Marcelyn Cole

Marcelyn Cole's class was the most memorable class I've taken in the past half year. -Bonnie Argo asked that question in my study pod, I thought I'd let it echo in an opening line ; )-

The moment I got out- into the roar of a Chicago thunderstorm no less- I furiously began engraving my experience into writing. I later drowned my dear phone, and so lost the note I had written. Yet the experience was so vivid I think I can get to the heart of it with a recollection.

I was so lucky I came to her class. It was a good karmic decision; I was looking at classes that ran at that time, and it was either take class with the director of YogaView, or with Marcelyn. It seems that I "should" have taken the other class with only three days in Chicago, but see, Moksha plays this fun little trick when they create a promotional video for each teacher. That way, a student gets a little taste...

Brilliant concept. I swear, five seconds into Marcelyn's video, I was caught: I wanted to take her class. I felt that it was the right one for me. It was called "tantric vinyasa".

I fell in love in tadasana. We lifted up onto the balls of our feet, with our gaze down and in front of us, and that began a practice so creative and flowing it vibrated so on the inside as well. Moksha keeps the room warm in the midst of chilly Chicago, a haven that softens your muscles quickly. I started thinking about all the different things I wanted to do, all these ideas rushed into my practice, all these various ways I could go...

This is what I loved about my practice to begin with, before I learned about alignment, before I learned to stay present even (and I don't mean to imply in any way that I wasn't present that class, I was absurdly, emotionally vulnerably present). At first, it was about that magical flow my mind was caught in, the twisting of my negative chitta vritti into optimistic enchantments.

I felt so safe that class.

I felt I could have been anyone, or more importantly, no one at all, and I would have been accepted. It was such a safe space. It was so safe I felt my heart space opening up into its tenderest depths, I started crying just out of the magic of sheer presence, of the wonder of really feeling. [Sometimes, I get like this in my yoga. It's the most powerful practice I've ever discovered, and I really mean that.]

Marcelyn reminded me of what a yoga teacher can be, the kind of magic that he or she can inspire.

We did crow. Anjaneyasana. I don't remember the details, I remember being misty eyed and four years old. There was a point where we formed a mudra where we touched our thumbs and fingers as if we were about to pick up a sheet of paper. A better metaphor, is as if you wanted to make a shadow puppet. And with snakeline movements, we waved our arms up and down in a dance of gratitude.

Marcelyn, thank you so much. Thank you for showing me a class that was so fun and inspiration, also mindful, well-aligned, sequenced and safe. With love, M.