Namaste Friends!

I can’t believe where the summer has gone.  I realize that technically we have over a month of summer left, but it always feels we have reached the end of summer when school starts back up.  And each year it seems to start back earlier and earlier.  Although I thoroughly enjoy the carefree feeling that summer invokes within me, I do look forward to those first hints of fall.  Just when I am feeling out of my routine, and reckless abandonment has consumed my lifestyle, fall shows up and reels me back in.   At my house, the school routine gets us up with the roosters, and to bed with setting of the sun.  We eat earlier, we pack our lunches, the laundry is done punctually, the grocery shopping is planned out, and the overall daily structure falls back to its natural cadence.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the spontaneity that summer encourages.  But if I hang too long without the daily routine I start to lose my sense of groundedness. 

I love some of the traditions of returning to school as well.  New school supplies, new back packs, new shoes, new haircuts, and new beginnings.  My youngest son starts Kindergarten this year.  He feels so big in this Universe.  Kindergarten is a huge mile marker when you are five.  He has come all this way!  Its a rites of passage for him.  Its a first major step on his journey.  This is as big to him as getting accepted into graduate school is for some of you.  Its all relative to where we are on our journey, our path, our dharma, our soul’s pupose. 

The beginning of a school year effects many of us…even if we aren’t in school.  Its because a calmness falls across the days.  The parks aren’t as full, the school zones slow us down, the sound of children playing is hushed, our college friends are turning back toward academia, vacations are wrapping up.  And so we too turn back to our more routine lifestyle.  We slow down a bit.  We start to go inward more.  And the whole process of reflection begins.

 Sometimes, when we are settled and landed and truly looking at ourselves we begin to realize we need to take another step on our journey; complete the next rites of passage; deepen our awareness of ourself and this amazing Universe to which we belong.  A few years back I found myself looking for the next step to take on my journey.  My 10 year career of teaching high school English was no longer my passion.  I wanted to discover more about who I was and whyI was… so I began seeking some other ways  to expand my consciousness.  It dawned on me that when I was on my yoga mat was when I was most centered, most real, most connected.  So it stood to reason that the answers I was looking for were most likely associated with the study of yoga.  I entered a Yoga Teacher Training course and it absolutely transformed my life.  I took another one a few years later, and I again was blown away by the depth and revelations I discovered within my own self.  I was catapulted into a new realm of understanding.  That is how I wound up here.  I wanted to create a space for others to find that same level of awareness; a place for people to tap into their center, to get grounded, to discover their gifts.  I opened Karma Yoga Center in May.  And now I am launching our first Yoga Teacher Training (YTT).  It begins Sept. 18th and goes to November 21st. Go to our Teacher Training tab for more details and an application. With the help of my dear friend and amazing teacher Lisa Schlelein, we are ready to help others discover their passion, their voice, their path.  Perhaps it time for you to take that next step on your journey.  Complete another monumental Rites of Passage.  After all, it is Back to School season. 

Blessings to you wherever your journey leads you.   Enjoy these fleeting days of summer and welcome back to your daily routine.

Much love,

Katrina