Monday, September 25, 2017

Sweet Emotion

Hello Darlings...

So last night I made myself get out of my comfy box of staying home alone and went to a fundraiser...

The fundraiser was in support of Uterine Cancer.

How could I not attend?

It was a beautiful rooftop yoga experience put on by PeachOutreach to raise funds and awareness of uterine cancer.  It was located on the rooftop of Noel Furniture...

One of my yoga instructors, CuteCarissa, encouraged me to go.  Before we even met she knew my story and the second I stepped on the mat with her I knew I loved her and that she would lead me places I needed to go both in yoga and in life.

Yoga instructors do that---they don't just tell you to go into Downward Facing Dog---the lead you through life and intentions and breath and did I mention LIFE?

So CuteCarissa sends me the link to sign up and before I could let my introverted self take over an extroverted moment I paid the fee and decided I NEEDED TO GO.

PeachOutreach was founded by a wonderful woman, yoga instructor and lawyer named Marcy Kurtz.

I never had the honor of meeting her but I feel her beside me now as I am on my journey.

Marcy is now free of her cancer battle and I'm pretty sure she has all the angels in heaven doing amazing Warrior 2 poses.

Here's a link to learn more about Peach Outreach...

http://peachoutreach.com/

I urge you to read more about her and this wonderful organization.

Marcy is my #spiritanimal and I feel like even though we never met here on earth that some day (hopefully a very long time from now) we will meet in heaven and share many yoga practices and I can tell her how she became a mentor to me without me ever having met her.

Several yoga teachers tell me that she and I would have been instant friends...I truly believe that.  And not just over cancer and yoga...

So yesterday I felt the need to doubly punish myself and I took myself to yoga in the morning for a little #DeathByRegie yoga...the man is a yoga god and we were packed in that room mat-to-mat and my badass register went up several notches that I finished class and planned to hit the mat later again.

I got to Noel Furniture in plenty of time so I could enjoy the roof and see friends and fellow yogis and yoga instructors...

My sweet MarvelousMeggie had plenty of great hugs and made sure I felt comfortable and ready to go...I saw my MagicalMadonna and my heart skipped right to my happy place to hug her and know she was there to support me both in yoga and life...and there was Awesome Regie who had previously made me do a lot of talking to Jesus in his yoga class earlier...

yes I am a badass

i can do two yoga classes in one day...and sometimes I do them back to back (thank you Revolution studio for having that on the menu...)

I am a badass...

not a great yogi but a badass nonetheless...

I saw my BeautifulBrittany who used to spoil me when she worked at Rev and we had a great chat about life, cancer, work and the fact we could see the building that is the source of my cure---the Memorial Hermann Medical Building...yes that stayed in my sight every time I would rise up...

it kept me grounded and kept me going...

So 300 or so yogis had their mats down and we started to flow to incredible music by the DJ and the breeze was blowing...we could feel the sundown at our backs and see the beautify of the Medical Center and Downtown Houston...

it was truly perfect...

At one point I became so overwhelmed by it I had to sit on my mat and cry...my beautiful MagicalMadonna came and wrapped her arms around me and let me cry it out...it was a moment I will never forget and always be grateful for...she knew in that moment I needed someone who loved me to hold me...

I felt the power of Marcy's love flow through me as I flowed on my mat...

I felt the spirit of other warriors who had completed their lives and now were in heaven being angels to those of us still fighting here on earth pass through me...

I felt the strength of the warrior women who had fought or who were fighting as I am...

I felt the love and compassion of the loved ones of these women who are suffering from gynecological cancers...

I felt the presence (even though she wasn't physically there ) of my cancer twin TerrificTrish (twins= same cancer and we love spinning at Revolution and she had Dr. Angel and Dr. Rockstar and we are BLONDE...I call us Dr. Angel's Atomic Blondes)...

I felt the unity of the yoga community as we came together to celebrate Marcy and her legacy...

