Hard to summarize the past 2 days worth of events and experiences happening here at the Grand Gathering. The Gathering is all at once yoga blitz (2 challenging classes a day! Christina Sell, you rocked my world!), kula reunion, mega love-fest, and Immersion into the heart of Anusara Yoga. In this isolated, yet majestic setting of Estes Park, the magnet holding us together is John Friend, although it isn’t just John — it’s the love of life, our common interest of asking questions of life, and discovering ways to become better servants of it.
It’s a perfect setting really for going deeper inside, in all ways. Aside from the great teachers/presenters here offering their individual insights and inspiration on this yoga of the heart, we are lucky to have Douglas and Sally here offering what they offer. A spontaneous addition to the Panel Discussion on Monday night was Eric Shaw. He was articulate and full of knowledge on the subject of yoga history, and added plenty to the conversation. The conversation was varied, from Hanuman stories to the necessity of the Guru, sex and yoga, vegetarianism, and the ubiquitous question of reconciling evil in the world. A true example of kula, in that we don’t learn by ourselves, and that the kula is the guru. Interestingly, John elucidated 2 levels of teachers – pundit and guru, and added a third, one he called Charya.
Charya is one who is masterful, studied, and full of knowledge. It means to say that he or she has put hours of study and practice into the subject, and can speak more fully from the heart of the experience, rather than just from the definition of the experience. I’ve learned this through teaching yoga with themes, realizing over and over that when I’m more saturated in and by what I’m offering, my students are led straight to their heart, their minds soften, and transformation begins/continues.
Yes, I know I’m plugging my Immersion at Yogaworks beginning mid October, but the Immersion is such a program that offers the seeker a chance to step more closely to their own level of charya. Immersing in the teachings and practice in intense bursts of time, then letting some time to pass before taking the next one. gives time to install it into your life. Sianna Sherman, a stunning master of poetic heart, word, and body joined as one, called vinyasa “an instillation of prana that permeates every movement, every experience”. This is a perfect way to describe what happens in the Immersions. A great allowing of this instillation to occur, as if the sweetness of the teachings were like honey, smoothly permeating every inch of your being, heart, mind, word, thought, and action.
I am not without a staggering amount of gratitude as well for how I got here. Yesterday/today is the Autumn Equinox. Its one of the midway points where we sit in samastitihi, or balance. John called it a ‘tipping point’, which is an excellent description of being on the verge of change. Sitting in the middle it is a time to look back at the last 6 months or so and choose how you want to move forward. I have so much gratitude for even further back to a year and a half ago when my life shifted, and I found a new home at Yogaworks Soho. When YW Soho opened, they held a referral contest for teachers to bring in new students, and I won this contest. It is the first time I’ve won anything, and the grand prize was entry into a Yoga Journal Conference of my choice. So in a curious way, I got ‘the lucky’, and I am here by the Grace of my students, to whom I send endless gratitude toward. Maha love y’all.
more soon…
