Here we are

Here we are, March 23, 2020. To varying degrees we are all in this together in a way that is unprecedented in most of our lifetimes. I keep trying to find a more accurate word than interesting for how news traveled – around the world headlines, posts by friends traveling in Asia, bigger headlines, eventually conversation among friends, colleagues, and more and more public info from city and state.

For me I kept taking space to practice and time to think and talk with trusted friends and colleagues. Like many of you in varied professions, I had a domino effect of feelings/thoughts on how this would impact my growing business. Personally I knew I needed to stop seeing clients in person and shift to more fully offering online connection, guidance, and support in their home practice.

The work I am trained to do is really yoga for times like these. Everyone enters into the practice and/or study of yoga in their own way. One’s interest, current state, time of life, location all play into it. Yoga was passed down within families and communities, teacher to student, and so on and so on. Both an oral and living tradition it has evolved to represent many different things individually, within schools or lineages, in pop culture from Elvis movies, The Beatles, to Madonna and Sting in the 90’s, to varied Instagram selfies and Goat Yoga and the beat goes on. And all the while people practiced, most quietly.

For me, I was merely curious and eventually with a friend we started practicing from books in Auburn, AL. Mostly on our own and would report back in to one another. I recall reading in a book that it was recommended to learn from a teacher. Little a-ha moments occured. And we were in luck as a class started to form from a teacher who would travel over from Tuskegee.

What started as curiosity became a part of my everyday. My working hours made attending class not so practical- so I kept practicing from the notes my teacher gave me and looked into books a little bit more. Eventually I fell into community to what became my yoga home for 24 years. My practice supported me through the passing of friends, through injuries, and personal challenges. I watched as my community also rode the waves of life with yoga as a bit of a raft. My interests supported me in learning more and more about the subtleties and multitude of adaptations,on and off the mat,in ways that best serve the student, the practitioner at any given time. Sometimes we don’t always click with a teacher, yet we always learn something about ourselves in the process. As teachers our practice is fundamental and a requirement to do our best work. Do we, do I, fall short of the mark? yes, yes I do. Sometimes I see it happening and can intervene through inquiry and practice and sometimes I’ve found my self inert and sought input from one of my teachers. Sometimes the time between the present moment and hindsight is immeasurable.

Times like these…some days can feel like a lot to manage. I don’t need to detail what we’ve experienced from far away, to the collective us, and individually and then back out again. While I’ve been absorbed in and supported by yoga for decades and five years ago I took a deeper dive again. The teachings and practices that I have learning under the guidance of Gary Kraftsow and the entire team and community of The American Viniyoga Institute are elegant, efficient and most importantly effective.

Together, with your input, we can create a practice to support and sustain you. For some it is 10 minutes in the morning. For other little yoga snacks throughout their day. An evening wind down practice. Sometimes it is all three.