Mandalas and a Yoga-Blog Friend

I first met Taryn at the yoga teacher training open house last August. She arrived late and entered the room just minutes after I had. In our defense, we had both thought the same thing: that "open house" meant stop by at any time between the hours stated. Nope. And oops.

Fast forward a few weeks later and we came face to face again at class number one for yoga teacher training! I remembered her right away - the girl who was late with me for open house. We struck up a conversation and it turned out that we had a few things in common. Besides the obvious that we both love yoga, Taryn is a blogger! And she is a crafter. We became instant friends. :o)

Now yoga teacher training is an adventure unto itself, and the 22 other people who walked that journey with me will forever hold a special place in my heart. I love that Taryn is one of those people. We had plans to meet for lunch this past weekend and I was so happy when Taryn suggested that we draw mandalas during lunch.

{Taryn's mandala}

We met at Whole Foods and found a table. We gathered food and a glass of wine each, and there we sat - chatting and drawing our mandalas and then being totally amazed at how quickly two hours flew by! We talked about yoga teaching plans and about our lives - past and present - and dreams for the future. And when it was time to pack up, we each wrote a word on our mandala page to signify our hopes and to seal our time together.

"Freedom," Taryn wrote.

"Freedom to follow my dreams, with the love and support of friends," I penned.

I wasn't ready to be finished working on my mandala, so when I got home I headed outside where I sat and drew and colored some more. I thought about my time with Taryn and our sweet connection. I realized that I hadn't noticed anything else around us the entire time we occupied that table in Whole Foods! We were so engrossed in conversation and mandalas, we really were in our own little world.

 

As I added to my mandala, I realized that what I had written on my  page while we were still at Whole Foods wasn't quite complete either. I added three simple yet powerful words that changed my journaling to an affirmation, "I have the freedom to follow my dreams, with the love and support of friends."

I feel so fortunate to have the freedom to follow my dreams;

that I have the love and support of so many sweet friends,

and that my circle of friends has grown as a result of my yoga practice.

The perks of being me are just too numerous to count.

♥
PS: Check out Taryn's blog by clicking here. And tell her Deb sent you. ;o)