‘…stay golden’…reads the gospel according to Holden Caulfield. In the course of our lives, we are afforded
many an opportunity to do this very thing. For me, this was my recent soiree to
the states of California and New York City. A dream whose eventuality was in
question at more than one point in the lead up. I often find myself telling my
friends that the fears we have in life are always bigger inside our head. And
if we look behind us, it is possible to see the rewards that do come from
stepping up to the plate.
Whatever we do in life and who we choose to do it with holds
both power and possibility. Michael Patrick King, whose words for ‘Sex and the
City’ continues to bring awareness of this to many. Not only does he write in a manner
that is both poetic and at times prophetic; but it also, perhaps more
importantly, makes us smile. As I write these words, I am reminded of the Zen
saying of ‘jump and the net will appear’. As Carrie took to her trapeze and jumped, the
net did indeed appear. And so mine did at many a point when I was overseas.
The conundrum can then be re adjusting to life back home.
How do you translate the wow into the now? By choosing more cliff jumps, so to
speak. I am being inspired by the pages
of Jack Kerouac’s ‘On the Road’ at the moment. He simply put pen to paper and
wrote from his heart, without giving a hulabaloo for what his audience may or
may not think. For it really doesn’t matter. Our dreams are for us to live out.
He writes about the challenges of struggling to have enough bread to get by as
he travels throughout America in the fifties. But apart from his lyrical
beauty, his heartfelt determination leaps off the page. My audience will think
many things and my challenge is to keep writing. The reason I’m also inspired
by him lies in his style of writing…stream of consciousness. Rather than
purchasing a neat edited copy of his work, I opted for the original scroll. Raw.
That’s how at times I feel, as if the ground beneath me is a tightrope that
could fall away. But maybe that’s what working with your edge means, embracing
a courageous heart.
It’s no mistake really that life has led me to teaching in
many arenas. For the ultimate thankyou to a teacher of ours is to follow in
their footsteps. We are shown the way by our forefathers. Judith Hanson Laseter has entrusted me with
the gift that is restorative yoga, which I feel really honoured to receive.
Along with asana, she passed on many a word of wisdom in terms of teaching
practice. The one that stood out to me was thanking the teachers we are given
in life. As she enters her class, she offers her practice up as an act of
gratitude. And there will be times when I feel I will let her down or not be
good enough. I am feeling the fear and doing it anyway, as I have been given an
unshakeable gift whose depth continues to astound me. And if we remain true to ourselves we will never let down our best teacher - ourselves.
