The Gift of Permission

picture by: Cathy McMillan

Prompt: Gift. This month, gifts and gift-giving can seem inescapable. What’s
the most memorable gift, tangible or emotional, you received this year?

per·mis·sion
1. authorization granted to do something;
formal consent

My most memorable gift I recieved this year was ‘permission’. The permission to explore, and dig deeper into my practice during the weekends with my fellow yoga trainees at IAY. The permission to be OK right where I am, and not need to be something or someone else. The permission to be in the process and not have to be perfect, or reaching wildly for some goal(even though I persisted to keep reaching for one), but permission to be with what is happening now. The permission to mess up..again and again, to get into the sticky parts, to play, to cry, to be whatever I was, to speak, and above all to learn what Yoga truly means to me. My version of Yoga is forever changed because of this permission, and I hope that I can give back the same gift to those I love and teach.