got invited to a lovely wedding in East Stroudsburg, PA. I had started looking at hotels and B&Bs, and, being down to the wire, was about to settle on a place not because I liked it, but because the price was good, it was close to the wedding, and it had AC with a pool. I texted my husband the place and price and said let me know what you think. His reply was, this is not the place I need now, let me look into some other options. Being a wife, I had come to expect that I would do all the groundwork, but in the end he would choose what he wanted. But as a yogi, I am starting to not hold on to this and just be grateful that a decision is made before leaving and we are not driving around until 10 pm looking for a vacancy. After fifteen minutes another text came through saying, “we got a room at the Himalayan Institute.”
My heart leaped with joy. And I was a little proud of myself that I had bitten my tongue and not gotten angry when he didn’t immediately agree to my hotel suggestion. This was special. This was a weekend I had wanted to be there, but because of the wedding had decided not to go. Panjit, the Spiritual Head of HI was leading a workshop and I had begun to yearn for the comforts of home—vegetarian food, an energy-rich shrine to focus my mind, amazing teachers that can get me deep into places that I fear when alone on my own mat, and a beautiful hill that looks over the natural forest of Pennsylvania.
One of my favorite practices is Agni Sara but because of health reasons, I had stopped doing it for awhile.But several months ago my desire came back to just do it a few times a week or when I can. According to the article above on the yoga international page,
“Regular practice [of Agni Sara] increases our capacity to manage emotional distress and prompts a sense of enthusiasm and spiritual confidence.” I have definitely found this to be true in my life. I’ve been married four years, but as I deepen my practice the persistence of going inward is supported by my surroundings. My husband had no clue that Pandjit was talking or that Shari (the pelvic floor Queen) was teaching. I hadn’t even shared that I was suffering and needed a lift. But the Universe knew what I needed and it assisted me on this journey by guiding my husband. Keep the faith during all the craziness in this world. Keep your practice to feed your faith and God will support you. But you need to start with faith.