POST LOCKDOWN. Thoughts on what lies ahead from a small-town Yoga instructor. May 8, 2020.

As I write this, the strands of the tightly laced corset of a National response to the pandemic Coronavirus of 2020 are being loosened. Unprecedented. Social distancing. Refrigerated trucks. Protest. Connection. Zoom. Essential. Quarantine. Hoarding. Generosity. Curbside. Antibodies. And my personal favorite: “Anthony Fauci has been nominated as sexiest man of the year.” Not only is the Coronavirus “novel,” daily life is about as novel as it gets.

Those of us who live in Vermont have experienced a microcosm of what the world has known. Most of us are proud of our State and proud of our Governor and staff who have led us relatively safely through dangerous territory. To be science-based and bipartisan is to be honored. And we’re not home free yet. Nor will we be in the foreseeable future. “New normal.” How unpleasant has that flippant remark become? Economically, will some of us still be here when the dust settles?

Oh, how heart wrenching are the photographs of loved ones touching through a plate glass window or disturbing footage of patients on ventilators or bodies awaiting disposal or hungry children in this, our country. No, folks, sorry but social distancing, wearing a mask and gloves, respecting our neighbors, is a much smaller price to pay to this enormous unknown.

Many years ago, I passed another road sign that stayed with me:  Merge Gently. May we, in our neighborhoods, in our workplaces, in our social settings, merge gently back to a safe tomorrow. May we, for heaven’s sake, put aside bickering and pontificating as if we know it all. Patience.

Yes, fine for me to say. I hear you.

As a Personal Trainer and Yoga Instructor, my singular experience has been far removed from the tragedy and horror. Immediately I scrambled to maintain an income on one hand and to reinforce my connections with family, friends and students from near and far. Ahhhhh. Bless technology (which I have frequently cursed – just not my forte) and social media (a kidnapping I had tried to avoid!) To make a long story short, teaching live stream Yoga classes has become a means of connection and perpetuity. I am a teacher. I must teach. To have this opportunity to continue to do so – even if I find myself talking into the camera of a MacBook Air – is an unintended blessing and perhaps an unintended consequence of where so many of us might be headed as the, can I even say it?, “new normal” defines itself?

In my own daily life I am happy to be able to “see” my teachers and Yoga students as we practice together. We can exchange verbal or “commented” greetings and experience, with exquisite sensitivity, a connection that perhaps transcends the physical. Thus enriched, perhaps as we do, once again, practice in spatial proximity or meet for coffee or a hike, we will do so with authenticity and leave behind some of the trivialities that plague human bonds.

But instead of offering my own thoughts, let me share a few written with wisdom beyond my imaginings.

“Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it, no less than in the excitement and gladness…because in the last analysis all moments are key moments and life itself is grace.” (Frederick Buechner)

Comparing our tentative steps during these days and weeks might well parallel a dawn.

“Nighttime is womb-time. Our souls come out to play…We rest in the night. The dawn is a refreshing time, a time of possibility and promise…Just as darkness brings rest and release, so the dawn brings awakening and renewal. (John O’Donohue, Anam Cara)

And, finally, from Marianne Williamson: “It is contrary to the universal order for darkness to remain. All storms pass. The prince always arrives to kiss and awaken Sleeping Beauty.”

Oh that we might emerge from this darkness with “awakening and renewal.” (And what about that Prince, you ask?)

[ If you would like to join me for a Yoga class, live-stream or video reproduction, visit the Mountain Rose Integrated Health and Wellness Center Facebook page where my practices appear on Tuesday and Thursday 5-6:15 p.m. (Yin Yoga) and Friday mornings at 8-9 a.m. (Core & Go, asanas with an emphasis on the core and subsequently getting outdoors!). Contact Ana on FB for payment. Hope to see you on your mat!]