all things connect

Source: oprah.com via Sharon on Pinterest

One of the definitions of yoga is "union"
To unite, is to connect.

Driving to the studio today I thought of the many awesome connections yoga has brought into my life. Some of them so magical, so mysterious that words simply do them no justice.

At my second yoga teacher training (as a student), I met some of the finest women I know. I thought of all three of them as I pondered my many wonderful connections.

I can recall the moment Shelli called me as I was pulling into Barnes & Noble. I sat in the parking lot for a good hour and she gushed about the space that would soon become her yoga studio. Shelli has been with me to Mexico and North Carolina to be a part of my yoga teacher trainings.

I think of Jen and her love of cooking and how she wore flip flops to our yoga teacher training during a cold Cincinnati winter. I see her with me on the beach, on a paddle board, scribbling dreams in a journal, but mostly in a kitchen in the outer banks of North Carolina where she fed me and nine other ladies in the yoga mansion. We were well nourished beyond a belief. Jen is now embarking on her own culinary adventure, Kitchen 452.

I see Mia and her sweet cute self. I see her conquer her fear and perform a headstand perfectly. I see Andy and I driving for one day to Cleveland to see her get married. I see her recently at the studio for the first time. She is still taking notes furiously. Asking brilliant questions. So present.  Letting her guard down. Today I see her upcoming adventure. She too is following her dreams. I see Sarah and Misty connecting with Mia and I smile. Connections. They're just the coolest.

Debra was in one of my very first yoga classes I taught. She was the first person I ever had as a sub (long ago days at Hartland). She was in my very first yoga teacher training. We've spent hours over coffee, had countless lunches at Jo Beth Cafe, and spent a week business retreating at Maya Tulum. She was my connection to Grace, my coach, mentor and friend. A connection Grace and I still can't quite figure out..

Grace has traveled to Kentucky to be a part of my yoga teacher training. I've traveled to Santa Cruz to be a part of her life coach training.  I still have the very first email I sent to her nearly three years ago. It's safe to say, she is yogababy's fairy godmother.

These are just a few connections that have magically wound their way into my life through the doors of yoga. There are countless, priceless others.

A yoga student once said to me at the end of a teacher training that a little part of me would always be with them in their teaching.

I see it all as a big web.
Teachers I've had.
Students I've trained.
The students they've gone on to teach.

It all pretty fantastic.
All things are truly connected.