Living without power – Yoga lessons for all of us

In case you missed it, Seattle was snowbound for most of last week.  Snow and ice-covered the streets and houses and trees.  Driving was treacherous, and many folks lost power.

Running a business was stressful.  To close or not to close?  That was the question of the day.  And then how do you notify folks that the business was or wasn’t closed, when you don’t even have power or internet access?  How to send the message and who will get it?

Here are some of the questions/issues that many in my community had to deal with.  These are questions which were brought to the fore by the snowstorm, but really, these are  questions that bear investigation regardless of the weather.

• How do we deal with the unexpected?
• Can we live with not knowing?
• Can we live without transportation?
• Can we live without our computers?
• Do we have enough food/candles/water in our homes in case of emergencies?
• What do we do when we don’t have heat or electricity?
• Do we have friends we can go to in times of emergency?
• How comfortable are we with spending 6 days alone with our families?
• How comfortable are we with silence? No ticking clocks, computers, washers, etc.
• What do we do when our to-do list can’t be completed?

For all of us yogis, we had the added challenge of figuring out where our practice really was.

• If you can’t make it to the studio, do you still practice?
• If your house is filled with people, and no heat, do you still practice?

And then… the power comes back on.

• How do we respond?
• How quickly do we rush back to our lists of things to do?
• Are we overwhelmed by trying to all that we didn’t do and all that we still must do?
• Do we wish (surreptitiously) for more snow and less power?
• How do we capture those moments of silence in our daily life?

That seems like more than enough to chew on for one day.  Happy thinking.  I welcome you thoughts and comments.

Shalom & Namaste,
Diana Bonyhadi