Step Gently Aside

Libby Yager is an Iyengar yoga student at Prana Yoga in Winnipeg Manitoba.

Each year she travels to Kenya to work with traumatized young women.  She teaches Iyengar yoga to them as part of their healing therapy.

She is also involved with a writing project at the University of Winnipeg, focused on her work as a therapist and her work in Kenya.  The words below are from that project.

step gently aside
to where there is insight and grace,
a place of homage and peace.

step gently aside,
to where there is joy and gratitude, and suffering as well.
invite them all in,
with caution, while holding yourself in strength and protection.

take space in the life you have built,
gently and cautiously…
notice your grief and sadness and sometimes anger and envy,
let it be slow and with conscience,
so it does not consume and dominate.

step aside with careful footing,
hold yourself close and with love,
notice your life and the human you are…
believe in your teachings and ways that you live your life,
take in loving relationships,
allow these connections to help…to find breath through disappointment and unsettled-ness.

and in this moment,
again gently step aside,
and find a place to put the suffering….
a place outside your own body and mind.

and in this moment,
notice the thoughts that take you…
to the blessings of your life,
feel joy and strength and gratitude…

and gently step aside.