Seated Buddha at the entrance of Synergy Yoga.

I started out Thanksgiving day with an early morning yoga class with my life partner. I’m lucky to have someone I can share a path with in this brief moment in time. I often think how lucky I am even when we have our biggest brawls (which happens to be about art!). But, Thanksgiving day’s yoga class helped me see the fragility of every moment and I left the class appreciating life more than ever. The class was taught by a long time practitioner of the Baron Baptiste heated yoga style. She often shares some of her life stories as inspiration to help us through the challenging poses. On that day the class became intimate with a very personal issue, the precarious state of her marriage. Many people do not share this kind of information freely, and especially not in a public manner (she even managed to infuse the subject with her usual, good natured humor). In doing so, it challenged us to step up to the plate. Yoga is not only a health practice, but can involve a practical philosophy based on compassion. Good teachers practices what they preach. In essence, her story was about compassion and the challenge of being able to forgive as that’s one of the biggest challenges for the ego to overcome. I for one, greatly appreciated her leadership. I often think about some of my shakuhachi teachers and what they choose to impart - how a bamboo flute can make the world a better place, if we want it badly enough.

In gratitude,
Perry