Day 4, The End...

I love to watch people move. I think it's fascinating to see where people are in their bodies...and where they are not. It amazes me how much one can tell about a person by observing their movements. It's probably one of the reasons I'm drawn to this profession. Part of the reason I find so much enjoyment in my work.

That being said, it would be interesting to see what people thought about my movement when I got out of my car in Iowa City 3 hours after departing from conference and took my first few steps as slowly as an 80 year old. OUCH! One should not do that much yoga and then sit in the car for 3 hours straight. Consider that my tip of the day for you all should you find yourself attending a weekend devoted to the practice of yoga!

I'm sorry to have missed the final session of conference yesterday, but I knew I had made the right decision when in my second session of the morning I spent the whole 2 hours wondering what time it was. My heart was no longer at conference. It was at home with my family...exactly where I wanted to be. Weather wise I could have stayed as the roads were clear and dry by the noon hour, but I don't know that I would have been able to taken in anymore information. My body and my brain were full! It was nice to make the drive home in the light and to arrive back in time to enjoy a couple hours with the family before bedtime rather than simply sneaking in to give goodnight kisses to my sleeping beauties.

I have 3 sessions to break down here to finish out my conference report. So let me get right on that task!

Saturday afternoon I spent 2 hours in Detox Flow with Seane Corn. If you ever have a chance to take a class with Seane, I highly recommend doing so. It's hard for me to explain exactly what draws me to Seane. She teaches beautifully, thoughtfully sequenced classes, but it's more than that. She's amazingly confident in who she is and where she is in her life. She doesn't hide, nor does she apologize for, the imperfections of her past. She draws upon her experiences to bring a truth and realness to her teachings. She embraces the mystical aspects of yoga that can often play second fiddle in our culture where the word yoga most often first brings to mind the physicality of asana. Her words make you take a look at your thoughts, your actions, the choices you make in your life in regards to your health and the health of the world around you. Last spring I attended a Yogini session with Seane at the Midwest Yoga Conference. An experience that proved to be amazingly emotional, yet also empowering. I'm happy to report this session was equally powerful, though thankfully didn't involve as many tears. Leaving a session with Seane makes me want to run out and do everything I can to make our world a better place in which to live...for EVERYONE. I could go on, but I think you get an idea of how I felt about my choice of sessions!

Saturday night I found myself driving back to the condo at which I was staying in freezing rain. While stressful, not near as stressful as the return drive to the resort Sunday morning in about 6 inches of heavy, wet snow. Don't get me wrong, it was beautiful and amazing, but not ideal driving conditions! I arrived at the resort just in time to slip into my first session of the day and settle before it got underway.

My first session of the morning was entitled Salutations to the Sun, Moon, and 5 Elements with Wade Imre Morissette. I knew nothing about Wade before taking this session, but I love the completeness and symbolism of Surya Namaskar. And salute we did! About 25 times. A far cry from 108, but plenty of challenge for this girl on the 4th morning of conference. In addition to the very familiar Surya Namaskar A and B (in the Astanga tradition) we did salutations that corresponded to the 5 elements (earth, fire, water, air, & ether), ending with a couple rounds of Chandra Namaskar (moon salutation). Additionally at the end of each salutation we stood in Tadasana to chant in unison a simple mantra while Wade accompanied us with his guitar. As someone who has never included chant in her practice, I found it both challenging and interesting to find the breath and concentration to not only move through the sequences, but also to sing! It was interesting to find that after some sequences I could easy join in the group chant, while at other times I had to just stop and re-find my breath while I listened to the group chant around me. It was a nice practice in devotion and I found myself thinking less about the physicality of the work and more about the flow of energy though my body which often resulted in finding ease in the work. It was nice.

One kinda downer, and I only bring this up because I think it's an important thing to think about as a teacher. Many of the instructors throughout the weekend used their cell phones as their clocks. Something I have done myself when I'm teaching in locations without a wall clock. Of course all the session rooms had NO CELL PHONE signs at the entrance and I'm happy to say that only once did I hear some one's cell phone quietly ringing in a bag at the back of the room. Anyway, Wade was using his cell phone as his clock and I didn't think much about it until towards the end of class when we were "resting" in a Down Dog and he commented that his wife had just sent a text to say good morning. Instantly my thoughts went from being present in the room, in my practice, with my breath, to my family 300 miles away. I'm sure that was not the intent of the comment, but something for us teachers to really think about in how our actions and words affect the mental focus of our students.

My second session Sunday morning, and my last session of conference, was with Marsha Wenig, founder of YogaKids. Admittedly by this time my spirit was already on it's way home and I found myself feeling a bit out of place in the session which was obviously intended for teachers. Not teachers of yoga, teachers of kids. I knew that might somewhat be the case when I picked this session, but decided to attend because we have YogaKids products in our home and I've used Marsha's program as a resource when I've prepared to teach our Let's Play Yoga classes at the studio. The session provided some good information for those hoping to introduce yoga in a school/classroom setting. While I enjoy sharing yoga with my own kids, and occasionally with a group of kids at the studio or a special event, and while I TOTALLY think introducing kids to the tools yoga has to offer early in life, doing so is not something I myself am passionate about in relationship to my own teaching offerings.

And so my Grand Geneva experience drew to a close. My final session, the one I choose to skip in order to get down the road to home was with Richard Freeman on Mula Bandha...a topic I've been exploring a lot recently. I was sad to miss the opportunity to sit and learn from Richard, but have faith that this will not be my only chance to do so. After all, this path is just that, a long and winding journey.

I'm also confident this will not be my last yoga conference. The teacher side of me is much more drawn to the all day intensives over the shorter 2 hour sessions that make up the main conference days. However, I also enjoy the chance just to be a student in the shorter sessions designed to be more practice, less talk. But 4 days was a bit much for me emotionally, physically, mentally. I think 1 day of intensives and 1 day of shorter sessions would be the perfect mix for me, and will take that into consideration when planning my attendance at future events. That may change as my life changes. In fact I'm certain it will.

I want to once again say thanks to all those who made my attendance at conference a reality. Thanks to the presenters who so thoughtfully shared their knowledge. Thanks to my fellow attendees for creating a wonderful sense of community throughout the weekend. And thank all of you who have followed my journey here on HDY. I do hope you'll continue to follow along with my yoga journey and share with the HDY community thoughts and comments about your own yogic path.


namaste