Last week I spent 5 days studying Anusara Yoga with John Friend in Cambridge, MA—a 3-day teacher’s intensive and two days of observing and practicing asana classes. I arrived in Boston admittedly depleted from several months of non-stop teaching, definitely needing to ‘receive’ teachings for my own benefit and restoration as well as to further advance in my understanding of the Anusara method to continue to be a good teacher to my students. The 36 hours of training were all that I was expecting and more. Being surrounded by 150-160 yoga students every day, practicing and learning the high arts of asana, pranayama, meditation, and philosophy- mat to mat under the guidance and watchful eye of a masterful teacher is the kind of stuff I live for. John Friend is truly wonderful. In the sea of students in front of him, from 30 feet away, he gave me a verbal adjustment cue of ¼” hand placement movement which opened up an easeful channel of breath and energy in my whole body and pose. This was just one of the many of his simply amazing gestures of guidance over the week. His presentation of the teachings of the Shiva Shakti Tantra was simultaneously playful and serious. The language of which is foreign to me, but the concepts universally and intuitively insightful. I feel lit up, ultimately balanced, and so excited about living life to the fullest!
I spent the week in Boston without an internet connection (that at first caused me panic, then became a liberating situation) practicing hours of asana everyday. My body/mind loves and needed that. I do not take for granted that it was SUCH a luxury. It has been a slow re-entry back into the routine of householder and small business owner. There is a lot of ‘catch-up’ and work to tend to. And I am figuring out how to take the teachings out of the Masonic Hall in ‘The People’s Republic of Cambridge’ (home of Harvard and MIT among other brainiac institutes) and into my Yoga Birds world in Fairhope, Alabama.
I have come away from the week with heightened awareness of what is meaningful in my life—love and relationships topping the list-- and how to cultivate more sensitivity in all of my friendships…at home, at work, and most importantly in myself. I reconnected with my BFF and look forward to practicing with more self-sensitivity, which will reflect in and support all of my actions off the mat. ‘Cuz that’s the way it’s always been with me and my friend, yoga.
