A Spiritual Being Having A Human Experience
"The essential lesson I've learned in life is to just be yourself. Treasure the magnificent being that you are and recognize first and foremost you're not here as a human being only. You're a spiritual being having a human experience." - Wayne Dyer
Early in February, I met a lady who I've come to affectionately refer to as a spiritual advisor. Her life's work is a vast understanding of the subconscious. In one of our first conversations, she gave me the name of someone else I should connect with professionally. I happened to know this person already, but shortly after I started subbing yoga classes for her and we began getting to know one another on a more personal level. Eventually, this friend referred me to the owner of Red Dirt Running Company to be a vendor for the Cornhusker State Games earlier this summer.
While at the State Games, I met a couple who approached me after reading my "YOGA by Brittney" sign. The lady, who I'll refer to as Jen, taught yoga for many years and we fancied the exchange of stories and experience. I knew, or was awakened to knowing and seeing that this moment, meeting Jen, was divinely orchestrated - in the works since I met my local spiritual advisor earlier that winter. Jen and her husband happened to help run the Yoga Journal Live Events and invited me to participate in the work exchange coming up in Estes Park, Co. I knew I had to go.
Wednesday, September 21, I pulled into the YMCA of the Rockies just a few minutes before the work exchange orientation, and just a few minutes after finishing the audiobook, "What If This Is Heaven," by Anita Moorjani.
I ran up to the building where the meeting was held and was warmly greeted by two of my roommates for the week (Tanya and Stephanie), Jen and her joyful husband. My heart raced with enthusiasm for how everything would begin to unfold. In the first break, I rushed to the YMCA registration desk to check in. Coleen Saidman and Rodney Yee were in line in front of me. I was star struck, and once more certain I was being divinely guided.
That night I worked the event registration desk and later settled into the cabin, getting to know my roommates. Tanya from London, Stephanie from Oregon, and Ellen (who would later arrive when we were in slumber) from Illinois.
The next morning I woke up with the sun to tend to the event registration desk and saw wild elk rutting, roaming around the YMCA campus. The sounds of the majestic animals' bugles are magical! Then, I was fortunate enough to sneak into a portion of a half day workshop with Shiva Rea, honoring the sacred Mandala.
Later, I was scheduled to be the "door monitor" for a hike and class led by Gina Caputo. While both she and Kathryn Budig (one of her dear friends) have a powerful presence and noticeable and expansive auric field, I didn't recognize them at first and embarrassingly asked for their last names, to make sure they could "attend" the class. I literally smacked my hand to my forehead after realizing who they were, and obviously let them in, but shortly after acknowledged their humaneness too. We hiked, smelled the Ponderosa pine trees, and I reflected on the book I listened to on the drive up. If I'd ever experienced heaven on earth - this was it. I could hardly believe who I was sharing the mountain with. Shamelessly, I requested a photo to capture the moment (Gina even posted a picture to her social media pages later that day with my smiling face in it)!
After hiking down the mountain, we settled in to a cabin for a post-hike yoga class with Gina. She began to speak, the music hummed and the vibrations resonated deep in my soul. Tears of joy streamed down my cheeks, and I noticed a clear, soft rain dancing on the cabin windows. As I savored the sweet nectar of the moment, Gina paused class for us to observe the closest, most vibrant and radiant double rainbow I've ever seen. I was inspired and moved beyond the mountain in her class. And as if the day weren't surreal enough, it was closed with a global meditation for peace. One hundred or more people were in attendance, and guess who I got to sit next to? Gina Caputo. I was just adjacent to all the teachers who'd come together for this spectacular event. Goosebumps became a permanent fixture during our time together.
Throughout the next few days: I took a back-bending class from Noah Maze; a body mapping/healthy aging workshop with Bo Forbes; another hip opening class with Gina Caputo, a class with an up-and-coming teacher in the Sangha (community) space; enjoyed an emotional, two hour, boundary breaking class with Kathryn Budig, partook in a Shanti (Peace) Sweat with the Yees, experimented with Acro Yoga, and absorbed a two hour workshop with Jason Crandell on a having a home practice.
I was also able to attend a Q & A session with Judith Hanson Lasater (Co-Founder of Yoga Journal) and her daughter, Lizzie Lasater; attend a meditation workshop with Sally Kempton; and was fortunate enough to meet the Editor-in-Chief and other major players at Yoga Journal and Gaia during an intimate viewing of the Live. Be. Yoga Tour video - I got acupuncture for the first time, and the list goes on.
Everything is connected. And in the trip to Estes, I've never seen, experienced or felt more connectedness, synchronicity or meaningful coincidences in one week. Our lives and soul's journey's are like threads, intricately woven into this larger, beautiful ever expanding tapestry. We travel along, cross each other's threads, influence lives, in subtle or major ways, and weave up, down, around and through with many other souls, or thread's along their way.
I have a renewed sense of trust, faith, purpose and love for my life and the tiny role I play in the bigger picture after this trip. I'm deeply, overwhelmingly grateful and in awe, beyond explanation. I value the gift of my life and my unique human experience in a new, bright-eyed, arms-and-heart-wide-open way.
I move slower now too. I took my time driving home. Soaking up all I could. I even stopped at a "Rock Shop" and enjoyed a toasted veggie sandwich from "Coffee On The Rocks," a little shop with belly fuel and breathtaking views.
