Smart friendship over partnership

"Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life." (Amy Poehler)

My friend Terri has been a ride or die for nearly two decades. She shares a birthday with my oldest daughter, shares a temperament with my youngest daughter, shares a work ethic with my man, and shares all my joys and pains.

Since her early career days as an IT project manager, I've described her as a smart person who talks to computers for a living. Naturally, as I approached the end of yoga teacher training, I turned to Terri for consultation on how to approach building a website. An hour later I had a domain name and a live homepage. With the swiftness that it took to make her own multimedia site, www.battlehankins.com, she built my brand. "Smart friendship over partnership," she says as I try to make good on her support.

That night, while walking to my car blown away, giddy and excited, the fire that kindled inside my core drove me home, drove me to graduate with certainty a week later, and drove me to teach my first yoga class online four days after that.

Tapas is one of 10 pillars of wisdom from the Yoga Sutra. It means self-discipline, effort, or internal fire. Tapas can be applied to anything you want to see happen in your life. The journey to becoming a yoga teacher taught me to be grateful for family and true friends, like Terri. Those who believe in you and invest their time and talent to help power your passions.

"One piece of log creates a small fire, adequate to warm you up. Add just a few more pieces to blast an immense bonfire, large enough to warm up your entire circle of friends. Needless to say, individuality counts but teamwork dynamites." (Jin Kwon)

Pictured (clockwise): Namastones Terri, Myla, Shiretta, Ada, and Yvette meditating at my first yoga workshop on the river