I try to be nonjudgmental
(about yoga poses), 
but, if someone were to press me, 
I might tell them 
that Warrior 2
is one of my favorite poses. 

On one particular day,
however,
my friend Jayne 
kept us hanging out
in Warrior 2 for 
quite some time, 
(quite)
and even though
it’s one of my favorite poses, 
I started to feel a bit weary. 

My arms were growing tired,
my legs were working hard,
I was struggling, uncomfortable,
my mind was wandering and I was
wondering
when we would be moving to the next pose,
wondering
what the next pose would be,
wondering
how long she was going to keep us there.

I was thinking, 
please, 
let us move, 
when will we move?
tell us to move, 
I need to move,
dear god, can we move?

I decided I was going to move. 
After all,
I didn’t have to stay there. 
I have freedom of choice,
I can always choose
to seek comfort.

Just as I was about to 
move out of the pose, 
she said something 
about staying in the moment.
She said something
about presence of mind. 
She said something
about appreciating all that is happening,
right where we are.

She said, ‘Just be here. Love this.’
‘Just be here. Love this’, she said 

And I thought to myself, 
as I held steady, 
Can you just be here? 
Can you love this moment? 
Can you really, truly, completely,
be in this moment
instead of standing here 
waiting for your practice to begin?

Your practice isn’t on hold 
while you’re struggling impatiently in this pose.
This pose is your practice. 
This practice is your life. 
This moment is your life.
Why are you waiting for your life to begin?
Your life is not on hold.
You may think you put it on hold
to do other things,
for other people, 
while you wait 
to go somewhere else 
to do something else
that you really want to do
for  yourself.

But your life is not on hold. 
It never stopped.
It’s here. It’s this. 
This is your life.
This.

She said, ‘Just be here. Love this.’