Voices

When I was a kid, and I'd sit in an audience and listen to applause, I was always awed by how beautiful, harmonious, thunderous everyone else's clapping sounded. Mine was so hollow and funky sounding. I couldn't figure out why everyone else sounded so much better than me.

It took a few years, but eventually I figured out that no one person's clapping was that awesome, all by itself. It was the whole of us, clapping together, that created that amazing sound.

It was me, too.

My hands, by themselves, were hollow and awkward. My hands, together with everyone else's hands, created that beautiful, perfect sound.

When I ventured outside of gym yoga into the world of Studio Yoga, I discovered that they like to do things like singing and oming during practice. As breathing exercises, to center you, to bring your full attention to this room, to your mat, to your practice.

At first I was kind of leery. I mean. I sing. Goddess help me, I love to sing along with the radio or the tune playing in my head or the song I'm making up as I go along.

I should not, however, ever ever sing near any creature with eardrums.

For real.

So naturally I was a little wary of singing or oming around all of these other people. Because. You know. The Geneva Conventions and all that.

But you know what?

It's not a solo.

It's not just me. It's me and all of the people around me.

Our voices together create a beautiful song.

And that's the point.

Individually we might be awkward or hollow or feel not quite right, but when we join our voices together, we are amazing.