Excellence Reporter: Desireé, what is the meaning of life?

Desireé Rumbaugh: The best answer I’ve ever heard to this question was at a weekend seminar I attended about 16 years ago. The leaders put up a blank white canvas representing the meaning of life. Bottom line: there is no inherent meaning to life. Life in and of itself is absolutely meaningless. It is like a big blank white canvas that we are given at birth. It’s up to us individually to assign the meaning…or not.

For some, the meaning of life will be the achievement of a particular goal. For others, being present with whatever is happening day by day and moment by moment is enough. Some people want to be rich and others want to live simply and serve the poor. Some find meaning by staying in one place for their entire life and others delight in constant travel.

What is the meaning of Life? To me it is completely subjective. Whatever it is that we long for in this lifetime: love, art, money, sex, food, service, drugs, higher education, hanging out, surviving….we can go for it, do our best and enjoy as much as possible. Then we will have lived a meaningful life. At the end of the day we get to decide whether or not our life had any meaning. Ours is the only opinion that matters.

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~Desireé Rumbaugh, is an internationally recognized yoga teacher with unquenchable enthusiasm for life, love and healing. She blends playful humor with an authentic inquiry into the nature of being to bring the ancient teachings of wisdom into the asana practice and then into modern life. She is an E-RYT and a YACEP with Yoga Alliance.

With a foundation of longtime studies in Iyengar and Anusara yoga, she brings 40 years of experience, experimentation and creativity to her ever-evolving, outside-of-the-box style of teaching. She incorporates real life stories and “kitchen table” wisdom into her workshops to remind herself and her students that the key to their happiness and freedom from suffering lies only within the boundaries of their own mind.

Together with Michelle Marchildon, she has written “Fearless After Fifty: How To Thrive with Grace, Grit and Yoga.” She has produced a DVD series entitled “Yoga to the Rescue” and is a regular contributor to Yoga Journal, having also appeared on its cover. Desiree supports the Art of Yoga Project serving teenage girls in the juvenile justice system. Beginning in March 2021, she is honored to be teaching yoga as a pledge drive host for PBS. The Public Broadcasting Service in the U.S.

www.DesireeRumbaugh.com

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