Embracing the Flow :: Takeaways from the YJ Conference

I'm in no hurry to come home: if it weren't for my fantastic husband and adorable children, oh yes and of course the studio . . . I could have hid out up here for at least 3 more days. It was such a grounding and restorative weekend, with lots of Flow, a little hiking, lots of restorative Yoga, amazing energy, nature, the mountains and spaciousness for the mind. The energy up at the Conference was so replenishing that even heading into the relative chaos of downtown Estes Park, just 3 miles away, was jarring (it was a Fall festival in town this weekend, so every RV and Midwestern festival seeker was out in full force). I did have to go though because in spite of my efforts to break my worst habits, I cannot (nor do I really want to) break from my addiction to REAL coffee: the watered down, luke warm brown fluid that they served up at the Y simply wasn't cutting it. Now I'm sitting in the Denver Airport evaluating the weekend and I want to share my takeaways.

• Everyone should give themselves the gift of time alone. I was around a lot of other people, but I was totally on my own agenda and I could check-in our out of other people's energy. Make sense? It's not really a choice we have when we are surrounded by friends and family: their energy, their agendas are a just a part of the deal.
  
• We need to stay in balance: many of us with a regular vigorous Yoga practice also do a lot of other physical exercise; unless we incorporate a regular restorative or Nidra practice (or are very heavy and lethargic by nature) our regular intense Vinyasa practice may have us a little out of balance. Those of us who are drawn to this type of Yoga may be a little out of balance anyway, so it's so important to ground and to restore as well. As insomnia is a part of my deal and my excessive Vatta energy, I've been inspired to practice restorative Yoga. I spent a lot of time doing Yin and restorative this summer to deal with insomnia and I plan to continue to grow this practice, I'll always Flow, that's my DNA, but balancing the Flow w/the grounding (not my DNA) is bringing me into balance. Now with my introduction to Rod Stryker's Nidra, I'm really hooked (if Nidra interests you, I highly recommend Rod's guided Nidra CD, www.parayoga.com/store "Relax into Greatness," also available on amazon.com).
  
• For the Vinyasa practice to really be a practice it must be grounded in breath and intention: we generate the heat, we build the fire, fire is the element for transformation, right? Throw anything into the fire it will transform, but this doesn't happen without actually throwing it into the fire . . .
  
• For it to be a practice, we must practice.
  
• I'm a far better student now that I'm a teacher, and I'm a far better teacher as a student . . .
  
• It's really an amazing time to be alive: the world of Western science is finally catching up to what the Yogi's have told us for thousands of years. The study of energy and quantum physics is affirming what used to seem like wacky new-age, metaphysical thinking. We are all pure energy, we are all breathing the same air, we are all coursing with the same Prana, and we are all just electrons and neutrons at our purest from: the separation of form that we perceive is limited thinking, which leads the belief that we are separate. It's the sense of separation that leads to fear and suffering: "I'm this, you're that, we don't agree . . . let's go to war." Though we can't see it, the energy of everything merges together seamlessly: there are no physical boundaries beyond the ones we perceive. We really are all one in this field of energy.
  
• With this practice, we really can transform our lives: if someone had told me 7 years ago that I would be where I am now, really truly on my way to transcending the fear and greed cycle that spins the world, I would not have believed them (nor known I was caught up in it) . . . I also would have been a little bit scared of the change. I would have feared that changing would have forced me to surrender my love for the physical/material world. I would have been afraid that it would have transformed me too much and that a rub down with patchouli oil would constitute a shower . . . you get my drift. There are plenty of Yogi's that have really detached from the material world, but I'm quite sure that's not my Dharma, I like being anchored here (and I can't make myself feel guilty for liking nice purses). While these detached ascetic's are inspiring, it's really great to be reminded that there are just as many amazing Yogi's and teachers that do remain anchored here while seriously pursuing their spiritual growth. Spiritual growth and pleasure in the material world do not have to be mutually exclusive.
  

Good thing it's time to board or I could keep this list going forever . . . I do think I hit the points that really spoke to me, of course if I missed something, you'll hear about it in the next blog.

Namaste