Early in February, I met a lady who I've come to affectionately refer to as a spiritual advisor. Her life's work is a vast understanding of the subconscious. In one of our first conversations, she gave me the name of someone else I should connect with professionally. I happened to know this person already, but shortly after I started subbing yoga classes for her and we began getting to know one another on a more personal level. Eventually, this friend referred me to the owner of Red Dirt Running Company to be a vendor for the Cornhusker State Games earlier this summer.
While at the State Games, I met a couple who approached me after reading my "YOGA by Brittney" sign. The lady, who I'll refer to as Jen, taught yoga for many years and we fancied the exchange of stories and experience. I knew, or was awakened to knowing and seeing that this moment, meeting Jen, was divinely orchestrated - in the works since I met my local spiritual advisor earlier that winter. Jen and her husband happened to help run the Yoga Journal Live Events and invited me to participate in the work exchange coming up in Estes Park, Co. I knew I had to go.
Wednesday, September 21, I pulled into the YMCA of the Rockies just a few minutes before the work exchange orientation, and just a few minutes after finishing the audiobook, "What If This Is Heaven," by Anita Moorjani.
I ran up to the building where the meeting was held and was warmly greeted by two of my roommates for the week (Tanya and Stephanie), Jen and her joyful husband. My heart raced with enthusiasm for how everything would begin to unfold. In the first break, I rushed to the YMCA registration desk to check in. Coleen Saidman and Rodney Yee were in line in front of me. I was star struck, and once more certain I was being divinely guided.
That night I worked the event registration desk and later settled into the cabin, getting to know my roommates. Tanya from London, Stephanie from Oregon, and Ellen (who would later arrive when we were in slumber) from Illinois.
The next morning I woke up with the sun to tend to the event registration desk and saw wild elk rutting, roaming around the YMCA campus. The sounds of the majestic animals' bugles are magical! Then, I was fortunate enough to sneak into a portion of a half day workshop with Shiva Rea, honoring the sacred Mandala.
Later, I was scheduled to be the "door monitor" for a hike and class led by Gina Caputo. While both she and Kathryn Budig (one of her dear friends) have a powerful presence and noticeable and expansive auric field, I didn't recognize them at first and embarrassingly asked for their last names, to make sure they could "attend" the class. I literally smacked my hand to my forehead after realizing who they were, and obviously let them in, but shortly after acknowledged their humaneness too. We hiked, smelled the Ponderosa pine trees, and I reflected on the book I listened to on the drive up. If I'd ever experienced heaven on earth - this was it. I could hardly believe who I was sharing the mountain with. Shamelessly, I requested a photo to capture the moment (Gina even posted a picture to her social media pages later that day with my smiling face in it)!
After hiking down the mountain, we settled in to a cabin for a post-hike yoga class with Gina. She began to speak, the music hummed and the vibrations resonated deep in my soul. Tears of joy streamed down my cheeks, and I noticed a clear, soft rain dancing on the cabin windows. As I savored the sweet nectar of the moment, Gina paused class for us to observe the closest, most vibrant and radiant double rainbow I've ever seen. I was inspired and moved beyond the mountain in her class. And as if the day weren't surreal enough, it was closed with a global meditation for peace. One hundred or more people were in attendance, and guess who I got to sit next to? Gina Caputo. I was just adjacent to all the teachers who'd come together for this spectacular event. Goosebumps became a permanent fixture during our time together.
Throughout the next few days: I took a back-bending class from Noah Maze; a body mapping/healthy aging workshop with Bo Forbes; another hip opening class with Gina Caputo, a class with an up-and-coming teacher in the Sangha (community) space; enjoyed an emotional, two hour, boundary breaking class with Kathryn Budig, partook in a Shanti (Peace) Sweat with the Yees, experimented with Acro Yoga, and absorbed a two hour workshop with Jason Crandell on a having a home practice.
I was also able to attend a Q & A session with Judith Hanson Lasater (Co-Founder of Yoga Journal) and her daughter, Lizzie Lasater; attend a meditation workshop with Sally Kempton; and was fortunate enough to meet the Editor-in-Chief and other major players at Yoga Journal and Gaia during an intimate viewing of the Live. Be. Yoga Tour video - I got acupuncture for the first time, and the list goes on.
Everything is connected. And in the trip to Estes, I've never seen, experienced or felt more connectedness, synchronicity or meaningful coincidences in one week. Our lives and soul's journey's are like threads, intricately woven into this larger, beautiful ever expanding tapestry. We travel along, cross each other's threads, influence lives, in subtle or major ways, and weave up, down, around and through with many other souls, or thread's along their way.
I have a renewed sense of trust, faith, purpose and love for my life and the tiny role I play in the bigger picture after this trip. I'm deeply, overwhelmingly grateful and in awe, beyond explanation. I value the gift of my life and my unique human experience in a new, bright-eyed, arms-and-heart-wide-open way.
I move slower now too. I took my time driving home. Soaking up all I could. I even stopped at a "Rock Shop" and enjoyed a toasted veggie sandwich from "Coffee On The Rocks," a little shop with belly fuel and breathtaking views.
Comments
Post a Comment