A Challenge

Hello and Happy Monday, 

​Wow!! I've spent the last 15 months writing about the eight limb path of yoga. I wondered what would happen when this day arrived and what I would write about. It's funny, I wasn't worried because there is so much more yoga has that I could write about, beyond my lifetime. But this month, I'm taking the lead from Michael and Melissa's school. Each February they compete in the Kindness Challenge and they and I love it!

Over the years, I have taken this lead and have shared stories of kindness in my classes, and some of you have shared your stories of kindness with me. I always love the random acts of kindness stories. If you have an incredible story, please share it with me and I'd love to share them with all of you. 

The Acts of Kindness Challenge includes complimenting a friend, waving at a crossing guard, helping a friend, you get the point. We all know how to be kind and this challenge highlights all of that.

I want to share one of my favorite stories from a holiday season a few years ago. My ex-husband had been unemployed for 2 years at this point and we had been separated for a year, but still living under the same roof. Michael and Melissa were smaller and I was trying my best to support our family teaching yoga. Not many people knew what was going on in my personal life, especially in my classes, and some of you might be learning this right now. One day after class, a practitioner, who was a regular in my Friday afternoon class and it was her last day in Old Town, gave me a Trader Joe's gift card. I was so appreciative of the gift, I shop in Trader Joe's a LOT, and it was so very kind of her. The next week I brought both kids to Trader Joe's to get all my holiday shopping done. When I got to the register I handed over the gift card, my total was about $150, so I waited to hear my new total, expecting to hear that I owed $130, but the woman at the register, it was Thelma (if you go to TJ's you know her - she is one of the nicest people), handed back the card and said there is $50 left on the card. I was stunned and started crying instantly at checkout. Both kids were wondering why I was crying and Thelma got it, as we stood and cried together. I will never forget that day. That feeling of kindness and knowing I could never thank her, but feeling so overwhelmed with love and support in that moment. 

Not all stories have to be about someone paying for someone else. So please share with me yours, or share with me how you plan to be kind this month. 

In my next act of kindness, the free Meditation course starts this week. If you are still interested in signing up click HERE. Each week in February you will receive a separate email from me with a 10-20 min video all about meditation, benefits, guided meditations, and hopefully a way to spark your own practice.
With Love & Kindness, 
Jess
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