Yoga, Mojo and Chocolate

Yoga, Mojo and Chocolate....my three favorite things, combined in one workshop.....

I was helping out with a couple things, and I got to see the whole experience unfold.

There was about thirty woman at the workshop, and Sarah and Deborah at the front, with feathered boas and dressed in black and red.

We began with a feminine energy flow. Sarah talked about how feminine energy was the grounding energy, a downward flow. Which is why native american woman wore skirts, she said, to connect with that energy. We got super grounded, through our feet and through our hips. There was lots of malasana, and swirling hip circles. Getting in touch with liberating circular movement, a luxurious vinyasa.

One of my favorite moments was a combination of chair pose (bent legs) and cat/cow. Hands were on the thighs and spine undulated back and forth. Another fantastic moment was in warrior two- just the sheer emotional strenght of thirty concentrated women in that pose was overwhelming. There was lots of malasana, and of course, it was all centered around the breath.

We finished with a partner yoga childs pose/ savasanah that was so much fun, and super relaxing. It helped cultivate the environment of trust that nourished Deborah's talk. Then, we did a tantric exercise that was my favorite. We somehow got an entire room to synchronize their breathing, till everyone was one inhale, one exhale, the effect was tremendous harmony and power.

Then Deborah began to speak, and her talk was about getting in touch with what she described as feminine energy: attractive, magnetism, creativity and most importantly, sensuality. Sensuality, she said, is the practice of living through the senses, and it rests in a separate circle from sexuality. And sometimes those two circles come together, she says, and that is wonderful. But remember that they are separate. She talked about the intelligence and wisdom of connecting from the neck down, how there is all this intuition that makes women powerful, and how we need to remember to check in with it.

She taught us a technique that involved rubbing swadhisthana. Take your forefinger and middle finger together, and touch a spot two inches below your belly button. Then, moving counter-clockwise, draw a circle. This, she says, is a powerful technique to staying grounded in your body and sensuality.

I also was deeply impressed and inspired by the Love Body Wash (which I immediately recommended to my friends). Get in the shower, and start with your legs. Massage your legs "I LOVE these legs! They are so fanastic! Look how they get me from place to place! So wonderful....and my thighs...I LOVE my thighs...." And so on.

THEN: oh man, Erin from 2good2beraw.com showed up.

ROSE chocolate. SPICY chocolate. MINT chocolate and Coconut chocolate. all of it raw. Oh my god, it was so amazing! It was the most powerful mint and rose flavor explosion I could have ever imagined, and the spicy chocolate was so nourishing! Her chocolate is amazing. Truly, truly amazing. And it has a nice crisp taste, which is amazing since it's made with Agave, and melt in your mouth....ah...

Wow, we finished off class with a free flow movement while Sarah, Deborah and I went around and gave out pieces of chocolate. Chocolate and movement....pure bliss.

PS: Check out Sarah's personal pampering products.... and her way too cute grooming mirrors for the fun between yours legs http://peeka-bu.com/

PSS: Check out Erins website: I want a peppermint patty....

Humility: Openness with Sarah

Sarah Nehaman has incredible soul.

Last Sunday, I had the privilege of assisting a workshop with her, and right away, I was humbled. I like to pretend I'm a pretty open minded person. And I like it when that illusion is shattered by someone with a bigger heart, and a more noble mind.

Before the session began, a woman showed up at the door. I am ashamed to say that I did judge her: she had on an old t-shirt, she spoke loudly, she was worried about unemployment (like me, remember? yeah, just like me), and she had never taken yoga before. Maybe she would disrupt the mood, I thought with my reptilian brain. Most likely, I saw in her what scares me about myself, particularly her worries about finding work, fears I don't know how to cope with.

I suggested she come back for a beginner class. Sarah came to the door. "Come right in," she says, "don't worry, just come right in". It was her first class, she said. Sarah continued to invite her in, reminding her to take it slow.

And I saw that woman relax as the class proceeded, saw her have a kind, open heart towards the proceedings, saw her working through her concentration and taking in the empowerment that was happening.

I intend on remembering that.
And acting on it.