In my chair yoga class we sit in a circle.  Because of the number of students it is a large circle.  The territorial nature of people dictates that we all end up in the same spot each class.  I have always studied the woman who sits across from me.

Her white hair is worn in dutch boy style with long bangs framing large, sad, brown eyes.  Her generous mouth has a perpetual downturn.  Her careful movements are slow and studied.

After a couple of weeks I began bringing her a chair when I grabbed mine.  (Goody two shoes gene).  She would give me a slow nod but a smile never crossed her face.

During class I could not help myself; I always kept half an eye on what she was doing.  I was violating a very basic premise of yoga class; "Stay on your own mat."  This is both literal and more importantly, figurative.

Her movements were barely noticeable.  Today in class we were flexing our bare feet, heel to toe and then up on our toes.  Her feet barely moved and when we were going up on our toes her feet remained completely flat.

My mind wandered to what motivates her to come to class.  She certainly didn't appear to be trying to do anything.

Today at the end of class I brought my chair back to the front of the room and when I returned for my mat I noticed she was bending over and picking up my mat.  Our eyes met and she said, "I'm just thanking you for bringing me a chair every week".

I was surprised and thanked her.  I then said to her, "I noticed you weren't in class on Tuesday, were you ill?"

She replied that she had been at the eye doctors because she is going blind.

What do you say to that?  I just told her I was sorry to hear that.

We ended up leaving the building at the same time.

"You had better not walk with me." she said.  "It takes me forever to get to my car.  I have two hip replacements, two knee replacements and my toes just have titanium rods, I can't bend them at all."

She looked down at the ground and blinked slowly before she finished with "That is why I am the dumbest one in the class."

If the human heart was capable of actually breaking in two, mine would have.

My compassion was coupled with the shame I felt for having questioned why she was there. It made me think of every child who suffers through being picked last or shunned at a lunch table. I thought of the homeless begging on the street and seemingly healthy young people handing in their food stamps. It was a complex mix of emotions that led me to an internal vow to never judge again.

I looked at her and said, "You have a limited range of movement, that is true, but it has nothing to do with being dumb.   You are an inspiration".

I think I saw a hint of a grateful smile.

As we parted ways we both waved and said "See you in class next week".

I know that I will be seeing with new eyes.