While in Florida on this first stop of my book tour for Devotion, I'm staying with a friend I've known since eighth grade. She and I had lost touch over the years, and we've had a lot to catch up on. Husbands, children, dogs, careers, winding paths through young adulthood and now, midlife. As I write this, I'm sitting on her daughter's bed in a room surrounded by cookbooks and yoga books--her two passions. My friend has become a gifted yoga teacher, and yesterday, before my book panel event, she led me through a beautiful yoga practice. What a full circle! Judy and I played field hockey on the same team in high school. (She was the team captain, I warmed the bench.) We went to the same Bar and Bat-Mitzvahs, pool parties, proms and graduations. And here we were--two mothers in our forties--doing yoga together by her pool, overlooking a Florida nature preserve. Near the end of our practice, she gave me a new meditation tool, one I hadn't heard before: think to yourself, breathe in, I am breathing in. Breathe out, I am breathing out, said my high school friend. So simple, so powerful. I closed my eyes, heard the sound of rushing water, and felt the past and present touch hands.
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debhudson
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danielle
