Breathe & Let Go

Yoga has taught me the value of the quality of the breath. The breath can take you many places. It can lead you to blissful moments when you can be fully relaxed yet fully aware. Breath is a powerful tool. The ebbs and flow guide our movements, in both the subtle and gross body. It is the breath that guides our bodies through our emotional and physical changes and challenges. It is our faith that helps us release and let go. Having faith that another chance to inhale will come, another opportunity to grow, to learn, to be.

Yoga has also taught me about awareness. Awareness of my body, my breath, my surroundings, and the energy that radiates from people in those surroundings. Knowing where my body is in space without having to see it. Sensing the moods when someone walks in the room and knowing how to adapt.

Letting go. Letting go of preconceived notions that something has to be changed if something is uncomfortable. Being aware of it and breathing through. The combination of awareness and breath is a powerful tool. I know my breath and my faith can get me through anything. No matter how stressful it is. Let it go. You will be alright.

For as easy as this all sounds, some days it is just difficult to remember to breathe. There are days I sit at my desk, and I stop breathing. I clench my jaw and feel all the muscles in my neck tense up. There are times with my children when I have to excuse myself from the room, have a "mommy time-out" and stop to breathe. Its only through this awareness, when I stop, reset my train of thought and breathe, that I can continue on.

I suppose that the moral of the story is - Life's too short not to breathe. Let go of what doesn't serve you.

What do you see?

As you may know - I'm a big PUNK Rock fan.

Ok- actually I'm not. I really like Adele, Kid Rock, Sly and The Family Stone, The Beatles, Johnny Cash, and yes, Stevie Wonder, just to name a few. So "Why the pink hair?", you ask. This was my creative way of raising money for a Susan G. Komen Walk for the Cure. But it turned into something more. I was really surprised by the social experiment that came along with my extreme hair color.

It was like anyone with a mohawk, dreadlocks, facial piercings, tattoos, or other "alternative, creative, extreme" ways of expressing themselves. The people that didn't know why my hair was as bright atomic pink color also didn't know that I'm a mom of 2 little girls, a member of the PTA, daughter of a minister, a registered professional engineer, ok - I'm not a republican, but just saying, I generally come across pretty reserved. I'm the type of person that will check if my suitcase is the right size to take as a carry on when I fly. I follow the rules, most of the time.

With pink hair, somehow I became a rebel. In certain circles, like the PTA, I was artistic. At professional engineering meetings, people asked my colleagues if I had gone off the deep end. On the street, at restaurants or shopping, I'd here little kids ask their parents about my pink hair. I'd see people stop and take a second look to verify what they had just seen.

I was the outcast, the strange one. I was the one not accepted because of my appearance. It made me think of all the times I looked at someone and judged. I was now being judged. whether these people knew it or not. I could feel it. As the days went on, many times I would forget that my hair was even pink. It had become the new normal for me, and for the people I would see on a daily basis. However, there were still times when traveling or at a different end of town, that I'd be brought back to the reality of how much I stood out.

Many times it started a conversation and I was able to share the story of why my hair was pink. Once I did that, I had the "hall pass". It was all alright and I was instantly accepted again. Sometimes a friendly smile would do the trick. I would dare say that in some cases it intrigued people enough they would talk to a complete stranger. Sometimes, people would just shake their heads and look away. I know that I have done that to someone in the past, and probably not even realized it. To them - I apologize. Because of the judgment, I will never know what I may have missed out on. To those that asked - Thank you, keep asking asking and you never know what you may learn. That guy over there with the dreads may me a PhD. teaching at University. That young woman with the nose piercing may have just come back from India on a mission trip building dams. Who knows what the "rebel" may have to offer the world.

Stop looking with your eyes and see with your heart.

Love and Light,
-Edie