Daily Archives: 2009/12/10

World Trade Center Sunrise

Two days after September 11, 2001, I received the following email forwarded by a friend of a friend who escaped the collapse of World Trade Center Tower 1.

After reading this amazing story I forwarded it to a bunch of people, and then left work in the middle of the day and went to a yoga class. I thought it was a good way to begin the process to regain a sense of peace and wellbeing.

The yoga helped, so I have been practicing yoga most every day since then. My intention is to share my yoga experience with anyone who is interested. Please join me as another peaceful warrior whose intention is to do my part in healing our fragile and injured planet.

The following email exchange is where my journey began and what inspired the creation of Y Yoga Movie.

I share with you my reflection of that day 7 years later.

In peace,
Arthur
Arthur@YYogaMovie.com
www.YYogaMovie.com

Y Yoga Movie clip

–Original Message—–
From: Adam
Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2001 16:22 PM
To: xxxx xxxxx
Subject: one survivors story…. SO WE NEVER FORGET.

I am sure that this is one of thousands of stories that will emerge over the next several days and weeks. I arrived as usual a little before 8am. My office was on the 87th floor of 1 World Trade Center, AKA: Tower 1, AKA: the North Tower. Most of my associates were in by 8:30m. We were standing around, joking around, eating breakfast, checking emails, and getting set for the day when the first plane hit just a few stories above us. I must stress that we did not know that it was a plane. The building lurched violently and shook as if it were an earthquake. People screamed. I watched out my window as the building seemed to move 10 to 20 feet in each direction. It rumbled and shook long enough for me to get my wits about myself and grab a co-worker and seek shelter under a doorway. Light fixtures and parts of the ceiling collapsed. The kitchen was destroyed. We were certain that it was a bomb. We looked out the windows. Reams of paper were flying everywhere, like a ticker tape parade. I looked down at the street. I could see people in Battery Park City looking up. Smoke started billowing in through the holes in the ceiling.

I believe that there were 13 of us. We did not panic. I can only assume that we thought that the worst was over. The building was standing and we were shaken but alive. We checked the halls. The smoke was thick and white and did not smell like I imagined smoke should smell. Not like your BBQ or your fireplace or even a bonfire. The phones were working. My wife had taken our 9 month old for his check up. I called my nanny at home and told her to page my wife, tell her that a bomb went off, I was ok, and on my way out. I grabbed my laptop. Took off my tee shirt and ripped it into 3 pieces. Soaked it in water. Gave 2 pieces to my friends. Tied my piece around my face to act as an air filter. And we all started moving to the staircase.

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