Perspective

Dear Friends,

I was on a whirlwind tour of the Plains states this past week. I visited the three Presidential Libraries and Museums that are located there: Eisenhower (Kansas), Truman (Missouri), and Hoover (Iowa). Visiting these sites is a great way for me to learn history and understand a bit more about this experiment of democracy.

I wasn’t very excited about visiting the Hoover Museum. No one has anything good to say about Hoover. He probably got a page or two in my high school history book and that’s all I know about him. It’s all about the depression and it’s depressing.

But I was wrong. I learned that Hoover actually did a lot for the country and the world. Prior to becoming President, he coordinated relief efforts throughout Europe after WWI. Families and children were starving and he brought food to the continent and distributed it to those in need. He saved millions of lives. And he did it again domestically when the Mississippi River flooded in 1927.

I learned that Hoover was a humanitarian. That didn’t make it into my history book.

I was able to see him from a different point of view. One that I hadn’t imagined possible.

Photo credit - D Ginocchio

We see what we want to see. We see what we’re told to see. Maybe when we look at things from a new perspective, we can see them differently.

Yoga offers us a chance to develop this perspective. We spend time on our mats moving and breathing. We come with open minds, ready to learn about the self. We practice awareness and experience feelings and sensation as they arise. Sometimes we even look at things upside down! Yoga helps us to become more self-aware and more adaptable to the changing world around us.

Yoga expands our point of view. All that we can imagine becomes possible.

Please join me on your mat.

Love & Learning,

Nina G