Hello, All!

*Late April-Early May Schedule Changes below!*

Thank you for your dedication to the practice of yoga.

As you know, I attended the Iyengar Yoga National Conference in Dallas with Abhijata Iyengar (granddaughter of B.K.S. Iyengar) from April 11-18. It was a week of inspiration, perspiration, intention, clarity, focus, and community. These practitioners are fierce, in both their practice and their dedication to Iyengar Yoga. Abhijata shared many anecdotes of her relationship and learning from Guruji (as her grandfather is known).

Many of her words touched me. Here are a few….
“Asana is a situation.”
“Guruji taught me to look for meaning in everything I do.”
“Can intellect remove fear?”
“As my grandfather said, we cannot know where the body ends and the mind begins. We cannot know where the mind ends and consciousness begins.”

We committed to every asana, every situation, working on putting awareness in our hips, shoulders, skin, tailbones, and observing how our breath touched, or didn’t touch, various parts of ourselves. One day, we jumped from pose to pose–Ardvha Hastasana in Tadasana to Uttanasana to Adho Mukha Svanasana to Uttanasana to Adho Mukha Svanasana, to Trikonasana, back to Adho Mukha Svanasana to Parsvakonasana, back to Adho Mukha Svansasana to Ardha Chandrasana…we had no idea we were capable of such joy and movement in an Iyengar class. “Do not get caught up in the alignment instructions all the time; move!” she said. Pranayama (breathing practices) are deceptively simple; when emerging from the practice, I was often moved to tears by the depth of the effects. Savasana is usually short in Iyengar Yoga, but it was not always so, leaving time for the effects of the practice to be absorbed.

We were treated to first US screening of a new documentary about BKS Iyengar – “Iyengar: The Man, Yoga, and the Student’s Journey” on the last night of the conference. It was an eye-opening and moving tribute.

I’m delighted to have been accompanied by a great crew from Salt Lake City and Tokyo
(photo below): Jay Jones, who practices and was certified in Iyengar Yoga; Anne Doubek, who practices Iyengar Yoga, and will sub my class on May 3; Dominica Serigano, my yoga mentor and close friend, and director of SHIZEN Yoga Studio in Tokyo (my yoga hOMe since 2004). Thanks to all of you for joining me in this amazing opportunity for learning!

If you’d like to experience more of what I experienced, please join me for class this week, or after May 6…because I have two more trips to take, from April 29-May 5. I will first visit my beautiful mom, to celebrate her 80th birthday. Then, I will be teaching at the Inbody Yoga Academy Mindfulness and Yoga Retreat. (If you’re interested in joining the retreat, please reach out to me ASAP.)

Thank you for your understanding. I am grateful to work with each and every one of you.

Please be advised of the following changes to the weekly class schedule:

• Friday, April 26: NO CLASS (9:15am at Mindful Yoga Collective)
• Monday, April 29: Charlotte Bell will SUB 9:15am class at Mindful Yoga Collective
• Tuesday, April 30: NO CLASS (6-7:15pm at Inbody Yoga Academy)
• Wednesday, May 1: NO CLASS (9:15am at Mindful Yoga Collective)
• Thursday, May 2: NO CLASS (10am at Inbody Yoga Academy)
• Friday, May 3: Anne Doubek will SUB at 9:15am at Mindful Yoga Collective

Classes resume as usual from Monday, May 6! I look forward to seeing you!

Weekly class schedule is always posted here! 

From left: Jay Jones, Anne Doubek, Dominica Serigano, Dana Levy….and Mr. Iyengar!