HANNAH LEATHERBURY
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While You Were Waiting on Perfection

7/31/2019

4 Comments

 
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​Staring out my bedroom window at the predawn darkness, awake on my mattress without a bedframe, I am thinking: twelve days. Twelve days until my life turns upside down and I leave behind Maryland, my family, and full-time yoga teaching to become a student in Amherst, MA. My mind tries, hopelessly, to devise scenarios for all the unknowns ahead of me. Spinning off ideas and precautions, it overrides my attempts to breathe more consciously. Tension peppers my neck and shoulders. Time is passing. I don’t know how much. But then I hear her. By some grace, a voice within interrupts. This voice isn’t the one that comes out of my mouth when I speak. In it, I hear Maya Angelou -- strong, wise, and direct:

“While you were busy waiting on perfection, your joy left the room.” 

She opens my eyes. The dawn sky is showing off her colors in my window. Daisy dog is breathing soft and slow in her early morning revelry. The oak trees that pepper the yards on my street are showing off their summer splendor. As if just for me, the cicadas and birds are singing full on.
  
Joy is possible in every moment. I almost cry, but my dose of tears is so small it barely wets my eyelids then disappears. I feel a massive iceberg of emotions resting under the surface of my skin and waiting to emerge. And I think it’s supposed to be here. There is something magical about this containment. A deep intelligence holding me together and making sure I land safely in Massachusetts before any deep and derailing feelings can reverse my transition. Some part of me is drawing me inward and guiding me forward, step-by-step, day-by-day, to what must come next. I press my palms together and then lift my covers off. I want to follow joy. I want her to know that she’s invited to be in this room.
 
Namaste,
Hannah

4 Comments
Liz Dennis
8/1/2019 03:24:28 pm

Hello Hannah, I am sending love and light and well wishes your way! Thank you for this wonderful saying about Joy--I needed to hear it as well! You are going to do fantastic as you begin this new chapter of your life! Lots of deep breaths and lots of mindful moments will carry you through this wonderful, new (and I imagine challenging) experience!
You are making an impact; and you will be able to touch even more lives once you finish your Master's degree in Speech and Language Pathology. I took your course on Insight Timer back in March, and I each week notice something new at the Whole foods that is related to Ayurveda, and I think fondly of what I learned in your course. Namaste,Liz

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Hannah E Leatherbury
8/2/2019 12:43:41 pm

Namaste Liz!
I'm so glad that my experience resonates with you and to hear your words of encouragement. I am wishing you well on where your path is leading you these days!

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Amanda
8/5/2019 10:46:54 am

Dear Hannah,
I rarely take the time to read people's blogs, but because I love your meditations so much, when I read your words, I also hear your voice which soothes and makes me want to read on. I salute you for your courage for following a new path and for risking! I'm inspired! Also, I just happened to visit Massachusetts (Salem) over the weekend - such a lovely lovely state. The people were lovely and the landscape was too. I want to go back. Thanks for reminding me about the joy that can be found at any moment - all around. Holding space for you, during this 'contraction' and for joy - may it always be near you. Blessings.

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Douglas Leatherbury
9/14/2019 10:09:11 am

Beautiful. You are so amazing. Much love😘

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    Hannah Leatherbury

    ​Hannah has been a student of yoga and meditation since 2003 and a practitioner of Ayurveda since 2013. She spent a decade teaching yoga classes and yoga teacher trainings throughout the metro-DC area. In August of 2019, she left full-time teaching to pursue a two-year Masters degree in Speech Language Pathology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She intends to combine yoga, meditation, and Ayurveda into speech therapy sessions with those struggling to share their voices. While she does not currently teach regular classes, you can study with her online through Insight Timer. 

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