A Chance to ‘Practice’ Off The Mat….

“When it rains, most birds head for shelter; the Eagle is the only bird that, in order to avoid the rain, starts flying above the cloud.”  Unknown

I’ve been reading a lot lately about taking your practice/yoga ‘off the mat’ and incorporating it into your daily life.  This last week, I’ve had the opportunity to do just that and put into action a lot of what I had learned about compassion and strength.

Jan 31, 2010:  My day started with physical therapy in Saginaw for a shoulder problem that I am trying to resolve.  The session went well, although torturous at times.  It was snowing pretty heavily when we left, but since we haven’t had much snow all winter, it was welcomed.  I noticed I had a voice mail on my phone, so once in the car (with my husband driving), I listened to it.  It was my friend from Tawas who owns the Tawas Bay Yarn Company.  I work for her on occasion if she needs help in the shop.  She told me that her partner had been experiencing some chest discomfort over night and was now in an ambulance on the way to a Bay City hospital.  We then headed for Tawas so I could open the shop and run it for the day.  She called later and said he had a heart attack and that he would be in the hospital until the end of the week and wanted to know if I could run the shop for the week.  I said yes and immediately began mentally reworking my schedule.  I was to start teaching yoga the next day in West Branch, which is about an hour drive from Tawas, so I figured I could get there right around 11:00 am, which is her normal opening time.  So far, so good.  I closed the shop at 5:00 pm and headed home to work on a few last minutes details for the next day’s class.

We ate supper and settled in for a nice quiet evening.  Around 8:30 pm, my husband’s phone rang, it was his sister from Mobile, AL.  She was very upset and we had a hard time understanding her, but finally realized she was telling my husband that their dad had been taken from them at the hands of another person.  Shock and disbelief were the first emotions we experienced and then the thought processes kicked in.  I knew the most important thing was to get my husband to Mobile so he could drive with his sister down to Fort Myers, FL where their father was.  I immediately went on-line to look for flights, but quickly realized that I was lost.  I haven’t flown in over 20 years and had no clue how to find tickets.  I immediately thought of my brother and his wife who travel quite a bit and knew they would be able to help.  Thankfully my brother answered the phone and I quickly explained to him what happened and that I needed to get my husband to Mobile as soon as possible.  A short while later, he called back and gave me a run-down of the flights he had found.  We decided on the 6:00 am departure from Detroit which was to arrive in Mobile at 11:00 am.  Perfect!  We went through the purchasing process and once I received the confirmation e-mail, I knew we were good to go!  By now, it’s around 10:00 pm and we still had to pack his bag and get a few things together.  By the time we got everything around, showered and thought we could lay down for a bit, I began to figure out what time we needed to leave for the airport.  Since we’ve never been to Detroit Metro Airport, we pull out a map and figured out the best way to go.  We determined it was going to take about 3 hours to get there, and he would have to be at the airport at least 2 hours in advance for check-in, so I figured we’d have to leave home around 1:00 am.  I then looked at the clock and realized it was almost midnight.  Yikes…no time to sleep!

A few minutes before 1:00 am, we got the car loaded and headed off.  Since it had been snowing most of the day, I wasn’t sure how the roads were going to be, but at that time of the night, the traffic wasn’t bad at all and the roads were not too bad either.  It was a quiet ride, and I knew my husband was processing everything that had just happened.  I thought back over the last few hours and was very thankful that I was able to be strong and compassionate for my husband.  I knew then that I was taking my practice off the mat and using it in a very difficult situation.  I remembered the lessons I’d read about compassion and strength and I knew we couldn’t change what had happened, but we could control how we reacted to it.  Anger and rage would have been understandable emotions, but I knew they would not change the situation, nor make it better.  We arrived at the airport at 3:45 am, said our teary good-byes and I headed back home.  The next few days were very blurry and kind of ran together, but I am so thankful for my wonderful family and friends for their support and kind words.  Without them, this would have been much more difficult.

Fast forward to today, my husband and his sister are still in FL, taking care of their dad’s estate.  I can’t do too much from 1400 miles away, (internet searches about wills and insurance policies), but I can listen, be strong and compassionate, and be their loudest cheerleader.

Namaste,

Sheri