I am currently at the San Francisco Yoga Conference. I have entered a world of inspiration. My experience here is also about being overwhelmed. I have wholeheartedly tread the path of yoga for nearly 25 years now, but my annual yoga conference experience reminds me of how much more I have to learn.
I am reminded of a recent conversation I had with friends in New York City about the potential each individual has to make great changes in the world. Yoga teaches us that in order to manifest an external change, we must master the desired exterior change within ourselves first. For example, mastering interior peace comes before I can do small or large actions towards living in a more peaceful world. In order to spread love and happiness, I have to embrace kindness and wholeness within myself.
In New York City I was reminded that an organic farmer-yogini-nurturing mother can change the world by planting and growing an organic farm, by planting one seed at a time into pure living earth. The organic farming techniques nurture the earth, which in turn yields healthy food, which nourishes the bodies (and spirits) of several families, who in turn live their lives with clarity and peace. It’s a magical loop! It sound like an outlandishly impossible scenario! However, great effort, intention, and awareness are involved in the process of making positive changes. This can be done by an individual.
From the same discussion in New York City, I was reminded that, as a simple individual, I can plant seeds of compassion and peace through my teaching and my writing. As individuals, my friend -the organic farmer-yogini-nurturing mother- and I -the yoga instructor, can take actions that have loud repercussions in the world. The beauty of this is that we all have the capacity to inspire and make positive changes.
The yoga conference here in San Francisco reiterates the ideas above. I observe my instructors pouring their hearts out to inspire and teach us how to be the best we can be. Following are quotes I love and inspirational quotes I saw as sidewalk art in New York City.
Be the Change you wish to see in the world.
-Gandhi
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.
-Margaret Mead
As we become purer channels for God’s light, we develop an appetite for the sweetness that is possible in this world. A miracle worker is not geared toward fighting the world that is, but toward creating a world that could be.
-Marianne Williamson
And a humble/powerful approach from a humble wiry nun who worked with the poorest of the poor in Calcutta, someone I deeply respect:
Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love.
-Mother Teresa
I saw this tattered, torn, and taped-together poster of John Lennon in NYC and got a shot of it.
“You’re all beautiful and you’re all geniuses.”
“We’ve got this gift of love, but love is like a precious plant.
You can’t just accept it and leave it in the cupboard
or just think it’s going to get on by itself.
You’ve got to keep watering it.
You’ve got to really look after it and nurture it.”“Peace is not something you wish for; It’s something you make, Something you do , Something you are, And something you give away”
“When you do something noble and beautiful and nobody noticed, do not be sad. For the sun every morning is a beautiful spectacle and yet most of the audience still sleeps.”
-John Lennon
Its amazing how experiences we have and the things people say can enlighten us. Thanks fran.
Thanks for the reminder Fran. When you took those pictures in NYC, who would imagine that Alan Rickman would be dead in a month’s time along with our beloved David Bowie. Sad days.
I couldn’t agree more! So strange that Alan Rickman’s photo (alive at the time I took this photo) was right between the others who were gone. Two big losses (Rickman and Bowie) in a short span of time.
lovely, Fran!