let go and let God

“Let go and let God”. Cory’s words keep coming into my mind today. Appropriate for a Sunday in Kampala when the city center empties and people fill the churches and other places of worship. How perfect to have been able to practice my own “religion” this morning. Numerous friends referred me to Kevin and Gavin, who have a beautiful home on the outskirts of the city. More modest than the average mzungu home – their “dining room” is a low table with cushions to sit on and the “living room” has been converted into a yoga space complete with an altar and candles. We practiced facing outside through the open sliding doors. Bohemian décor – their home immediately puts you at ease. I have to admit that I was not expecting the quality of class that I got. Kevin guided us in a vinyasa flow class that was one of the better classes I have ever taken. The fresh Ugandan breeze on my skin and the sounds of everyday life in the distance – dogs barking, trucks passing, children playing – the whole nine-yards. I set my intention: Energy for the work ahead.

But the intention that kept popping into my mind was to let go and let God. To gather with a group of strangers in a different country and pay respect to the divine – in the world and in ourselves – is, to me, the purest form of religion. Yet another reminder of why I have grown to love yoga. Yoga transcends boundaries that, dare I say, many religions create or at the least, perpetuate.

A nice Swedish lady drove me back into town and we talked about how useless it feels to plan out what we want to do next because life never happens as planned…She dropped me off at the National Theater Market where I have put my extra per diem to very good use. And now I am at Café Pap – the good old familiar place where I used to escape the emotional roller coaster of work last year to get a cup of coffee.

Walking the streets of Kampala on a Sunday has a calming effect. Maybe it’s the residual impact of a great yoga practice this morning, Or maybe it is the feeling of being comfortable in this city far away from home where I have come for my third time relatively by chance. God knows if I had had my way I would have led trips for GYPA to Takaungu, Kenya and if I had the choice of anywhere to go recruit people I would probably have requested to go somewhere new. But somehow my path has led me here and keeps bringing me back and each time I feel more and more at home and grateful to have returned to do something different. However it has happened…letting go and letting God…I feel I’m exactly where I should be.