My life over the past 25 years has been a landscape that I could not have imagined. At 20 years of age I was in the US Army- a missile specialist, several years later I had my first child and was able to leave the military. I had my second child three years later, and my real education began! I have held various jobs and owned several businesses in my life and did not walk into the path of Yoga until my early forties.
One day I was walking, I had grown tired of my life, I was bored with life and I was bored with me. I had worked very hard at developing my business savvy and being the smartest person in the room, this was a strategy to ensure no one would ever be able to pull any tricks on me or take advantage of me ever again. Well all of this just made me tired. I was empty. It is a lot of armor to keep holding up! So I said to the Universe I do not wish to live the second half of my life the way I have lived the first half. I had many beautiful things but, I was so tired of not feeling my life had meaning. Shortly there after things changed quickly, I took my first Vinyasa class and after my second class I went home and wrote my teaching schedule, and 4 months later sold my business and began to pursue various Teacher Trainings. Nine months after my first Yoga class I was now teaching in a small town in Maine, I knew I did not know everything about yoga but I knew I had to share what I did know.
The process-Our life as we know it. What do we really know- the path of Yoga asks of me to meet that which I do not know, the practice asks of me to meet the unknowing, often I meet that which can not be explained,at least I have found a great struggle in trying to put words to the practice the path of Yoga. Somehow words can almost feel confining a bit restricting in the expression of what is so vast. Of what we call Yoga. My practice goes beyond words, beyond form, the experience of energy that is exchanged is not yet tangible but yet so sweetly familiar as I crave to be with it. The craving becomes satisfied on my mat. The familiarity settles in and the connection of Spirit is once again satisfied. My intention is to remember that I am not separate. Yes, I can say this and have a sense of understanding, of wanting to believe this is true -but do I believe this? I do, but feel I am in the process of truly believing this truth once again. The path helps me remember my connection. The connection that I have never been separate in the first place-this is what must be unlearned as some of our programming runs deep.
The practice of Yoga in it’s various forms of Asana/Hatha, Karma and Bhakti, Raja and Juana have given my life meaning. The practice has placed me in touch with what I can not touch but is exquisitely comforting. I teach, and I am grateful. I am grateful because I know this is what I am meant to do, I/we like knowing what we are here to do. I do not always know what I am here to teach specifically or here to do, and at times become unsettled and restless as I want more. This is a human condition, and a dominate one in the states, as well as our states of mind. Our culture is often referred to as the land of plenty and of Freedom- Oh I do want freedom, but what do I want freedom from? We teach what we need to know, and we teach from experience. I am afforded the opportunity to teach , and I fully understand that every student that walks through my door is my mirror-some days I must meet "frustration", some days I must meet the feeling of "I am not enough", and many days I meet " I am so glad to be on my mat- choosing ease in my body and choosing to move what is stuck and holds me back".
I am blessed to be waking and walking with others, changing a world that we can not see the outcome to, but feel we are making a difference in the lives of others, knowing our actions of today are effecting generations to come. My hope for you in reading this, is to invite you to embrace the courage needed to meet yourself on the mat. That you choose to begin the process of meeting yourself where you are and not where you think you should be. Meeting compassion.
I am blessed to be waking and walking with others, changing a world that we can not see the outcome to, but feel we are making a difference in the lives of others, knowing our actions of today are effecting generations to come. My hope for you in reading this, is to invite you to embrace the courage needed to meet yourself on the mat. That you choose to begin the process of meeting yourself where you are and not where you think you should be. Meeting compassion.
Changing the world one Yoga Class at time!
In light and love - Sat Nam
Amy Figoli
The Yoga House Owner | Certified Yoga Teacher
