More white women doing yoga - and a hole in the ground - how grand!
We all have a "bucket list", I'd wager. Mine has some items checked off (skydiving - will NOT repeat) and seeing the Eiffel Tower (would repeat). Visiting the Grand Canyon is one of those still on the to-do side of the list.
I know of someone who visited the Grand Canyon and left with a "meh" impression. He might have just as well been staring at a hole in the ground. I do have theories on why this particular individual might have had that experience - but that is not the point of this post. Suffice it to say that his experience says more about him than it does about the Grand Canyon.
On the other hand, when my father and mother visited the Grand Canyon - they both could barely speak for the awesomeness that it was to them. The Grand Canyon was for them, indeed, GRAND. They understood the majesty they were lucky enough to see with their own eyes. They got the enormity of such a natural wonder and gave thanks for the opportunity to be there and witness. Their experience says more about them than it does the Grand Canyon.
Even if one could look upon the splendor that is the Grand Canyon and see just a hole in the ground, one might hope that person could marvel at the time it took for the Grand Canyon to become well, grand. Since it is 2019 after all, I'm not surprised to find there's controversy surrounding this - it has to do with the age of the layers that touch each other and I'm not enough of a scientist to debate this point, nor do I want to dive down that rabbit hole of misinformation and conspiracy theory drivel.
Millions of years ago, the Colorado river moved its way down through the mountains of Arizona. It took time to make its mark. The layers of the rock the river revealed are estimated to be between 200 million to 2 billion years old. Day by day, the water persistently carved into the rock, leaving an opening behind that would one day become a national landmark, visited by up to 6 million people every year.
That's impressive.
Becoming a yoga teacher is also on my bucket list - but after April 25th, moved into the checked off column - a year ahead of schedule. YAY!
Yoga teacher training takes time - certainly not millions of years - but there's a process to it that requires patience and persistence day by day. One might look into a room of yogis completing their teacher training and think nothing of it. They might even scoff and reject the notion that the world needs another group of white women (in this case) getting their certification to further dilute the yoga practice here in the United States.
But they wouldn't be seeing what I see.
What do I see when I look at the group of women who journeyed with me on the path to a 200-hour certification?
I see strength.
I see perseverance.
I see curiosity.
I see truth.
I see vulnerability.
I see love.
There is something grand in that. How lucky I am to be witness to it.
I know of someone who visited the Grand Canyon and left with a "meh" impression. He might have just as well been staring at a hole in the ground. I do have theories on why this particular individual might have had that experience - but that is not the point of this post. Suffice it to say that his experience says more about him than it does about the Grand Canyon.
On the other hand, when my father and mother visited the Grand Canyon - they both could barely speak for the awesomeness that it was to them. The Grand Canyon was for them, indeed, GRAND. They understood the majesty they were lucky enough to see with their own eyes. They got the enormity of such a natural wonder and gave thanks for the opportunity to be there and witness. Their experience says more about them than it does the Grand Canyon.
Millions of years ago, the Colorado river moved its way down through the mountains of Arizona. It took time to make its mark. The layers of the rock the river revealed are estimated to be between 200 million to 2 billion years old. Day by day, the water persistently carved into the rock, leaving an opening behind that would one day become a national landmark, visited by up to 6 million people every year.
That's impressive.
Becoming a yoga teacher is also on my bucket list - but after April 25th, moved into the checked off column - a year ahead of schedule. YAY!
Yoga teacher training takes time - certainly not millions of years - but there's a process to it that requires patience and persistence day by day. One might look into a room of yogis completing their teacher training and think nothing of it. They might even scoff and reject the notion that the world needs another group of white women (in this case) getting their certification to further dilute the yoga practice here in the United States.
But they wouldn't be seeing what I see.
What do I see when I look at the group of women who journeyed with me on the path to a 200-hour certification?
I see perseverance.
I see curiosity.
I see truth.
I see vulnerability.
I see love.
There is something grand in that. How lucky I am to be witness to it.
i'd like to join you on your trip to the Grand Canyon. it would be going back for me. We hiked down into the canyon about a mile. That was all we had time or supplies to manage.
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