Enzo, my beautiful, fun loving, teasing, humorous, brave, strong, protective pup left this world on the 1^st October just reaching his 7^th birthday plus 3 days. With the same boundless enthusiasm that he bounced into my heart, so his untimely exit, way too soon, shattered my heart into shards of disbelief, fragmented memories and a world that felt poorer for his absence.

Shortly after, as my Sunday class approached, I prepared to set aside the grief and set the room, as lovingly taught by my teacher Leila Sadeghee, and called upon my spirit guides, my guardians and those that hold me dear in their heart to support holding the class space.

Grounding the energy centrally in the room, I invited the generations of women in my world that had paved the way for me to stand as a teacher today; my grandmother, my mother, my beautiful aunt and my loving sister, my nieces and cousins, wives of cousins, teachers and students. For me, this ritual of grounding energy paves the way for creating a loving space, for creating a space held for people to be vulnerable, to open their hearts, to practice their yoga, to continue their journey, to be open to grace.

In searching for this loving space at this moment, my heart turned towards the love for Enzo, reaching out for the fierce love that he unconditionally offered me daily, by the minute, by the second, and was overwhelmed by the beauty of the offering. Fierce love that sent a grounding force of energy to the depth of forever, and the height of infinity, and the first moment of clarity I had that his love would never leave my heart and that I was so lucky to experience and touch that love whenever I need to.

Turning towards protecting the room from centre to corner, I drew towards the four guides that were closest in thought, and as I invited them each to share a corner of the room and serve the class, I realised that whatever my feelings, I was still here in the world and being asked to stay and serve in the present form, even whilst my heart yearned to be anywhere but in an earthly place.

Ganesha, Ganapati invited me to cross one of the most painful thresholds of my life, to come back to this world and be wholly present in this world, in this moment.

Durgha, my warrior princess invited me to be strong, to draw upon all my inner strength, to cut through this shadow of life’s journey and reflect the strength of love in holding and maintaining space.

Saraswati invited me to hold pain and hurt in my hands, build wisdom in my words, and creativity in the communication of love, and the mending of a broken heart.

And Lakshmi offered recognition of the abundance of love always available to me whenever I connected with that fierce love, to draw freely on that endless unconditional essence and offer it back to this world in remembrance.

I am blessed with a beautiful remembrance of love from a beautiful soul who was a light of my life. He has taught me well, and I continue my journey of learning to love with Enzo as my constant companion, with heartfelt thanks.

This week’s class: Remembrance. For Enzo. We use the progression of asana to remember the archetype of a pose in stages, to  build up knowledge, confidence and  the love of yoga. This class run on 4th October. Enzo September 29th 2008 – October 1st 2015