Carpe Diem, but Slow Down and Pay Attention

We seem to be in a strange phase at the yoga studio. I told you about our dear teacher Cynthia, who got the sudden diagnosis of breast cancer. Then yesterday, another teacher, Jenise, was in a bad auto accident. She is in the hospital and will have surgery today. They are putting steel plates in her ribs, and they need to see how much damage was in her back. Her dog, Laverne was also in the car, and Laverne is not in good shape either.

Cynthia, I'm happy to say, is doing well after her mastectomy. Please say prayers for her continued healing and for Jenise, who was actually the first person who befriended me here in Santa Fe and at YogaSource. I'll go to visit her later today, after her surgery. And prayers too, for Laverne, whom Jenise dearly loves.

I'm co-teaching the Level 3 yoga class this morning. We're going to do a wall rope sequence that elongates the spine. I'll start the class by having everyone chant the Lokah chant 8 times. The words are:

Lokah Somastah Sukino Bhvantu

The meaning is: May all beings in all realms experience joy.

It's the one we do when we need to send loving and healing thoughts to someone - or to the whole world. I'll be saying prayers too, but there is something powerful about a group of people sending a beautiful sound into the world. Jenise has a beautiful singing voice, and she belongs to a group that sings for Hospice patients. Her group is going to sing to her before her surgery this morning.

Last week, both RVPainter and I fell down. We weren't hurt, but whenever you fall, you could get hurt. I take those unexpected events as signs: SLOW DOWN and PAY ATTENTION were my interpretations. Then my friend Jenise decides to go for a hike with her dog on a beautiful spring-like Santa Fe morning. She's driving up the mountain road, reaches for her water bottle and ... in that flash of a second everything changes. She veers off the road and into a ravine.

We never know what lies ahead, what the day will bring. The cover of the journal I bought for myself this year reads Carpe Diem. Let's all seize the day, but please Slow Down and Pay Attenion too. I pass on my sign in case it wasn't just for me, perhaps it was for you too.