“We convince by our presence.”

-- Walt Whitman

When I read your story, Patrice, I was so moved by the similarities to my own life. I, too, wore many masks, felt my nose pressing up against the glass looking into a party I was not invited to... What I was looking at was the life I was meant to have.

Fortunately, I found a yoga teacher who inspires me every moment I am with her. She challenges me, always, to live joyfully, with compassion for myself and all others, with great respect and unconditional love for myself and all others, to laugh, to really laugh when I make mistakes and when I am a witness to my very own delusions and always to forgive myself and all others for everything I and they say or do, unconditionally.

My story is long and complicated and fabulous for me and is only for me. But, the knowledge that has been imparted to me and is imparted weekly by my yoga teacher is to always “come home to the mountain.” While sometimes I forget who I am and what I am here for, I never lose my way.

~ Susan Heller Fisher

“The point is … to unify and harmonize the opposites, both positive and negative, by discovering a ground which transcends and encompasses them both.”

-- Ken Wilbur