Connecting…

Since the beginning of the “Shelter in Place” Order, I have hardly left my house. Yet, in spite of all of the so called “social distancing” I feel a certain closeness as we find ways to stay connected with our communities. Breathe Together Yoga, the studio where I teach is asking us to come together to provide free online content for our students – and anyone else who wants it. So, I’ve created a YouTube Channel and am learning how to make videos and stream live content. It’s a new level of teaching and I am feeling a bit out of my comfort zone. Yet, I want to continue to be of service – so I am making a concerted effort to pick it up as quickly as I can.

On Saturday morning, I hiked out to my chosen location to “go live” for the 1st time. As it was the 13 year anniversary of my husband’s death, I had a bit on my mind – and I felt like sharing a bit of it with my viewers. You see, yoga played an important role in my grief journey. Because of that, I always imagined that I might find a way to pay it forward once I became a teacher. So, with my phone set up on a tripod, with my new wide-angle lens adapter and mic, I set up my stream and hit the red button to start the feed.

Connecting…”

it said, so I ran to my mat and began to speak. It was a bit awkward at first but, given my inability to know if I had an audience or not, I kept on talking. The words began to tumble from my mouth, and tears even flowed for a bit of it. After I’d shared what I had gone there to share, I began to lead my invisible viewers in a short but sweet practice. The sprinkles turned to rain as I entered savasana so my rest was pretty brief. Then I hopped up to stop the video, only to find the “connecting” message remained. And it seemed that I had never quite connected…but I wasn’t sure.

So, I decided to get on my mat and move with my emotions. If it came out okay, I’d add a VoiceOver instruction and upload it. Here is how it turned out.

There is a few more videos on my channel and still more to come. But, I need inspiration in knowing my audience so please leave me a comment, “like” my post, and subscribe to my feed. Apparently, once I have 1K subscribers, I will be able to go live from my phone far easier. I am currently at 36, so I have a long way to go.