Five Degrees

I am blessed to be part of a loving supportive family. Now, don't get me wrong, we go to great efforts to maintain that love and support. It's important to us. Last weekend I hung out in Whistler with my twelve of my close and extended family, raising toasts, breaking bread, catching up. It was such a loving time.

Back in White Rock, working at Saje Aromatherapy on West Beach, I have been trying to love my customers the same way. Every person that walks into the shop is, after all, some body's husband, wife, mother, daughter, father, brother, cousin, friend. But this is a difficult thing to wrap my head around, even though the theory is sound. How to look at a stranger and see family?

Yesterday I had the pleasure of introducing a new friend to yoga through healing massage. That may surprise some people: how is massage yoga?

Yoga is the practice of learning the language of our bodies

Ailments are our bodies way of asking us to please pay attention- something is out of sync. Nerves in the afflicted part of the body literally send a message to our brains asking for a diagnosis and solution. Yoga can help us to decipher these messages, and finally get back on common ground with our bodies.

As always after sharing yoga with another person, my own practice knows a revival. For the first time in weeks, I started my day with some simple moves to reintegrate my body and brain, and reintegrate and relax my muscles so that I could sit in meditation.

And this is what I learned:

1. With my hands placed palms together in front of my heart, I bowed my head to my own body, heart and consciousness and offered love, peace, compassion.

2. With my palms together, I extended my little fingers and thought of those family and friends in my immediate support circle. I offered them my love, peace and compassion.

3. With my palms together, I extended my little fingers and ring fingers and imagined the people who my people love, some of whom I have met, and offered them love, peace and compassion.

4. Palms pressed together, I extended my little, ring and middle fingers and offered love peace and compassion to the people my people's people love.

5. Palms pressed together, thumbs against my chest, fingers fanned out, I offered love peace and compassion to the people my people's people's people love :)

And I realized. Those customers in my store are only five people away from my inner circle.

Try to see the world that way today. I dare you.

Namaste,

Meg