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...
julie dohrman / shaktiyoga new york / life as an urban yogi.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
no expiration date
Arrived today at Estes Park for the 2nd Grand Gathering, and let me tell you, my heart's already been mushed open. You see, I'm certified. As a love muffin. I do all I can to feel love, inspire love, and promote love in myself and in others. Since love is simply the thread that holds us all together and withstands all trials of life, it doesn't expire. It doesn't get old, really. It may change direction, but it never looses power. It has longevity in life, and so long as we practice creating it and living it, it has no expiration date. "Love is stronger than Fear", offered Des.
Tonight, as John Friend gave the keynote speech welcoming students and teachers to this 3 day gathering of like minds, he immediately did what is called Kuladipa - he lit the lamp of the kula with simply his words. He spoke in future tense, not just present tense, and offered his vision of the gathering as a way of saying "may it be so", and his ability to do this is one of his many gifts. He always does that, and it's unique among the great teachers out there today. He's a visionary.
My heart melted into the great fabric of our global collective as each of the 12 or so presenters/teachers spoke to the question, What has shifted for you in the last 2 years (since the first GG in 2008), in your life and practice? Such stunning and beautiful and candid responses from my peers, teachers, and friends on stage. Their answers were examples of why we all study and practice Anusara yoga - on every level, it's a practice of enhancing the quality of your life. Isn't that what your yoga should do?
It of course led me to contemplate my own transitions of the last 2 years. Some of the biggest shifts have come more recently, as an increase in my capacity to listen. I owe much of it to my meditation practice, and the outstanding and deeply penetrating words of my teacher Paul. More than anything, my practice has proved itself to be an anchor for me in hard times when I'm most challenged to take a close look at myself and improve how I impact the landscape of the world. My practice continues to do what it originally set out to do, so long as I practice it. It can't have an expiration date that way!
More tomorrow.
Tonight, as John Friend gave the keynote speech welcoming students and teachers to this 3 day gathering of like minds, he immediately did what is called Kuladipa - he lit the lamp of the kula with simply his words. He spoke in future tense, not just present tense, and offered his vision of the gathering as a way of saying "may it be so", and his ability to do this is one of his many gifts. He always does that, and it's unique among the great teachers out there today. He's a visionary.
My heart melted into the great fabric of our global collective as each of the 12 or so presenters/teachers spoke to the question, What has shifted for you in the last 2 years (since the first GG in 2008), in your life and practice? Such stunning and beautiful and candid responses from my peers, teachers, and friends on stage. Their answers were examples of why we all study and practice Anusara yoga - on every level, it's a practice of enhancing the quality of your life. Isn't that what your yoga should do?
It of course led me to contemplate my own transitions of the last 2 years. Some of the biggest shifts have come more recently, as an increase in my capacity to listen. I owe much of it to my meditation practice, and the outstanding and deeply penetrating words of my teacher Paul. More than anything, my practice has proved itself to be an anchor for me in hard times when I'm most challenged to take a close look at myself and improve how I impact the landscape of the world. My practice continues to do what it originally set out to do, so long as I practice it. It can't have an expiration date that way!
More tomorrow.
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
burn where you are
The change from Summer to Fall can be quite a challenging one. Shifting gears from extended weekends back to longer work hours, school starting again, and ever so slowly, feeling the touch of cooler air and shorter days can be a downright bummer. I usually make a list of things I love about Fall, to help me get psyched. My schedule is full (more classes in Brooklyn! check my website), and my private clients are back in town, friends are returning from summers away, so there's lots to look forward to. But since my first experience with Burning Man in 2000, I've added a fire ceremony into my intention setting.
Burning Man is a one week experience of experimental community living set in a stark desert in Nevada. Really out in the middle of nowhere. There are so many levels of amazing-ness that one can have at the Burn. Fitting to what I study with Douglas Brooks and Rajanaka Yoga, the Burn is also an experiment in Radical Self Reliance and Radical Self Expression. Its an art festival, hippie gathering, city of fantasy, music and dance party, and Kula-Gone-Wild within the boundaries that being in the desert instill upon you. It is one of the most radical experiences of Freedom you could ever have, even though its not really free, it costs money, and there are plenty of terms to agree upon. But hey, that's embodied life anyway. I've gone twice, and I have only seen or heard a pin-head of what it conjured up for some folks. Its one of those trips that leaves such an imprint, and deeply shifts every person from inside out, and its radically different every year. Sorta like your yoga is, and can do.
Fire is a powerful metaphor of, and tool for transformation. The Tantric traditions view fire as the space of our own Consciousness, where all things liquefy together. Our yoga practices can be used to ignite the fire of Consciousness with the intention to heat, and inevitably melt away what's no longer needed so what remains is purified, streamlined, and crystalized. "Fire has a nectar at its core" as taught by my teacher Paul. Sometimes we do need to cast off the old ways, tired relationships, and attitudes that have held us back from simply being our best.
