STOP! In the Name of Love

My original thoughts today were about how I love stopping, stopping what you ask? Everything! I love changing up my exercise because otherwise we hit a plateau, your body gets used to it, and the calories do not burn. Also food, recently I had realized I overdosed on coconut and have to give it up for a while, even though it is supposed to be good for everything. I love stopping when I teach Yoga, and tell everyone to tell everything in their life, see you in an hour. I love being fully present, stopping everything else in my head when I teach a class or when I am at a birth as a Doula. My favorite stop is Shabbat, sundown Friday to sundown Saturday when I can be fully present with my husband, kids, community and my spirituality.

So as I just sat down, and thought about Valentine’s Day, the perfect title came into my head, STOP! In the Name of Love, and if you do not know this, please do yourself a favor and enjoy the video below.

I know for so many people Valentine’s Day is special, and I hope you are enjoying it, I wore red today so people that love it will smile. Personally I feel like love is every day, and my husband and I are from different countries, so we did not grow up with it, and it is funny now that for kids its all about sweets. In my Yoga class today I was talking about self love, how it is not selfish, it is self care, we have to find ourselves fascinating, and invest in our health and balance.

Love,

Coach Yulia

Afshine Emrani

Today, and only today, I hear is Valentine’s Day.

As if love can be expressed in a day.

As if love can be contained in a Hallmark card, a box of chocolates.

As if love is limited to a time and date.

As if love is only romance.

As if love is limited to those in relationships.

As if love is limited to a man and a woman.

As if love has to be confined in a marriage.

As if love can be dictated with a start time and an expiration. As if love must be expressed through set menus of overpriced restaurants and flowers that sell five times the price of those on any other day.

As if love is tangible,

held in the palm of your hands ready for an offering.

What if…

What I’d everyday was the day of love?

What if there were more love stored in the heart of the single person than all the distance between two married people.

What if love is in the daily struggles to make another person happy, or in the constant work to ensure another’s wellbeing?

What if love is driving hours to get her the food she craves, or having another child even though your body is tired?

What if love is written in wrinkles or stretch marks or those purple veins on swollen legs?

What if there were as many kinds of love as there are people on this earth?

What if love is an every day, every second, beckoning call to rise and push through difficult times?

What if love is between you and God?

What if everyday, not just today, were Valentine’s?

What if?