I recently became a yoga teacher at 54 years old.

I was the oldest person in my training program so they nicknamed me Yoga Mom. The frustrating part of blossoming later in life as a yoga instructor is that I can’t always remember the Sanskrit names of the poses. Sometimes I even forget the sequence of the flow.

“Left? Right? Wait, hold on, we did that side already.”

But, the advantage of blossoming late in life is that I don’t get embarrassed by it—I let loose with no care at all.

With age comes wisdom, and I’ve realized that no one really cares about my small mistakes. People are there to leave feeling better than when they walked in the door. They don’t get caught up in the details.

I’ve learned to infuse my classes with nuggets of wisdom, positive energy, and lots of Yoga Mom love.

I love a good long meditation at the end of class. It makes all the difference in the world.

My favorite meditation goes like this: 

Get yourself in a comfortable position. Seated or on your back.

Take a few deep, cleansing breaths to release all the stale air out of your body.

Now return to your natural breath. Start to get into a natural rhythm.

The thoughts will come and go, but picture them as clouds and just let them float away.

Keep focusing on your breath.

Imagine the breath going up and down your spine. Up and down. Up and down. You can picture your breath as white light if it helps.

Feel the breath.

With every inhale take it up higher, to your crown. With every exhale take it lower, to your sit-bones. Up and down. Like a waterfall going both ways.

On your next few breaths take the energy all the way to the Earth.

Now, to the center of the Earth.

Imagine a crystal (any color) at the core of the Earth.

Wrap your breath around it three times.

Keep focusing on the breath. Up and down your spine.

Now, take your breath all the way to the crown of your head.

Now, take it further past your crown—about two feet above your head.

Imagine your white light of breath creating an egg-shaped dome around your entire body.

A dome of protection. A dome of light.

Now, with each breath bring your loved ones into the dome—your family, your friends, your neighbors, and your community. Keep enlarging this to include the entire world. 

Keep breathing in and out. Focus on the breath. Focus on the dome of protection and healing.

Then, slowly bring your mind back to your body.

Touch your thumbs and pointer fingers together. Feel the touch. Continue until your thumbs have connected with all of your fingers.

Take a few more cleansing breaths to complete your meditation.

The beautiful thing about this meditation is we can imagine our dome of energy protection at any time—for whoever needs it.

I’m guessing right now we all feel the need.

Enjoy, and stay safe. Namaste.