I recently had the good fortune to teach yoga to a small group of lovely beings.They are an older population 70's - 80's who are deaf.
One man is also blind.
I had been with them for the first time over the summer.
I returned on the the full moon, January 12. Also my daughter's birthday,
so I felt it to be a very auspicious day.
I remembered them all, and was delighted to see them again.
We began at the beginning with "Namaste."
I shared with them that we are the same,
and that my light and goodness,
sees their light and goodness.
The interpreters signed for them.
We began to breath together.
I talked about the breath.
I walked over to Bob, the man who was blind as well as deaf
and the interpreter signed in his hand "yoga teacher."
I touched his shoulder to let him know I was there.
I breathed Ujayyi breath close to his neck so he could feel the breath.
I taught the group the 6 movements of the spine and explained the benefits
of keeping their spines healthy. We were all in chairs as they had limited mobility
and needed the support.
We moved on to warm up all the joints. There were some questions as we went
and I welcomed the inquiries.
We did core strengthening and sun salutations.
We concluded with Sivasana and lavender oil.
When I approached Bob,
the interpreter signed for him in his hand to breath deeply through his nose.
I touched his third eye with a drop of oil and pulled his shoulders back.
He began to breath very deeply,
and then an amazing thing happened,
he smiled!
The staff said he hadn't smiled in a long, long time.
They were delighted at the sight of seeing this man,
who is often very isolated and alone - happy.
After class I asked if there were questions.
We got into a discussion.
One woman was upset she could not hear laughter.
I waited for the interpreter to finish and then I replied.
I said to her, "but you can smell the rain!"
She had told me earlier that she could smell that the rain was coming.
She asked me if I could smell it before it started. I said I could not.
I shared with her that often when once sense is lost (like hearing)
another sense becomes heightened, almost like a super power!
And it is a gift.
She smiled.
I said look at Bob, the man who could not see or hear.
I said when he smelled the lavender oil it made him so happy.
It probably brought back many memories.
His sense of smell is probably twice as strong as yours, can you imagine that!
The time together was a great remembrance to be grateful for what we have
to enjoy being together,
smelling together,
breathing together,
and to see the sameness in each other rather than differences.
Sarva Mangalam
