When I was at a Buddhist temple in Korea, I helped a tour guide translate the story of the Buddha for the family I was visiting with. The guide was surprised that I knew the story as well as she did. After she finished the tour, she turned to me, and in broken english told me that I must have had a good reincarnation to have been born into a situation that would allow me to learn about the Buddha.

She was not the first person who has told me how lucky I am. Whatever you want to call it, lucky, blessed, a good reincarnation, I have been given a good hand. I had a good, even easy, childhood. Things have gone wrong, but I’ve landed on my feet. I have a beautiful family, a loving husband and my good health. These things have come easily to me. I’m not bragging, (maybe celebrating). My life is a good one. And the icing on top of this great cake is yoga. I am beyond lucky to have found yoga, and for it to be my career.

If you are reading this you may have had a good reincarnation. You can admit that most of our problems are “first world problems.” We have it pretty good. Whether you make it to your mat twice a month or twice a week, you are luckier than most. Maybe not most, as compared to our Facebook friends or the other people in our community, but most as compared to the rest of the world. If you do yoga, if you can afford to take the time out of your schedule to get to your yoga mat, you are lucky. Most people in the world live in a daily struggle. In some cases they struggle to find food and shelter, and in others they are running between several jobs trying to keep their whole family afloat. Everyone, everywhere is fighting a battle that we know little about. Most of those people are not blessed enough to have found yoga, let alone be given the time and money to do it.

So this holiday season, I’m asking you to take a moment and think of those in need. Send a prayer to the people who aren’t as lucky as us. And then bring that prayer to life and do something. Donate your time or money to lift up those who are down. Find a way to give back that speaks from your heart. Actually appreciate how good you have it. Its easy to forget how good life is, when we are fighting our everyday battles. But life is good. Life is great, and its even better because we have yoga.