Dear Students

Most of you know that the last two months have been a new journey for me. My mother-in-law, Linda Kells, moved to Savannah in June after getting a diagnosis of stage 4 cancer. With the help of Hospice Savannah and some amazing private nurses, my husband and I were fortunate to be able to care for her in our home during her last 9 weeks.

I was given a front row set at one of the most amazing times in a person's life. Linda had a clear mind up until the last few days and was able to share so many stories and insights with me during the time we spent together. While this experience will forever change me, it was one of the most challenging times in my life. I have never been a care-giver before - we have no children, and as a busy career woman, I trained Brad early on not to rely on my for meals, errands, etc. I have never had to fix 3 meals a day, administer 25+ doses of medication and bathe another human being. Needless to say, it was a shock to the relaxed lifestyle I had carefully crafted since leaving the corporate world.

My own thoughts and actions during this difficult time were interesting and scary to witness. One of the things that I became acutely aware of was how hard it was for me to listen to my own teaching and advice throughout the experience. As a teacher, I encourage my students to take care of themselves first so that they have the space to care for others. And yet, I did not do enough of that for myself. I tried to keep teaching my classes, while my own practice started to wither away. I even started running again in lieu of getting on my mat. A quick 20 minute run seemed to fit better in my schedule than 90 minutes of yoga and meditation each day. Near the end, I was lucky if I rolled out my mat once a week.

Getting back into my practice is my priority as I head into this next phase of healing. My mat and my foam meditation block are the places where I can tune in and listen to what my inner voice is telling me - something which I may have been too afraid to listen to during the last 9 weeks.

I have decided to take the rest of August off from teaching to regenerate my own practice and focus on the healing process. While I am gone, my classes will stay on the schedule and you will be in good hands with the teachers at the co-op. I will miss the shelter of teaching but look forward to coming back to the classroom in September, reconnected with myself and ready to share my passion for this practice with you.

My meditation teacher, Goenka, has this amazing voice and I hear him in my head every time I start to wander off during my meditation "Start again....." Each moment and each day we have a chance to do that, no matter how long we have been away from our practice. In fact, that is the practice.

With love and gratitude (and some newfound empathy for all you Moms and caregivers out there),

Kate