I felt like God was brushing me with the breeze and letting me know it will all turn out ok...

and I felt that somewhere out there is a man who will join me next year on that rooftop so I can celebrate my victory over this terrible disease...I know that man is there waiting for me too...and he will hold my hand in savassanah and be grateful like I am that I am forged in fire and a warrior woman who did not let a carcinoma bring her down...and he will fight it with me...because the cells may go but the kiln of cancer has left a gloss on me that will not go away...

I cried more than once last night...

it was a far more emotional experience than I was prepared for...

and as I lay on my mat in savassanah and I felt hands on my head---hands that I know were MagicalMadonna's---I knew that yoga was MEANT to be part of my life...

yoga will be as powerful a medicine as the drugs are...

And I owe it all to two women and a man:

my AnnaBanana who led me in my first yoga practice and showed me that yoga is what was missing from my life...she opened a huge door for me and I thank her at the end of every practice...

my MagicMike who taught the first yoga class that I took at Revolution (and my second yoga class ever...I don't count the 2 I walked out on 15 minutes in)

and most of all my KuteKim who is the leader, visionary and owner of Revolution Studio who promised me that "yoga will be different here" and it is...and because of her I am completely in love with the practice and all the yoga instructors I have met there and at BigPower Yoga...(I added a second studio because my schedule is crazy these days and I needed some options time-wise but REV is and always will be my primary place to be...)

And as I flowed I sent out love to all the yoga instructors who have broadened my practice: my yoga Goddess SupremeSarah...my GoodGollyMissMolly who taught me my favorite pose Half Moon (and girl I did it without a block!), BeautifulJess who makes yoga so fun for me...and every one I am forgetting because I have foggy chemo brain from today...

When it was all over I sat on my mat filled with love and gratitude.

I can't believe I am saying this but I am: I AM GRATEFUL TO MY UTERINE CANCER

Because I have learned so much about life and myself from it...and I try my best to share it with you here...but life is best LIVED AND EXPERIENCED...and I pray none of you ever has cancer but I hope you will learn from my story---both the symptoms of cancer and how to push on to live your best life ever...

So I sat on my mat...hugged my MarvelousMeggie once again and didn't win any door prizes...

but that's ok...

I never win door prizes...

and the prize I took away was so much better (ok a gift card to Athleta is terrific and a bag of Neiman Marcus goodies IS pretty cool...)

I let the emotion out and with each time I rose and lifted my hands over my head I glanced over at 6400 Fannin and thanked God for the doctors and nurses and techs there who are doing all they can to save me...that building is the most beautiful building in the city to me...it is where my hope and future is...

Towards the end of the practice the yoga instructor asked us to tell a neighbor what we were grateful for in Houston.  A beautiful instructor who I did not know was showing me some love at that moment (yes you get little massages sometimes---more reason to do yoga) and I looked at her and answered:

The Texas Medical Center---because that is where i will be cured....

I quickly explained that I was a uterine cancer warrior and got extra hugs...

I'm filled with love and gratitude:

for Marcy
for peachoutreach
for yoga
for spinning
for Revolution
for Big Power Yoga
for my yoga instructors
for my doctors
for my nurses
for my techs
for the office assistants
for the women who run the departments
for the assistants who check us in and take care of us
for the drugs I receive
for the radiation I receive
for the fact I live in Houston and have the best team ever
for 6400 Fannin (even though I might die in the parking garage)

and for the love and support of all of you...

I'm in it to win it...

Next year will be the 6th year for PeachOutreach Rooftop yoga...I hope as many of you who can (even if you don't do yoga) will join me as a celebration of my victory---and who knows maybe the long longed for boyfriend will be there too---and we will all hold hands in savassanah and be grateful that my cancer is gone and my life has begun again...

Thank you for being on this ride with me...it's a wild one but at the end of it there will be a lot of glitter...

I promise...

Inspiration Song: Sweet Emotion by Aerosmith...because it is perfect and I love Aerosmith...

Bye Darlings: today was Chemo #2 and Radiation #6...Dr. Angel says I am doing good... and El Diablo has met his match...


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