The last thing that made me smile was opening my heart to grace.

I need to step back for a mere writing second or two, and explain.

It happened last night, April 8th – somewhere between 7:00 and 8:30 pm. I was in my Anusara yoga class. The time had come to prepare for Vrksasana, the tree pose. For those of you that know yoga, this is an easy pose that challenges balance. The idea behind the pose is to stand as tall as a tree - grounded with a foot rooted firmly into the Earth, while allowing for the possibility of swaying with the wind. For those of you that do not know yoga, the Tree Pose comes out of the Mountain Pose – both described below.

1. MOUNTAIN POSE – TADASANA (STANDING FOUNDATION)
a. Feet together, toes spread wide, weight evenly across feet
b. Strong legs, contract quads, pull up knees, open up the back of the knees
c. Adjust the hips
d. Take a deep breath as you pull shoulders up and exhale them down. Align the head and neck to be line with the spine, soften the eyes and drop the tongue from the roof of the mouth

2. VRKSHASANA– Tree Pose
a. From Tadasana, place weight on right foot and inhale
b. Exhale and bring left foot to inside of right leg, use you right hand to place left foot onto upper inner thigh, lower inner leg or ankle, where ever you can feel comfortable. Do Not place on right knee.
c. Find a concentration point on a far wall, bring hands to prayer position
d. Inhale and then exhale arms up over-head, remain breathing quietly. Exhale arms down and gracefully bring left foot to ground. Repeat on the left side

My moment of smile happened as I achieved balanced while my standing right leg pushed into my bent left leg. I slowly raised my arms up as an expression of opening my heart up to grace, all along keeping a point of concentration. The swaying began as the mind started to think, “am I going to fall” - but at a point deep within awareness, the negative thought stopped and I felt rooted and with that a gentle smile came across my face.

I lost self.