Being Yoga Flooding (August 2008)

No one at the front desk could believe their eyes when they saw what looked like a waterfall suddenly cascading down the west side of the Being Yoga studio. Robin Duffy, owner and director of the studio, said she rubbed her eyes to make sure they weren’t deceiving her. Unfortunately, they weren’t. It was a reality—a rogue fire sprinkler had burst and was flooding the studio with gallons of water. By the time fire fighters arrived and were able to turn it off, our beautiful studio was soaked, with serious damage sustained by the bamboo floors. After taking several deep, pranayama breaths, Robin and staff got to work cleaning and repairing and temporarily patching up the floors so that, only 24 hours later, classes could go on.

That was the first time it happened.

Exactly one week later (despite the belief that the original problem had been solved), another lone sprinkler waged a second assault on our recovering studio.

As unfortunate as this flooding has been, it actually presents to us the perfect backdrop for Being Yoga’s Theme of the Month: “Living Your Yoga.” Please read on to understand why:

It can’t be denied—walking into our beloved yoga studio damaged twice in one week was disheartening and upsetting. Fortunately, however, we have been practicing our yoga, and it didn’t take long to realize that right in front of us was an opportunity to LIVE OUR YOGA! We all took some deep pranayama breaths, calmed our hearts and minds, and tore into fixing up the studio yet again.

Dealing with water damage serves to remind us that quite often in life we are faced with circumstances that would not be our first pick! It reminds us that sometimes we can’t choose our circumstances, but we can always choose our responses to those circumstances.

We are reminded why it’s important to practice keeping inner peace so that we can effectively deal with unexpected unfavorable circumstances. By practicing yoga, we are able to Live Our Yoga during difficult times. We are able to observe what is going on without a strong, reactive opinion. Confronted with difficulties, we are able to pause, calm ourselves down, be present, and move in a positive direction.

By Living Our Yoga, we know that conditions ultimately can not control our happiness or destroy our inner peace.

By Living Our Yoga, we can celebrate that we are a strong community (in fact a yogic family) that can—in this case more than figuratively—“go with the flow.” We can rejoice in the fact that we still have a place to gather and practice and draw from the goodness of each other—despite a few disruptions and irregularities while getting the studio back to normal.

By Living Our Yoga, we can celebrate that our minimal water damage was nothing compared to the homes and buildings that have been blown away by hurricanes or washed away by tsunamis. As Bikram has said, “Great yogis are so focused and internally drawn, that even crashing walls couldn’t pull their concentration from holding the pose with a happy, smiling face.” By Living Our Yoga, we can celebrate that there are no “crashing walls,” and that we can, indeed, greet our current circumstance with happy, smiling faces.

Many sincere thank you’s for your patience, support, advice and encouragement while we fix up the studio. We appreciate that you are Living Your Yoga.