Coming Home
If you don’t know or haven’t heard Cuyahoga Community College’s (Tri-C) tagline is Tri-C: Where Futures Begin.
This lofty prediction happily proved true for me.
When I arrived I had just lost my job, was seriously considering leaving my partner of 17 years (which I did shortly after starting at the college), and had a young child (my first and only). I was someone who despised exercising, but I am also someone who is competitive, and loves a challenge. Honestly, my stress levels were so high when I began working here that I would have tried anything to get back my happy.
Special potion? Sure, I’ll have a sip.
Magic Beans. Yes, please.
Training for my first 5k – uh….ok, I guess.
Employee yoga - whatever. What do I have to lose (and how hard can standing there breathing be anyway?!) Ummmm - hard.
I vividly remember walking into that first yoga class. I had started running weekly as part of that 5k training mentioned above, and I thought yoga would provide a nice ‘break’ for my ‘off’ running days since it wasn’t a ‘real’ workout.
Mary, the teacher, proved me wrong instantaneously. I am still in awe of her ability to teach a class to people of drastically different physical abilities and somehow manage to push them each to their individual edges while maintaining a sense of cohesion and community. I never ever thought that a one hour, once a week employee yoga class that cost me almost nothing would have the lifelong impact on me that it did - and that you did Mary!
You and your class become sanctuary. It is so funny to me how drastically we change, without any awareness of it until months, maybe even years later. How we can learn to love things we once despised (hello frog pose!), how we suddenly become conscious of a plethora of experiences and people that moments before we didn’t even know existed (i.e. tongue scraping, chakras, sound healing, Abraham - what??!?!), how we begin to appreciate things in their own time and the lessons we are meant to learn (enter sacred contracts).
Where life went after I committed to regularly getting on my mat was truly incredible. I fell in love again. I started writing again. I began running regularly. I completed a 200 hour Yoga Teaching Training. I started my own business, Rogue_Revel that focuses on women and wellness, creativity, and growth. And I did (and continue to do) some deep soul work.
And now…..even as I write this I can’t believe it….I am humbled and honored that I was asked to teach the class at the college that Mary once taught me. How is that for coming full circle!
My experience with the Tri-C wellness program taught me that people can and do change and that there is always an opportunity to keep evolving into our next best selves. To quote F. Scott Fitzgerald, “For what it’s worth... it’s never too late, or in my case too early, to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit. Start whenever you want. You can change or stay the same. There are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you’ve never felt before. I hope you meet people who have a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and if you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start over again.”
I can’t wait to come home East!
