As I continue to reflect back on 2020, I think about the end of 2019 and the very beginning of 2020. There were all these new activities that I just started to do. Some of those activities including finding a yoga class that I really liked, finding a great new hair stylist, and I started to become a little more involved with the Zen Center of Pittsburgh.
I went to 3 in studio yoga classes before everything shut down the first time. It’s a cute studio and the class had about 8 people in it. The owner of the studio didn’t start doing Zoom yoga until late May. But, when she did offer it, I started back to the class. My teacher was teaching on Saturday mornings, and I went every other week. The Zen Center was also having outdoor Qi Gong Tai Chi classes and I was going to those as well. Very recently, my yoga teacher decided to start back with her Tuesday night class, so I’ve logging on every Tuesday. I’m glad I have the technology that I can continue to do my yoga practice at home.
About 2 weeks before everything shut down, I attended the Intro to Buddhism class at the Zen Center. It was about an hour and a half long class and the folks who were training to be monks taught it. There were about 9 people in the class, and we all sat around in the common area of the Zen Center. It’s funny, as I write this, I’m thinking to myself, oh my, we were all sitting close to each other and weren’t 6 feet apart. It’s amazing how quickly our brains change to adapt to new situations. After about an hour of talking and teaching, we all went into the Zendo and learned about how to walk into it and sit. We meditated for 10 – 15 minutes. The energy there is so calming, and I love being there. They did open back up over the summer and had their services outside. But recently they had to close again and go back to doing Zoom services. I’ve logged onto a few of them and went to 3 in person services in Harmony when they were open in the summer. It’s not quite the same on Zoom, but it is nice to see everyone’s face.
Right before the holidays in 2019, I found a new hair stylist. I saw her 3 times and had an appointment booked for March 18th, just in time for my weekend trip to Las Vegas with my friend for her birthday celebration. Neither of those things happened. They had to close the salon of course, and my friend decided to cancel the trip to Vegas. That was ok because the day after we cancelled, all the hotels and casinos shut down. You can’t really get a hair cut on Zoom, so I waited until the salon opened back up. Their salon space is huge and there’s one stylist in front and one in back. It works and I’ve gotten my hair cut a few times since they’ve opened.
With all these new things in my life, I am happy and grateful that I still have them. They may be different for now, but I’m hopeful that as we move forward, we will get back to something that looks like normal life again.
Thanks for reading this segment of my “This Damn Virus” story. Catch up on past segments here and come back next Wednesday for the next one! Sign up to receive a weekly reminder email about this blog here.
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