Here I am, one month after discovering Honest Yoga and attending classes everyday. I was committed to healing my arm/shoulder and improve my posture and breathing. I needed to make this a priority in my life and not offer excuses anymore. What was happening was that I was committing myself to Yoga. Committing myself to myself. As a Massage Therapist, I have provided care to many clients over the years, often, forgetting about myself. I mean, who wants a burned out Massage Therapist in pain? So, I made the commitment to do this for myself, my clients and my work that I love, to be able to provide massage for years to come. I was finally feeling better after all the different therapies and exercises, Yoga seemed to be putting it all together.
Over the years, if you have been a client of mine, you might have listened to me recommend yoga at least once a week "for stretching." What I'm learning is that Yoga is much much more than "stretching" your muscles. I am experiencing a greater sense of focus, calm and less reactive to things. I'm also learning that it really does take a good teacher to bring you to that place of deep healing, inner awareness and stillness.
As I mentioned in the beginning of this blog, my love affair with yoga began in the year 2000. I encountered some great teachers at Dharma Yoga in NYC and often found myself thinking back to that space, the teachers, the style and also Dharma. I never actually attended a class with Dharma when I was living in NYC because he mostly taught the "master" class and I heard the people who went to that class were mostly yoga teachers. However, I still remember him saying to me "Come in and try for yourself" and remember waiting for the beginners class to start one day seeing him interact with students and he was a very humble guy. Unlike some well known yoga teachers who seem to function from Ego. Dharma seemed to be the "real deal." The yoga at Dharma Yoga is classical Hatha Yoga with breathing techniques, asanas, chanting, discussion of yogic lifestyle and often the harmonium was played. I found myself still wanting to do a Yoga Teacher training, it just seemed to be calling me. I was now feeling more confident that with more practice, I may in fact, be ready for Dharma 200Hr YTT in February, 2016.
I continued going to Honest Yoga regularly and in the midst of my thoughts of doing a training and where this was all leading me, how could I incorporate yoga into my existing clientele etc. I decided to just apply to Dharma Yoga. I had already written the essay for the application back in 2014, just never sent it. I was visiting a friend in Maine one weekend in November, and found myself revising the essay as I drank coffee in her living room. Before you know it, I had paid the application fee and emailed the required essay and documents. It took me all morning to remember "how" that just happened, it just seemed flow that way. I was nervous, excited, scared and not sure what was happening. Did I really just apply? after all these years? Maybe I was low on sugar, did I eat breakfast? All these thoughts were running through my head. Then, because we were close to the beach, I decided to go for a walk by the ocean. There is just something about the sound of waves that grounds me. I went to the beach, took a short walk and sat there for a bit, sun was shining, waves were crashing on the ground and it all felt just "right," everything felt perfect, even the decision to send that application!
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