I like many other yoginis am an avid subscriber to the Yoga Jornal. I eagerly await my copy every 6 weeks or so, and take it everywhere with me, trying to integrate its’s pearls of wisdom. Which is why was ecastatic to attend thier yoga conference in my home away from home, NYC. So eager, that even though I couldn’t afford it’s hefty price tag ($225 and up), I decided to sign up for one day of the main conference, and a kirtan session by Krishna Das. I figured that, it was an investment in my practice, an opportunity to learn from some of the most inspiring yoga teachers of my time, and I could offset the cost by taking a number of thier free events , lightening the load on our economically strained wallets.
The minute I entered the conference I was struck by how similar in look and feel it was to the dance conferences I foggily remembered from my youth. Crowds of (mostly) women clustering in various forms of dance-like attire, many toting conference bags. Except for the uniquitous sigg-like water bottles, I would’ve sworn I had somehow managed to fold space and warped back to 1986 reliving the Tremain Dance Conventions. They even had a similar “market place”, where sponsors could hawk thier goods, I half expected to find a Capezio booth. Thankfully there wasn’t a Capezio in sight, reminding me that while those conference were scaring memories , this was yoga, a healing balm to my post-wedding-jitters.
My first class was with Shiva Rea, Rasa: the Yoga of Liberating Love. It was described as ” a liberating backbending vinyasa flow, meditation and vizualization to liberate our natural healing alchemy of love”, a bit beyond my mortal understanding, but it sounded like just enough movement with just enough thought to get me back into the practice I had neglected for well over a month in favor of the wedding whirlwind.While, I over estimated what my back was capable of bending into, I hadn’t under estimated how liberating the class would be to my stiff limbs. my undisciplined mind, or how refreshing it is to come back to your practice.
My next class was with Cyndi Lee , “How to Teach Any Pose to Any Body”, described as “…complicated poses and deconstruct them using consistent yoga principles … “. I thought this would be a good opportunity to enhance my education, and although I wasn’t excited about my trial classes at Om, I was impressed with their thoughtfulness. I hadn’t expected to be so moved by her, or her teachings, but I was. I thought that by now she’d be tired of the constant tour, the redundancy of some of the materials, but she wasn’t. She was authentic, fresh and fully engaged. Even her assistants’ adjustments were customized, catered towards your need at hand, rather than a mechanical adjustment. She taught keen observation, and close attention, warming the class with gentle movements that naturally developed thier complexity.
My last class was with Gary Kraftsow “Exploring the Chakras for Emotional Health”. I decided to take a lecture based class, as the Community Class by Ashley Turner “Inner Power: Flow from Grace”, had exhausted me. I’m not sure about the inner power, but I was sure I had lost all grace in that class. My body wouldn’t hear of another asana, and besides my mind was starved of the philosphy and knowledge of yoga. I have badly neglected my education outside of asanas. Gary’s class and knowlege were profound. Trying to learn all the things he was teaching us was a lot like trying to drink from a fire hydrant. It was impossible to drink, but the power of it somehow cleanses and reinvigorates you. I suspect he had a lot more to share, and was a little disappointed the class was so short. Though it’ was hard to tell, as I’m not sure he was all together engaged , sometimes it seemed he was speaking somewhere else, and he didn’t hide that he had given this talk so many times the students and places were blurring together. But the richness of his insights, makes the two hours you spend with him fly by fast, leaving you with just enough grains of wisdom to go home and chew on.
After the dizzying pace of April, the subdued, honeymoon imbued May, This conference was a warm (if pricey) welcome back party. Just enough education to re-ignite my learning, and just enough movement to make my blood and breath flow.
