learning from water

In our current issue (Elements), we explore the stories of several yoga teachers who are doing work in service of their communities, including Eoin Finn. Each year, Eoin takes the lead in bringing together Vancouver’s yoga community in a large-scale, outdoor fundraising event focused on unity and generosity. Below, he reflects on his experience of 2007’s Camp Moomba Yogathon & Blissfest and the idea of turning adversity into opportunity.

by Eoin Finn

When we arrived to set up for the event, it was raining – hard, torrential rain that didn’t let up all day. I took three steps onto the field at Thunderbird Stadium before my flip-flops became waterlogged. Feeling dejected and wondering if anyone would come and do outdoor yoga in this weather, I asked myself how this could happen. I know most people think of Vancouver as rain soaked, but in July the grass turns brown. In 7 years of teaching outdoor yoga classes, I have only been rained out 5 times. Why would our luck change today?

On the way back to the event with a truck full of tarps, I asked my partner Insiya, “What is the lesson here?” I wasn’t sure, but what I did know is that I was looking forward to being around all the great volunteers who were cheerily setting up for the event despite the dampness.

It really hit me then. The lesson was about we deal with adversity in life. It’s easy to be happy when the skies are blue, but when the hard, gray days hit, what kind of strategies do we have to deal with them?

You make the most of it. Mentally, you change the way you look at things and find that silver lining. In the end, we had almost 1,000 people attend our event and as we looked out into the rain-soaked crowd, it was apparent that people were engaging in the best possible strategies for hard times.

We stopped cursing the rain and instead it became a celebration of water.  We could have easily become long-faced and miserable but, instead, these conditions transformed everyone into joyous little kids playing in puddles. It’s amazing what a shift in perspective can do. We realized that what makes hard times bearable is support from one’s community. In the pelting rain, the welfare of the people next to you becomes blazingly apparent.

To see a slideshow of this year’s Camp Moomba Yogathon & Blissfest, please click here.

Keep an eye on our cOMmunity blog for upcoming postings about the work of the teachers who were featured in the Elements photo essay.