I See You

Today with deep gratitude, I borrow from a beloved teacher, Erich Schiffman who often says "I See You." to his students.

I think of his words when I say "Namaste" to my students at the end of yoga class. I imagine myself hugging each person tightly and saying to them - "I see you. I see your happiness and your sorrow. I see your challenges and your courage. I see you and know we are the same" - that we are in it together.

Namaste is a type of blessing about our relationship to each other. Rachel Naomi Reman writes "when we bless another person we offer them refuge from an indifferent world." Another teacher, Unitarian Universalist minister, Amy Brooks, puts it this way : "It's an invitation into a circle of care and concern. It says, you matter."

Amy shared this passage from author, John Donohue.

"When a blessing is invoked, it changes the atmosphere. Some of the plentitude flows into our hearts from the invisible neighborhood of loving kindness. In the light of blessing, a person or situation becomes illuminated in a completely new way. In a dead wall a new window opens, in a dense darkness a path starts to glimmer, and into a broken heart healing falls like morning dew."

Namaste my friends. I see you.