Blog
I still haven't taken the time to write anything up about our amazing visit to Yogaville, DC, or the Qigong conference, but hope to get to that soon. For now, though a few words about an amazing teacher.
While we were at the Qigong conference and trying to decide where to visit next, I revisited a listing for an Ashtanga workshop at Yoga Squared in Philadelphia, which was starting the day after we were scheduled to leave Maryland. When I had read about David Keil's workshop months earlier I had decided that taking 5 days out of our trip to stay in Philly was not a good idea. I was torn, though, because is an expert in anatomy and a certified Ashtanga teacher, so I knew I might be missing out on a chance to get some really detailed instruction on some of the poses that are the most challenging for me. Lucky for me, Brad thought it was a good idea and we decided to make an extended detour through the city of brotherly love.
The "workshop" was really five days of Mysore practice - which is basically what I had done in India - you show up at your allotted time and do your practice and the teacher adjusts/helps as needed. The difference between this experience and India was that I got to ask lots of questions and have a dialog with David about my struggle in some of the poses. In India, practice, self-observation, and a few adjustments from the teacher in your terminal pose are the mode of learning. While I learned a lot from that method, and my practice would not be the same without having that experience, I have been struggling of late with finding ease in some of the poses. And doing them 100's of times had not yet revealed the "secrets" of these poses to me.
While I can't say David revealed any "secrets," he did take the time to identify and explain the limitations in my hips and shoulders and show me how to work on opening them up in each of the poses so that the most challenging poses for me (like backbends) might one day come more easily. I also bought and watched his amazing Yoganatomy DVD. While I knew some of the information from my teacher training, it was a great refresher and went into more depth on some issues than I had learned before. I highly recommend it if you are interested in understanding how the human musculo-skeletal system works in relation to your yoga practice.
I can't say enoough good things about David as a teacher - he is extremely knowledgable, patient, good humored, and he knows how to push you to your limits and when to back off. He will be coming to Savannah in March and I am looking forward to learning even more from this gifted teacher.
I haven’t been writing for a few days in part because of laziness but also because I have been spending my “computing time” each day working on something else really exciting. I am now coordinating the Savannah Area Teachers of Yoga Association (SATYA) and I am on the committee for this year’s Global Mala Yoga for Peace Event. In past years we have worked to raise awareness about peace by bringing folks together to practice a series of 108 sun salutations in Forsyth Park. This year we are planning an event that will include 108 minutes of yoga (not all sun salutations), as well as some chanting (kirtan). As part of this year’s event we are also making an effort to engage in Yoga Seva (selfless service) and are raising money for one local and one global charity.cambodian children's fund
We have selected Park Place Outreach in Savannah and the Cambodian Children’s Fund as the beneficiaries of our fund-raising efforts.
We are planning the event for Sunday, September 21st in Johnson Square in downtown Savannah. We will begin the event with some led chanting. Following that, Mark White, owner of M Body Yoga in Jacksonville, will lead us in 108 minutes of invigorating Baptiste Power Yoga on the square. For more information or to register for the event, check out the SATYA website. If you would like to make a donation to either of the charities through SATYA, you can also do so through the SATYA website.
in the next day or so I'll gather my thoughts on our visit to Yogaville and the Qigong conference and get a new post up. In the meantime, new pics are being posted to the photos tab regularly.
We finally kicked off our road trip on Monday afternoon, beginning what we hope will be several weeks of exploration from Savannah to North Dakota. We have two known destinations – Reiserstown, Maryland for a Qigong conference and then on to Towner, North Dakota, where we need to pick our pups up from “doggie summer camp.” I need to be back in Savannah by August 27th so I can catch a plane out to Redlands for Labor Day weekend, but other than that, we don’t have many constraints.
Since we ended up leaving 4 days later than planned, we decided to bee-line it up to the Durham/Chapel Hill area the first day. About 150 miles into the trip, we heard a thunk and the car lost all its get-up-and-go. After experimenting with the acceleration a bit, Brad decided that the Turbo on our beloved Volvo had given out. Our trusty iPhone allowed me to Google for Volvo dealers in the area and we figured out there was one in Chapel Hill. Bingo. We crossed our fingers and kept on driving, arriving in time for dinner, but having missed my first planned yoga class at Ride the Breath.
We had a great meal at The Lantern in downtown Chapel Hill, and then headed over to our “Hotwired” hotel room for some sleep. We decided that getting the car fixed was our first priority so I decided to do my practice in our hotel room and then head up to the dealer by 8:00 am. We drove up the highway a few times looking for the dealer and kept wondering why we couldn’t find it. Then I noticed what looked like a lot “formerly known as” the Crown Volvo dealership – and indeed it was – the dealership had closed less than a month earlier.
We ended up driving over to Cary and dropped the car off at the dealer there and walked over to a place the service manager recommended for breakfast. After about an hour the car was fixed (under warranty!) and we were back on the road, with Turbo. Next destination: Satchidananda Ashram in Buckingham, VA, a.k.a. Yogaville.
Got back last night from the yoga retreat I led at the Hostel in the Forest. This amazing place consists of hand-built tree houses and dome structures on ~120 acres of forest near the town of Brunswick on the Georgia coast. 
After dinner and a campfire talk on Friday night, we started the day on Saturday with a yoga practice in the big glass house. This is probably the most beautiful space in which I have ever practiced yoga. It's a ~600 square foot hexagonal structure, with sliding glass doors all the way around. Practicing in the glass house is like practicing on the forest floor (but with a roof over your head and screens to keep away (most of) the critters).
