My cat died and suddenly I believed in the existence of a Soul

That pretty much says it. I have never believed that we, humans, are anything more than a bunch of chemical reaction and nerve impulses; that when we die we become food for worms and that the only "afterlife" lies in the memories of those who continue to live beyond us. But my cat got a brain tumor and when he was sick, before we knew what was wrong I looked into his eyes and saw something there that was beyond scientific explanation. I thought, "this cat has a soul and he is going to be reincarnated in an even more enlightened form." That was it. I suddenly believed, after all of these years of staunch atheism, I experienced faith.
Then I realized that if I believed that we have a soul, then I had better find mine.

Equanimity

One would expect in a yoga community, especially within one studio, that the students would naturally bond together to support each other. We all study the yamas and niyamas, we're all taught that the purpose of yoga is to truly be in the present moment. One would hope that we would carry that off the mat as well. I have tried to cultivate compassion and equanimity in my life when I realized - after several people pointed it out to me - that I had a tendency to be stubborn and inflexible.
The meditation teacher in our teacher training introduced us to Buddhism and I have been studying and practicing intently for the past year. Oddly enough, some people have fallen away from me, while others have returned, or new people have come into my life. Whenever I find something bothering me I have learned to truly look into the root of what is bothering me. Often it is trivial and I can shrug it off instead of obsessing over it for days as I once did.
But it still bothers me when I observe those people in the yoga community acting in a "non-yogic" way.
Lately I have encountered shameless gossip, outright anger directed to trying to humiliate other students or teachers and petty, small snubs that are boring and pointless. Can I shrug these things off and concentrate on my mat, my breath and drishti? With the exception of the intense anger I have been successful and feel that I have learned something truly valuable in my studies and practices. But anger. Hot, burning anger directed at someone that I love. That I can ignore and focus on helping those who have been the object of anger.
I ask any yogi - what purpose does anger serve? One of my teachers gave me a valuable lesson when he says that the Dalai Lama can go on smiling, even as the Chinese government has forced him into exile and not say one negative thing against the Chinese government. That made me realize that any discomfort I might feel is nothing in comparison. May all those who practice yoga learn as Thich Naht Hanh teaches to "take care of your anger" by embracing it and directing all the love in your heart toward that anger until you can let it go. May we all learn to water the seeds of compassion within us and, as my favorite teacher says, allow yoga "to let us live in the world with equanimity." T.M.