Dear Cyber-Stranger,After viewing one of my online yoga videos you wrote: "Sweetie, though you look sexy on tape, you better come down to earth now. Stop playing with your dolls and your imaginary friends. Hinduism is a joke and God is not real."
While reading your words I experienced pain - at first my own pain and then yours. So I took you 'in' and held you in my Heart. I sat with you for quite some time.
At first it was challenging. My hurt feelings returned and then receded, returned and receded, again and again. I felt your hurt do the same.
I prayed to recognize myself in you. I prayed to recognize you in myself.
At times I felt violence towards you even though I do not know you. Please forgive me for this. Did you intend to hurt me with your words? I forgive you for that.
I wondered if you are often angry? If your heart has been broken by a lover? By a parent? By the circumstances of your birth? This world can feel so cruel and the pain unbearable. I have been hurt too. I have had my heart broken. I have also broken my own heart.
Part of me told me not to waste my time with you. And another part whispered, "You have everything to gain by inviting him into your Heart."
I prayed for healing for us both.
I prayed that I might recognize your Light.
I bowed to the place in you where Love is boundless.
I celebrated the part of you who chooses actions that heal instead of hurt.
May the eyes of our Hearts be open.
Deep peace to you,
Lauran
5 comments:
Thank you Lauren for this and your many other posts.
Reaching out with compassion even when it difficult is something I try to foster within myself as well. To always try to see myself in what may seem to be the other.
By the way, you were my first yoga teacher about 6 months ago at Love Yoga Coop, before you left on your current adventure. Your spirit was inspiring, and I sensed from you that I was on the right path.
So thank you for the wonderful spirit you share in your classes, and in your blog.
Jeff
Dearest Lauran,
As I read the words written to you i felt appalled. Just now, as I type, I am listening to a band called "Enter the Worship Circle". The song goes like this: "Can you sing over me words of comfort, can you satisfy me sweet honey. Can you break through me strong hands, can you undo me enough to heal me. You take the weight from my shoulder. My hands were clenched, now they're opened. I'll take your goodness, poured from the sky, food from the ravens, water from the dry well."
I hope these words are able to wash over your the way they do for me all the time. (This is one of my favorite songs to practice yoga to!)
I am sorry that such nasty words were written to you; but I am also thankful for your response- strength and humility intermingled, just beautiful.
My husband and I have begun a blog. Until now I have been unable to post anything because of the vulnerability it requires in me. Your testimony has given me strength!
Thank you!
Be blessed, sweet stranger.
-Louisa
dearest jeff and jouisa,
your comments lifted my spirits to wonderful heights. this 'being human' is a full-spectrum experience. i'm so humbled that you two shared your thoughts and continued to bring light into the dark.
truly, reading your words brought tremendous hope and joy into my heart.
here's to all of our wide-open, vulnerable, fiercely beating hearts.
namaste!
p.s. jeff, i'm so happy you've continued on the path of yoga. shine on, sweet man.
p.p.s. louisana, the words to the song you share capture compassion with deep sincerity. i thank you so much for sharing them. xo
I'm gonna find this person and kick his ass. Lovingly, of course.
namaste,
autumn :)
Dear Lauran,
Here's yet another post from a cyber-stranger.
Firstly thank you for creating this blog. I stumbled upon your videos while embarking on my yoga journey (now a year strong) and thirsty for more knowledge, found this blog, which I come back to whenever I need to replenish myself and put things back into perspective. It's a refreshingly human and truthful, yet wise and beautiful, take on life that's deliciously inspiring. It's also precisely what's missing in the highly competitive and cut-throat environment I've faced day to day over the last 2 years - and, you could say, in this wider world.
I felt the need to post something in response to the absurd comments you received. As another complete stranger (vs. perhaps close ones who've seen that person's comment), I wanted to re-affirm the feedback you've received from others. Your musings, poems and tales are wondrous gems (as are your yoga teachings)... and they are meaningful to those like me who occasionally need reminders of the bigger picture, simple nudges forward, or a philosophical slap in the face.
In fact, before I came across your videos and blog, I didn't think that balanced people like you still existed... that is, people who are neither religious whackos (like that close-minded person suggested), nor selfish and materialistic empty shells; people are who neither driven purely by pure rationality, nor slaves to their emotional weaknesses; people who are neither cattle following the herdsman nor arrogant fools pretending to be omniscient. Instead, you seek truth, light, love. "Become the change that you want to see" as the quote goes...
So, all this to say, thank you very much again for keeping up the blog until now, and forget that ignoramus.
Best wishes,
Random stranger
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