Climb for Hospice

2007 was a bad year for me. And when I say ‘bad’, I mean ‘horrendous’. And by ‘horrendous’, I pretty much mean ‘epically unfathomable’. I’m not entirely sure, but I believe the anonymous sympathy cards I was receiving were coming from Country Music songwriters.

I had a lot of support from family and friends during that time, and it meant a great deal more to me than I could ever express. However, I knew that I needed to try and heal myself from the inside out, and decided to explore some new avenues for doing so.

I signed up for a nice, simple Yoga 101 class at Open Space Yoga in Ladner, and was pleasantly introduced to owner/operator/instructor Michael Rudd. He is a very real, very gentle man with incredible heart. I was wary of taking yoga at first, as I wasn’t sure I wanted to become one of those soft-speaking, all-lightness-and-good women who float instead of walk. I can proudly admit now that I am in no way exaggerating when I say that yoga changed my life.

It took about three months before I was able to get through an entire class without crying. The studio was so welcoming, and the yoga was so peaceful that I was able to release a heck of a lot of hidden, crammed-down emotions. Why had I not done this before? I mean, aside from the healing and the peace, yoga really helped to tone up my physique and it made me see that I, in fact, had no idea how to breathe. Yoga gave me life.

Last night I received an email from Michael at Open Space Yoga. He had seen the article about me in yesterday’s Optimist newspaper, and he wanted to show his support. Michael has very kindly offered to sponsor me by generously donating classes to me until the day I leave, as a way to help me train. He has also offered to conduct a fundraising class to help raise money and awareness for Hospice in the name of this climb. As I admitted to him, I will admit it to you: I totally cried when I read his email. I COULDN’T HELP IT! It is just such an amazing gesture of giving and support, and one more reason why I love the people in this community.

Thank you, Open Space. Thank you, Michael. For the many good things you’ve brought to my life, and to the life of this community. Your support means so very, very much.