I Have Everything I Need

Happy Monday! I hope you all have had a great couple of weeks. My family went on a trip to Sicily so I didn’t send out a newsletter last week.

It is always amazing to visit new places, learn about a different culture and see ancient structures from the 5th century BC. We went to beaches, ruins, wineries, mountain towns and the most active Volcano in Europe. However, that was not even close to the best part of our trip.

We spent lot of time in the car driving to all of these different spots and on these drives my kids had “aux”; meaning they controlled the music. My phone was connected to Apple car play so they used it to queue songs for our journey. On our first long drive day, after about 10 songs, my Spotify defaulted to a song from the last playlist I had listened to. Everything I Need by Trevor Hall.  The lyrics are simple, it is essentially a mantra. 

“I have everything I need. From the mountain to the sea I have everything I need. I have everything I need. From the mountain to the sea all of this is within me. I have everything I need.” 

My kids started laughing hysterically, making fun of moms “yoga music”. However, through their giggles the words seem even more significant to me than usual. I noticed the ocean and the mountains and the people in the car around me. “I have everything I need” I thought to myself.

At first it was a joke and we would laugh when it would periodically come on when the queue would end. However, as the week went on, when the song would come on, all of us would sing it together. It became a bit of a mantra for the trip. Whenever we would miss an exit in a roundabout (which happened often) or something didn’t go perfect in our plans we would all say “I have everything I need.” 

That is how a mantra works. It helps us stay present, offer perspective and ground us. I used this song and the mantra it offers as a bit of an anthem for my classes this week. As we overcame struggles and discomfort in our bodies, the reminder that we really have everything we need was powerful. 

Both on the mat and off perspective is the power. Visiting Sicily was wonderful however the most incredible thing about the trip was the time together. Maybe it is because it feels so fleeting with both my children starting their next chapters in two months. Maybe it was traveling with three adult people that I adore more than anything in this world.  And maybe Trevor Hall helped a little bit. The mantra has stayed in my head as I reentered life last week, and with it a sense of deep gratitude for not only my family but my life back at home, my students and this practice. I truly feel that I have everything I need.