The Blue Sky

I was teaching a class the other day.  My clients whom I was serving have been diagnosed with some pretty heavy stuff.  My goal was not a typical western mindset goal of burning calories and building muscles.
This class was more about calming the mind, turning negative into positive. 
It is about feeling the sensations in the body,
witnessing them without the emotion,
without frustration,
without pain. 
We are breathing and calming the senses to better handle the issues that come with dibilitating diagnosis.  Once we can calm the mind using the breath, then we can begin to change the body.  My hopes that these people will begin to change awareness from doubt and hopelessness to that of control and power over the body and the disease.
We go about the class with this intention.  We gently stretch. We deeply breath.  And we let go, into the realm.  We do this for a typical class length, that of about an hour.  And finally, we release into savasana so the body can absorb the benefits from the asanas.

I always love reawakening my clients after this final relaxation and looking into their faces.  There's a calmness, almost a sleepy look, a gratitude for that sacred hour of destressing and setting all the daily worries aside.  For this is a place of nurturing oneself.  People simply don't nurture themselves enough, if at all.  When they finally do, it shows on their faces.

These two clients, in particular, upon wakening, opened their eyes and noticed the blue sky.

(We had practiced outside on my back patio.) 

When my clients awaken and notice the blue sky?  Yep. I have helped shift their consciousness to that of a positive nature.
It's like the saying,  "You had better notice the flowers in the vase, not the dust on the table.

If only for the hour and a bit of afterglow time, maybe longer,

they feel at  peace. 

Hopefully the peace within will grow deeper and the pain will lessen. 

Hopefully each practice will bring about a deeper release and a wider opening to the greatness of the world. 

And if this is so,

 than my own world will shift, as well, to a deeper release, and a wider opening in which to serve the world,
up to the bluest skies,
 through my yoga students.