Switching Coasts.

New Coast. (West once)

So, a few notes from the last one (East one)...

-Saying goodbye to Ryan was the saddest moment. I really, really, really hope he'll continue his yoga practice- and I'll hold him accountable for a while. Knowing how pure his heart is and how honest he is, I know that if he says he will, he will. But I've never had such a profound relationship with a student before- being so young and new myself, it was a mindblowing honor to be able to make a difference in someone's life like that. To watch someone's eyes lit up, and their posture change over time. Man.

-On my way from Massachusetts to NYC to say goodbye-for-now, I had a spontaneous 3 AM circle-chakra-class in Westchester. Best Class Ever. I used the sequencing from the Chakra Namaskar to create a practice that was appropriate for the time frame, and my fellow yogi Pat followed it up with Pranayama. Thank you, Fifth Nation. Practicing with you guys is incredible.

It made me think about how influenced I was from my Chakra Namaskar training earlier. What's interesting is that at the time I saw it as mythology. Ok, this makes sense, this an interesting system, it's a fun practice. Cool.

But it didn't sink in till later. It wasn't until later- weeks later- that I started using the chakras as alchemy, I started thinking in terms of elements. I would suddenly say sentences as "I need to incorporate more space, and a bit more flowing into this moment," or "it seems that you have a lot of fire happening right now, you may need to balance it with some heart openers so that energy is going in the right direction...". Hmm, I wonder where those came from.

And then my practice...complete shift. Every practice became some version of kundalini awakening, some version of chakra namaskar. I started toying with this after Jacqui's class, but now even more so, there was so much more intentionality in my sequencing. I had all these absurdly useful tools in my toolbox, and they worked. These chakras, although not physically present as "wheels" in the body, allowed me to map out the territory so I can change it....add more grounding, more flowing, more expression....

"....important characteristics of maps should be noted. A map is not the territory it represents, but, if correct, it has a similar structure to the territory, which account for its usefulness...."
A. Korzybski, Science & Sanity, 4th Ed., 1958, p.58-60.