I taught a vinyasa (flow) yoga class to a group of about 17 the first morning. The playlist for the music can be found here. (I am excited that I just figured out how to post my playlists to iTunes and publish them on my site - more to come soon!)
After class, Tom, the hostel owner, invited us back to see his private tree house. He planted a living roof on top of his house about three years ago and has a one-of-a-kind fern covered roof. He also showed us his state-of-the-art composting toilet. The toilets at the hostel are incredible - they are all of the composting sort, and the hostel may be the longest running composting toilet operation in the world. Photos of his living roof, outhouse and the rest of the weekend are on my photos page.
The afternoon was spent doing some karma yoga - giving back to the hostel by working on a number of projects. Part of the group helped Murray restack and protect the wood for a new dome structure that will be built later in the fall. Another group worked with Peaches to clean up the hostel's nature trails, clearing overgrown brush and removing fallen trees. Another group worked with Molly to clear and sweep out the labyrinth, which we planned to use later in the evening.
A fourth group helped Carlyn weed her beautiful vegetable garden. I signed up for that group, thinking it would be a a meditative exercise in pulling a few weeds from the vegetable beds. In the forest, though, and especially in a 100% organic garden, weeds get BIG! The five us on that crew pulled out a few gigantic piles of grass and other miscellaneous invasive plants and only made a tiny dent in the work. Without the help of any motorized tools, the work is incredibly intense, but satisfying. Kudos to Carlyn for her patience and hard work, which brings food to the guests of the hostel on a daily basis.
After the work was done, a dip in the lake was in order. Did I mention that it was about 95 degrees and sweltering? The hostel swimming hole is crystal clear and was the perfect temperature to cool off without getting a chill. There is a platform in the middle where swimmers (in various levels of dress) lay in the sun and hang out.
After my swim and a refreshing shower, a few of us worked together to fill up paper bags with sand and candles for a candle-lit walk in the labyrinth. By the time we had finished we had placed about 500 candles along the borders of the path through the labyrinth. After dinner, another crew headed over to the labyrinth to light the candles. About 15 minutes into the lighting, the sound of thunder began to reverberate through the trees. Luckily the rain held off long enough for some of us to get a short walk in, but before long it was pouring rain. 
I decided that I should take this as a lesson in non-attachment instead of getting upset that we had worked for hours and only had 15 minutes to enjoy the fruits of our labor. Brad and I were lucky enough to be staying in the tree house overlooking the labyrinth, so we hunkered down and watched the candles flicker in the rain before we fell into a deep sleep. In the morning, believe it or not, there was one candle still flickering.
I led a slower paced, more meditative yoga class on Sunday morning. We finished up with a sitting meditation, which Becca Sweeney led us through. Becca started out by describing why she sees meditation and asana (poses) as "twins." History tells us that the poses we do in yoga were developed in ancient times as a way to train the body for long periods of sitting. Likewise, the breath and movement in an asana class, prepare the mind for the stillness required for meditation. So...meditation originally led to the development of asana and asana made meditation easier. This reminds us that the real reason for the asana practice if to prepare us for meditation.
The weekend was exactly what I was hoping for and I am talking to Murray about planning another retreat for the fall. When we get the details worked out I'll post some info on my site.
Finally, I'd like to send special kudos to the hostel staff - thanks to Murray and Poppy for helping to organize the retreat and take care of all of the reservations and logistics; thanks to Southwood, Peaches, Fresh Ginger and the other kitchen angels for the delicious meals; thanks to Carlyn for the wonderful produce that went into the meals, and thanks to Molly for leading the way in our labyrinth cleanup. A special thanks to Tom for sharing his retreat in the forest with the rest of us. The folks who live and work at the hostel keep this beautiful place going so that people like me can come get away from our 21st century lives and reconnect with what is really important.
Yesterday I went down to Jacksonville, Florida with my friend Mindy to attend a free Yoga DJ Party hosted by M Body Yoga and Lululemon. Mindy has been raving about Baptiste Yoga and I thought I'd check it out.
The event was held at the gigantic, super swanky Saint Johns Town Center mall. We don't have malls like it in Savannah, so I was suffering from a bit of consumer shock and awe when we arrived. We didn't have time to shop but I did note a few key stores that I like (Anthropologie, West Elm, Arden B., etc) and made a mental note to come back one day with more free time. No, I am not yet free from aparigraha (coveting), though my urge to shop was lower after we practiced.....
The plaza where the event was going to be held was already taped with mat-size spaces when we arrived. After we checked in and placed our mats in the spot we 
thought most likely to have some shade, we headed over to Lululemon to quickly check out the latest yoga gear.
There was a live DJ spinning tunes throughout the two hour practice and Mark White,
the owner of M Body and a senior Baptiste instructor, led 100 of us through a vigorous vinayasa yoga class that nodded to the Ashtanga series but included a lot of playful poses and booty-shaking. With the sun beating down and the concrete heating us from the ground up, I wasn't sure I would be able to keep up the pace for the entire two hours, but Mark and the DJ kept our energy up and made what might have seemed like torture to the spectators, a whole lot of fun.
When the practice was over, we did savasana under the clear blue sky and I couldn't healp but open my eyes and drink in the beauty. I had that post-yoga euphoria going strong. I think I dig Baptiste Yoga and will be looking into it a little more.....