These practices of igniting "tapas" or heat into what you are doing are not only about burning away or purifying -- like there's something 'dirty' or 'impure' about you -- rather, consider tapasya as a burning into newness. The burning is never about simply nothingness to the Tantric practitioners, for nothingness isn't possible in our embodied life, nor is it respectful to the Divine that has chosen our loveliness and all it entails as its form. It is paradoxically both a burning away, and a burning toward.
Burning Man taught me many things, aside from how life affirming it feels to live with thousands of like-minded beings focused on radical self expression and self reliance, keeping safe, yet exploring the boundary of fun. One thing I have come away with is a knowing that I can transform anything burdening me through practices of burning and melting. Once the heavy is heated, melted, and dissolved to ash, what remains re-coaleses and becomes the source of power for transformation. This is the practice of asana, as well as meditation. So at the end of this week, on Saturday, 50,000 will gather around a 40' effigy of a man and watch it burn from very explosive and celebratory beginning, all the way down to the last ember 12-24 hours later. Watching it go out is like cleaning and purifying the diamond of your heart.
What i really learned from the Burn is this little saying "burn where you are"-- you don't have to be in a desert to experience the same kind of power of your own transformation. It can happen here, right where you are, whenever you're ready to stoke your inner fire to do so, with any ritual you design. So every year at this time, planning for the remainder of the year, I burn. I burn sitting in a place of respect and love for myself and the work I've done, and I burn away what will simply not serve me in serving and collaborating with the world as fully as possible. And I burn continually toward, and into, my own refinement, polishing and reshaping who I am.
Love to my playa family.
Little fact: Black Rock Desert is transformed into Black Rock City. Once built and at full capacity, it becomes one of the 10 largest cities in the state of Nevada. Then it is dissolves, like the fire itself, and there is no trace of it. Until next year. Happy Burn!
Burning Man is a one week experience of experimental community living set in a stark desert in Nevada. Really out in the middle of nowhere. There are so many levels of amazing-ness that one can have at the Burn. Fitting to what I study with Douglas Brooks and Rajanaka Yoga, the Burn is also an experiment in Radical Self Reliance and Radical Self Expression. Its an art festival, hippie gathering, city of fantasy, music and dance party, and Kula-Gone-Wild within the boundaries that being in the desert instill upon you. It is one of the most radical experiences of Freedom you could ever have, even though its not really free, it costs money, and there are plenty of terms to agree upon. But hey, that's embodied life anyway. I've gone twice, and I have only seen or heard a pin-head of what it conjured up for some folks. Its one of those trips that leaves such an imprint, and deeply shifts every person from inside out, and its radically different every year. Sorta like your yoga is, and can do.
Fire is a powerful metaphor of, and tool for transformation. The Tantric traditions view fire as the space of our own Consciousness, where all things liquefy together. Our yoga practices can be used to ignite the fire of Consciousness with the intention to heat, and inevitably melt away what's no longer needed so what remains is purified, streamlined, and crystalized. "Fire has a nectar at its core" as taught by my teacher Paul. Sometimes we do need to cast off the old ways, tired relationships, and attitudes that have held us back from simply being our best.
These practices of igniting "tapas" or heat into what you are doing are not only about burning away or purifying -- like there's something 'dirty' or 'impure' about you -- rather, consider tapasya as a burning into newness. The burning is never about simply nothingness to the Tantric practitioners, for nothingness isn't possible in our embodied life, nor is it respectful to the Divine that has chosen our loveliness and all it entails as its form. It is paradoxically both a burning away, and a burning toward.
Burning Man taught me many things, aside from how life affirming it feels to live with thousands of like-minded beings focused on radical self expression and self reliance, keeping safe, yet exploring the boundary of fun. One thing I have come away with is a knowing that I can transform anything burdening me through practices of burning and melting. Once the heavy is heated, melted, and dissolved to ash, what remains re-coaleses and becomes the source of power for transformation. This is the practice of asana, as well as meditation. So at the end of this week, on Saturday, 50,000 will gather around a 40' effigy of a man and watch it burn from very explosive and celebratory beginning, all the way down to the last ember 12-24 hours later. Watching it go out is like cleaning and purifying the diamond of your heart.
What i really learned from the Burn is this little saying "burn where you are"-- you don't have to be in a desert to experience the same kind of power of your own transformation. It can happen here, right where you are, whenever you're ready to stoke your inner fire to do so, with any ritual you design. So every year at this time, planning for the remainder of the year, I burn. I burn sitting in a place of respect and love for myself and the work I've done, and I burn away what will simply not serve me in serving and collaborating with the world as fully as possible. And I burn continually toward, and into, my own refinement, polishing and reshaping who I am.
Little fact: Black Rock Desert is transformed into Black Rock City. Once built and at full capacity, it becomes one of the 10 largest cities in the state of Nevada. Then it is dissolves, like the fire itself, and there is no trace of it. Until next year. Happy Burn!
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