Better than a birthday
In these past three days, my life has been better than a birthday.
I've gotten calls, emails, facebook postings which I went to see using my friend's passwords.
It's all been so beautiful.
One of my best friend- Marc- called me from Europe and left me the sweetest message.
Scott Lewicki came tonight to my class, to support me.
The students from the Teacher Training bought me flowers and a $100 gift certificate from the Boddhi Tree. My God!!!!!
Got gorgeous emails from Sally Kempton, Sianna, Kenny, Noah, Christina, Tara, so many teachers and students.
I feel so deeply loved.
I've gotten so many hugs.
And each one I'm savoring, treasuring, making an imprint, a mudra, a seal in my heart- I shall never forget this.
I feel like the ending of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. "Earn this!" I've earned this!!!!
I feel so loved!
This is better than a birthday!
Birthdays happen every year, no matter what. Birthdays happen whether you worked hard or not. They are inevitable. The certification process, at least for me, was a mysterious journey where for four years I truly didn't think I was going to get certified.
But I knew that I would spend the rest of life trying.
And when the call came, there was such intense emotion that had built up, waiting to be released.
I used to feel so alone during the process. Even though I have so many amazing friends, I would hide my feelings of shame about not being certified for all this time...
I thought people must look down on me...
But all those parts of me I wanted to hide and was ashamed of, were inspiring others!
Even John said on his call that he had so much respect for how I stuck with it.
I'm an Anusara barnacle. I will never let go of this rock. I am here for life.
Hello, I'm Maria Cristina Jimenez and I'm a certified Anusara teacher!
AND
to top this weekend off, yesterday I went to my dear dear dear friend Tiffany Fraser's wedding. And can I say it was the best wedding that I've ever been to?! There were about 200 people, including Julie Andrews. Tiffany looked radiant, beautiful, stunning. Her husband Steve made one of the most memorable vows I've ever heard- so funny, loving, real. Her best friend Jonathan officiated the wedding and also did an amazing job.
I went with one of my best friends Jenny who is a blast. We were placed on Table #10 which was all the way in the back, hidden behind podium and the speakers. It was me, Jenny, Lucy, Jessica, Cynthia, Annie- all of us yoga teachers- and a few other gents. About halfway through dinner we spontaneously decided to be playful and lo and behold we started to play "Truth or Dare." I started and of course said "dare." They said, "go to table #4 and kiss a random guy." And guess what, I did! And so it began. Let's just say that at one moment Jenny did a sexy dance in the middle of the room, Annie held Warrior 2 for about a minute in the middle of the reception! And at one moment Tiffany found out what was happening and started to laugh so hard.
I've never had so much fun like this!
Tiffany aside from being a great friend was one of my 4 evaluators for my certification. She was the first person I called after I hung up with John; even before my parents. She was there from the very beginning, back in 2006 when she wrote an evaluation form saying that I should be certified. She never stopped believing in me and her integrity and calm kept me going.
One of her dreams was to get married.
One of mine was to become certified.
Both happened this weekend.
Mazal Tov!
Hi there,
You don't know me and I don't know you, but I've been reading your blog for at least/almost a year now and I wanted to congratulate you too on your recent certification.
I've studied with a few Anusara yoga teachers in Austin (when I lived there) and as someone once said, becoming certified in Anusara yoga is almost like getting a PhD. It takes an extraordinary amount of effort and I commend you for all of yours.
I hope you keep writing and sharing your path.
All the best!
Terra
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