Passangers in life

Like many people, I spend part of my day in a bus, on my way to the different places where I teach yoga. As my daily schedule becomes more and more settled, I start becoming aware of the other passengers and of the little parts of their worlds and lives that become exposed in those short moments that we share silently, obliviously, in the bus. Most of the passengers I have only seen and will most likely see only once. Their ephemeral existence in my consciousness and the few seconds in which we share a space touch my heart and make me wonder about their lives and my own, about all an everything that our temporal and material limits prevent us all from experiencing and reaching…

Some others have become part of my daily routine: people whose time schedules fit a bus ride at the exact same time as mine does. They, too, touch me. Without exchanging a single word, they have become my bus-ride-partners, unaware accomplices of my daily routine, little sources of inspiration. And so, for instance, I observe a father and a tiny baby as they wave goodbye to the baby’s mum and then enter the bus. The father, clearly in love with his baby, talks to it as though they were old friends: “Look at that sky, isn’t it beautiful? What a lovely morning, don’t you think?” The baby sits there and listens to the little stories the father tells all the way until the bus reaches Hyde Park, their stop.

I may know nothing about them, but I know that they share stories, that they share their mornings in a bus, and that they make my bus ride special. There’s also the old lady with her prayer book. She always takes the same seat. With the book in her hands, she sometimes closes her eyes. I imagine her saying the prayer for herself, in her mind, and I am reminded of the importance of devotion: a spiritual practice makes life easier, happier, and provides a foundation for courage.

And so, my everyday route to the classes I teach offers me glimpses into the routines of my fellow passengers and into the humanity that we all share. In sharing little pieces of their lives unknowingly with the people around them, they, too, become angels…