One of the absolute highlights of my work life is having the opportunity to teach yoga to the elders who live in the communities where I work. We do chair yoga and, especially in the long term care setting, almost all of my yogis are in wheelchairs. I will tell you, without question, that these dedicated individuals—who join me for every class—put everything they have into their practice. Even with physical limitations, they reach and they stretch and they focus. It warms my heart to see their effort and commitment and I value these minutes we spend together.

I always spend a little time at the beginning of our session talking about a theme for our practice and I close the same way. We take a few moments to center ourselves, listen to our breath going in and out before we begin our movement. And, as we conclude, like any yoga practice, we take a few minutes of savasana, coming back to the same theme, in a brief guided mediation.

This week, in recognition of the New Year, the practice was themed around what we want to hold onto in the coming year and what we want to give up; what nourishes us and what no longer serves us. It is an exercise we coupled with breathing, inhaling that which we want to keep or grow in our lives and exhaling that which we want to let go. For me, as I think for them, the breathing pattern is not only calming but sharpens the thoughts and the ability to put our feelings into words.

For me, as for most everyone, letting go is the hardest part. Letting go of anger, impatience, frustration and letting go of the perseveration that has me going over and over, ad infinitum it seems, those things that upset me or at which I feel I have failed. It is so easy, and so natural, to be self critical. It is so easy, and so natural, to demand a perfection from ourselves that we do not demand from others. Letting go is not a moment in time or as easy as that exhale. Rather the effort is to recognize the emotion and the thought and work to let it go.

When we push the negativity out, it is like that breath. We exhaled and emptied and now we have room to refill. If we can refill with hope and patience, kindness and compassion, how much more peaceful our lives would be, how much less stress we would hold.

I am not expecting to achieve Utopia in my life or a state of disconnected unreality. I still am the person that I am—driven, competitive, impatient but also loving and warm. My hope for this year, my goal for this year, is to let the caring side lead the way and find, if not a perfect balance, a better harmony, a place to truly live with my full heart.