2007 was an incredible year for us: the birth of the beautiful and spirited Sadie Jai in early March who has brought much sweetness and change into our family and work life, a new studio space full of natural sunlight, space and warmth, and a new business for Matthew-the launching of tunerooms.com in December.
We are deeply thankful to all of our friends, students and staff who have lent us their time, energy, and support to make it all happen for us. I am humbled when I look back at all of the donated hours of moving, building, babysitting, painting, cleaning, and hard work that our community has offered us this year. We could not be standing where we are today without this support. On the evening before we launched our new studio space, I can remember the words of one of our students who was helping us to paint the new bathrooms. She listened to me as I told her that I was feeling overwhelmed with the amount of work that was still ahead of us for that evening. I told her I was deeply tired and felt guilty that my older children were not going to be able to go on a camping trip that Labor Day weekend but instead had to hang out and assist us as we put the final touches on the new Samadhi Studio. This student listened to me and then said to me the most comforting words. She told me that she thought my
children were getting the best memory that they could get. She told me that when my children look back on this time, they are not going to recall the missed annual camping trip but are going to recall their parents building a studio space with the help of their friends and family. This would be the memory that would have sustainability. This would be the memory that would guide them in their own pursuits. They were learning to honor their dreams and the possibilities of making things happen with the support of others. She reminded me that I was making my own dream come true, that I had a vision and I was following it. No dream is too small, too large, too silly, or too impossible.
Allow 2008 to be the year to follow your own dreams. Let it be the year to practice over and over again what it is that makes you feel the most authentic, most vulnerable, most beautiful, and most alive. The poet Mary Oliver asks us, "What is it you want to do with your one and precious life?" Let yoga be a vehicle to show you the way. Let your yoga practice be the steadiness and stillness you need to hear your inner wisdom. In this chaotic world, it is necessary to have a practice that connects you to your center and to clarity. In this world full of physical and emotional stressors, it is vital to have a practice that makes you physically strong and emotionally healthy. All you need to do is to show up on the yoga mat and trust that the yoga will unfold as it should. This is what a discipline is all about - showing up and trusting in the process.
I find wisdom in the words of Martha Graham. "I believe that we learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. In each, it is the performance of a dedicated precise set of acts, physical or intellectual, from which comes shape of achievement, a sense of one's being, a satisfaction of spirit. Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire."
What is it that you want to practice over and over again? Dedicate 2008 to realizing your fullest potential and exploring that which awakens your soul. Maybe your dream is to dance, to write, to make art, to be in a loving relationship, etc. There is no limit to our dreams. There is no dream is too small. Take in the words of Carl Jung, " A dream ignored is like a letter unopened." We all deserve to honor our own dreams. It is never too late.
Peace and Love,
Anne Falkowski
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