I am
I am the molecules forming the clouds overhead and the sound of the tectonic plates shifting. I am the wind racing through the streets and the sun that reflects off the windshield.
My Next Chapter
I began my yoga studies back in 1999 with Joan Ruvinksy, who, with Richard Miller, studied under Jean Klein, and who introduced Yoga Nidra very early on into our classes together. I later came back to the Yoga Nidra practice with Level 1 iRest®Yoga Nidra trained Teacher Kelly McGrath, whose classes slowly led me right up to my training. As one who has practiced Yoga Nidra, I simply related to the sense of peace and relaxation the practice brought back to me, but little did I know or fully comprehend the science behind iRest®Yoga Nidra or how it could potentially change the lives of other.
Yoga Retreat on the Greek Island of Paros
I have always tended to work in 5-year chunks of time. From buying and selling property to carving out my niche in yoga, I have typically allowed myself a full 5 years to execute what I needed to, knowing that through hard work, dedication, and respecting the process, I would find myself exactly where I needed to be. Without trying too hard to see the end in the beginning, I have learned that the 5-year allowance always brings me to where I can continue to move forward, even if it’s not where I would have envisioned myself.
Ritually Rich
I’m writing this post lying in bed in my hotel room in Istanbul. I’m up later than I have been on any other night, as our retreat here has come to an end and most of the students have left on their return journeys home. As is typically the case, I’ve been very reflective as this experience winds down, and despite staying here for another few days, my reality in Istanbul as I have become accustomed to it is changing. The community we created over the past week was a very special one, insular and bonding, what with the coming together of and unifying like-minded people, as these retreats always end up doing. We ended up practicing yoga, obviously, and we did more sightseeing and touring than I previously thought possible in 7 days, but what proved to me most refreshing about this voyage to Turkey was the immediate connection we all felt to its people.
Tales From Out West
I’m in Calgary this week and thought I’d get down some of my thoughts…I came here to not only visit my brother and his wife and kids (one of which I’m meeting for the first time since his birth on Christmas Day), but to bring my Introduction to Hindu & Yogic Mythology workshop to a […]
Giving Up The Ghost
It’s been a while since my last post. 2013 has been a year of incredible highs and shockingly raw lows, and we’re only halfway through March, but with that said, I have a very strong feeling that this year will be a watershed one for me. I’ve felt a low rumbling in my gut over […]
The Sum Total
Lets talk about hobbies. When you were a kid and someone asked you what your hobbies were, what did you answer? I asked the question in this morning’s yoga class, and some of the answers I got were dancing, playing in nature, and playing dress-up. Everyone found something in childhood that, after discovering it, found so much pleasure in it that they and (possibly) their friends made it their hobby. What growing up inevitably led to, for those of us who didn’t excel at sports or have the proclivity to do what later was admired, was the moment in the teenage or pre-teenage years when all of a sudden it didn’t matter what your favourite pastimes were, what mattered was what was “cool.” In the name of fitting in and being accepted, we all, to greater or lesser degrees, let what made us happy fall by the wayside, and we re-directed our efforts as best we could to be cool.
Things You Only Know If You’ve Taken A Yoga Class
Things You Only Know If You’ve Taken A Yoga Class 1) Yoga holds a mirror up to your face and challenges you to identify what you see. 2) Yoga teachers are like politicians – some are professional bullshit artists, and some are genuinely concerned with making a difference. 3) A yoga class separates those who […]
Winding Down
I’ve just lay down on the couch with the winter storm wind howling past the windows of my flat and my dog curled up asleep against my legs. Today marks the end of in-class teaching for me for 2012, and the past few days I’ve felt this post taking form in my mind. Now feels like the right time to get it all down and attach the symbology of words to it.
Full Circle
My yoga practice started in 1999 when I found my guru living directly across the street from me. Joan Ruvinsky introduced me to my first yoga classes, which incorporated everything from inspirational discussions at the start of class to the most illuminating of approaches to the practice, including Body Sensing and Yoga Nidra. What really resounded with me were the Yoga Nidra sessions where we would lie down in Savasana after making ourselves as comfortable as possible with pillows, bolsters and blankets, and then allow our bodies to fall asleep while our minds stayed alert and focused on the teacher’s voice as she guided us through a meditation. Yoga Nidra is often defined as “yogic sleep”, and the whole exercise consists of letting the body relax and let go while conditioning the mind to not do the same. Every Yoga Nidra experience I have ever had has felt like an awakening, a realization of something I had always suspected was true, but had never encountered. Joan first introduced me to the experience, and her classes were beacons of peace for me when things were volatile in my life, and she gave me the yogic platform from which I have bounded off of in search of all things yoga.