A Note on Guidance and Faith

Today I saw a blind woman carrying a newborn baby navigating her way around the chaos of the Times Square subway station with the help of her seeing eye dog. If that's not an exercise in listening for guidance and having the faith to follow it, nothing is.

I watched them briefly (she moved fairly swiftly and for me to stand around would have found me swept up in the chaos myself) as the dog narrowly missed the crowds and the columns and she simply held the leash and the sleeping baby in her shoulder pouch and followed. I realized she must have had to practice a lot with that guide, and it was a process of communication -- she had to learn her guide's cues and vice versa and they probably had to do a lot of conscious traveling together in order for her to feel confident enough to trust him with not just her safety but that of her newborn. I love a good metaphor, but really, we're doing the same with Yoga, aren't we? Learning to listen, testing it out in small ways and developing the faith to really let the guidance take us? That's my interpretation anyway, and if I can borrow from her courage (or any of the brave folks I've met lately) then I'll be lucky. Om shanti.