Yoga

Well, I only made it two weeks in the “not teaching yoga” phase before I knew I absolutely HAD to teach again. But, I don’t want to teach for money right now. For one thing, I don’t really need it, but mostly because I really want to teach a population that needs it but maybe can’t necessarily afford it.
 
I have been in contact off and on with the Director of The Shanthi Project. I probably wrote about it last year when I first sat down to have tea with her. Anyway, I never committed to anything with her because we were talking about kids classes and I basically am so afraid to teach kids that I just never could commit.
 
So, I decided to write to the director and told her I could do Wednesday nights. She wrote back and said they just started a class at a women’s minimum security prison. The class is at 5:30, so I asked my boss if I could leave early on Wednesdays so that I could do some volunteer work. We talked a bit, and in the end he said he didn’t have a problem with it. I’m just waiting now for more information and to find out when I can start. I’m really excited about this. It will be such a different environment for me.
 
Meanwhile, I’ve fallen completely away from my old yoga communities – since I stopped teaching… but I know I’m still welcome. I need to make more of an effort to include a daily practice into my life… I’ve been so focused on the gym and spending 60 to 90 minutes a day there, and I haven’t put aside any other time for myself… We are going back to the meditation group once a week though.
 
I also just signed up for a workshop on the Koshas that will take place up at the Himalayan Institute in mid-November. I’m excited. All these years of doing yoga and I’ve only ever gone to Kripalu. Kripalu is a 5 hour drive. It’s got great workshops, wonderful yoga, and a beautiful facility, but it’s also very expensive. I wasn’t really impressed with what they had going on in October or November, so I checked out the Himalayan Institute. There was a workshop in September that I REALLY wanted to take, but it conflicted with a day I had planned with friends. There were two others in November my friend and I thought sounded good… so we agreed on one and I just signed up. It’s much cheaper, only 2 hours away, and with the price I received a membership which allows me all kinds of benefits including taking pretty much any other workshop for free for a whole year! I don’t know why I never went there before. And one of my favorite yoga teachers (Rod Stryker) is based out of there. So, I will definitely be using this membership!
 
Life is going well. We had a wonderful weekend with each other and with friends. We finally got to see the picture that will be on the fall cover of the local magazine. That issue will be on marriage equality. Can you pick us out? 🙂