My daughter, yoga, and all that good stuff!

Yesterday I appreciated yet another facet of the lifelong gift I have been blessed with. My gift is my children. We call our children "mine" as if they are our possessions, but really the care of these souls have been entrusted to us, as a sacred duty.

I attended my 18 year old daughter's very first yoga class! Four years ago my daughter and I joined our very first yoga class with a first class teacher. We were so fortunate family circumstances gifted this teacher to us for almost 2 years. Yoga was (and I suppose in some quarters still is) treated with a little suspicion in our conservative town, so not many people attended the classes, but it certainly changed my life for the better. Our wonderful teacher's stay was to be short as he was always destined for a bright future in a bigger place more suited to his diverse talents.

It is awful to say, but I have no self discipline for home practice. And a chaotic home full of staff in the day and 8 members of the household didn't make things any easier. We joined a yoga/pilates fusion class and it was okay, good for fitness, but didn't have the mind/body/soul connection I craved. During this whole period my daughter kept up her home practice, reading, and well...becoming.

At last she decided the time was right to begin her classes. My curator friend gave her a small space at the museum, to help her, as he is awesome, and also began yoga for the first time with her first class. The setting is very peaceful. During the 4 years that have passed since we began yoga, it seems our town might have evolved a bit, and there was great interest expressed in attending her classes. She started with advertising two time slots a week, and very soon had to make it four. Next week there will be eight classes over 4 days.

All the bookings for the first class turned up, all first time beginners, and everything went perfectly. The class was fantastic and real yoga at last. After the class I watched the people swarm around my daughter, making sure their bookings for the next class on Wednesday were sorted. The dynamic in class was awesome and the mood after class was as it should be after yoga. Soon the next class arrived. I was going to do another class, but someone did not have a mat so I gave them mine and sat it out. I loved watching the faces of the people change as the class progressed. Many of the later class were not able to return on Wednesday, as a whole new batch of people had booked that time slot, but the extra classes next week should sort that out.

I watched my daughter instinctively read the room. The first class was generally more unfit than the second class, and she adjusted the class accordingly...on her very first day teaching! To those who know her this is not surprising. She was born an old soul. I didn't really notice at the time, but she was never really a child. I don't know if I am describing it accurately, but she is not 100% in this world. Unfortunately this has exposed her some dangerous paranormal situations, which has played a part in defining who she is today.

She has always wanted to help people, and is beginning the next stage of her life journey. What humbles me is the fact I was chosen to be this beautiful creature's mother. The strange thing is, since I was 18 years old I knew I was destined to have 3 children. It took forever to conceive my quota, so I have the utmost joy of watching the other two gifts I have received claim their place in the world.