Learning to Listen

in·tu·i·tion
1 : quick and ready insight 2 a : immediate apprehension or cognition b : knowledge or conviction gained by intuition

Following your intuition can be a tricky thing. You know, that "gut" feeling that you get about certain things. Sometimes it's hard to explain and many times it may not make any sense at the present time, but none the less, it's there.... a feeling of knowing from within.

I specifically remember how I felt after my very first yoga class. I experienced a feeling of peace and calm at a time when I really needed it. So I went back to yoga class, time and time again, eager to learn more about this practice that seemed so basic, yet so complex at the same time. Days turned to weeks, weeks turned into months, and months turned into years.

Theres no doubt in my mind that yoga definitely helped me to listen to my intuition, to follow my gut instinct. I can specifically remember moving back to Lexington and going to pick up an application at City Hall for a recreation supervisor position for Parks and Recreation. Afterall, it made perfect sense. My education and my background are in the field of recreation. But my intuition told me it wasn't the right thing to do (meanwhile, my head was yelling "Are you crazy, what else will you do.") My gut was telling me to open a yoga studio. I envisioned a creative, warm and inviting space that would inspire people to practice yoga. Needless to say, I threw the application away and starting that day, I took the steps necessary to open Barefoot Works. I've followed my intuition throughout the whole process of opening my studio and I can honestly say that I don't have a single regret. Whenever I have my doubts, I refer to this moving poem by Mary Oliver.

The Journey
One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice--though the whole house began to tremble and you felt the old tug at your ankles."Mend my life!"each voice cried. But you didn't stop. You knew what you had to do, though the wind pried with its stiff fingers at the very foundations, though their melancholy was terrible. It was already late enough, and a wild night,and the road full of fallen branches and stones. But little by little, as you left their voices behind, the stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds, and there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own,that kept you company as you strode deeper and deeper into the world, determined to do the only thing you could do--determined to save the only life you could save.