Even Though it is 46 Degrees Outside....

...in INDIANA in January, it is still winter and time for comfort food. My family loves soup, so I often find myself standing over a steaming pot of deliciousness, tweaking the flavor and adjusting the consistency. I love the process of preparing ingredients, chopping vegetables, measuring the aromatic herbs and spices, creating the broth and ultimately savoring the scent, the taste, and absorbing the warmth.

 What does soup have to do with yoga you ask? Stay with me now.. The image of being immersed in the breath for me, has long been a part of centering, which is the time in yoga and meditation, when a person can chose to focus on one thing, like the breath or perhaps a candle or a mantra. Suddenly, yesterday the image of being “in the soup” was clear, though it sounded too silly to say out loud to my yoga class…of course I said it anyway! The idea that we are all-unique like ingredients, and have different talents to offer to the world is just like what happens in the soup pot. Flavors and personalities mingle and contrast --and life becomes fragrant and nourishing when we are all moving in an intention born out of our own particular authenticity. “You Be You,” was a t-shirt I saw this morning that resonated with me because you are the only thing you can be! Why not be SO YOU that what you bring to the community, “the soup,” is ‘tres magnifique?’

 Yesterday when I was about to say to my yoga class in centering that being present to the breath was like being  “in the soup,” maybe it wasn’t so silly.  When we are fully present we become more ourselves. “In the soup,” is an image of the world becoming more delicious, more nourishing, and I perhaps we could all use more of that kind of thinking. 

Peace be with you!