A Run Down Memory Lane

It's neat to visit places you used to live. I just went for a run in Central Park, a place I was lucky to run in often when I first moved to New York in 2004. I ran around the Great Lawn where I saw many starry night performances by the New York Philharmonic. I ran past the lawn I laid upon and read the majority of the Da Vinci Code eating sugar-free blueberry muffins one summer. I ran through the paths Natalie, Steph, and I tip toed our way through one early winter morning during the first snow of the season. I remembered who I was my first year living in New York, in a big city so different than any other place I had ever lived: I was naive, excited, intimidated, and a dreamer. I was also scared, hard, closed, and not confident in myself.

Then I pondered who I am now, seven years later. I am quite different, and I have yoga to thank for that. Through yoga I've gained a better understanding of who I really am, who Sara Mueller is. I have found my passions, something I wanted to uncover so badly in my life. I have learned humility, vulnerability, and openness. I have learned to dream, bigger than I can even imagine, and believe in the possibility of my dreams coming true in better ways than I can even create in my mind. And I have learned to love others for who they are, not for what I think they are or who I want them to be, but for the beautiful truth that is each and every person on this Earth. I have learned courage and faith. And I have connected to myself and a higher power.

Yoga is an unending journey, just as is life. You never fully arrive. There is always work to do, inquiry to have, and issues to work through. That is what keeps me growing, and proves that I am living a life of meaning. I love the Sara I was seven years ago, I love the Sara I am now, and I will love the Sara I am in seven more years. But one thing I promise to myself is to stay connected to who I truly am and to keep learning so that I can better show up in my life and make the world a happier place. We all have the ability (and the moral right) to shine light into this world. Yoga helps me shine as brightly as possible.