We want to hear of the positive encounters you have had with others, and yourself and the challenges you have faced on, and off your mat.
You have heard a lot from the teachers, our thoughts, our challenges - but we need you. Your journey only adds to ours.
It's easy to comment below - if you have any trouble, please email us right away.
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My random thoughts and comments to your inquiry.
ReplyDeleteThe sandwich was an awesome workshop, I left feeling both energized and relaxed. The meditation and breathing brought the practice to an entirely new level. For me change really started occurring on Thursday when I took Erin's class followed by Casey's restorative. I can't say i felt any differently that evening but I woke Friday morning feeling energy pulsing thru my body. Friday was a personally very stressful day yet I was able to handle the stress with a calmness and a clarity, I attribute part of this to my practice.
Friday night I practiced yoga at another studio, a friend of a friend is a yoga teacher, while the class was fun and had some degree of difficulty, it was definitely not Saraswati, but the instructor said something, so simple yet so very meaning full. "Yoga without breathing is just exercise" and I got it, that statement really simplified how important and integral breathing is to the core any of yoga practice.
I found myself recently in a conversation with someone about what is enlightenment and what does it mean to achieve enlightenment and does anyone really reach that apex. does it really matter or is it merely the journey that moves to a higher plain, the next level that matters.
Today was such a beautiful day, sunny, warm and bright. A treasure of day, after Donna's lovely practice this morning and breakfast at Fat Cat my friend and I took our dogs to compo beach and while sitting at the beach enjoying the wonders of the day we wrote the following:
Haiku developed at the beach while feeling the warm sun and the light breeze, looking at the sun's rays reflecting on the water and listening to the gentle surf:
Sensual pleasures
Caressing the body and soul
Waves of ecstasy
I look forward to hearing more stories of what the Promiseland experience has been like for others. For me personally, I have refound my home practice. If the Promiseland wasn't happening right now, I don't know if I would be as disciplined to roll out my mat. Some days it's been just 5 minutes in Uptavista Konasana and others a 30 minute practice.
ReplyDeleteOne student shared a story with me after class about her dedication to her daily practice during this time. She was traveling for business and took the time to practice on the beach. She said it was amazing and admitted that she probably would not have done it if it wasn't for the Promiseland!
I was running late to Donna's Asana Sandwich workshop, annoyed at my children who I believed were the cause of delay, though upon reflection, were just as caught up in life as I was on that day. I crossed Wall Street, shoving the boys through the door at Fat Cat where they were to meet my father who was taking them for the night. Did I even say good-bye? I ran upstairs, out of breath, entering the Joint in a bit of a frenzy, the kind of entrance you feel you need to explain to anyone who will listen ("traffic" "last minute phone call" "sports running late," etc etc.) because how can you not comment on such an entry? The irony of my state of mind at that moment juxtaposed with the state of mind I knew I would achieve on my mat did not escape me. But it did not stop me or slow me down either.
ReplyDeleteOthers have written about the need to slow down in this blog and I would join them in molding this goal into a promise to myself: I promise to try to bring with me the joy and peace I feel in my practice to my every day life, to take a breath when life speeds up, to shut my eyes so I can see what is important and gain perspective. It is for me a promise both obvious and impossible, evidenced by the fact that ever since I discovered my yoga mat I have been mulling over this exact conundrum of how to live my practice, without ever really figuring out how to do it consistently. The impossibility of this promise is not a deal breaker, however. These are goals I will affirm and reaffirm long after the Promiseland has ended; centering and comforting, they are the refrain of my busy life.
Below is an email the Joint received from Andrea Stimmel.
ReplyDeleteI am sore and tired and addicted to my practice. Tracy's workshop transformed my practice, I pushed through to a whole new level of thought and physicality. I have so many thoughts about the Promiseland, but I am still too shy to share them on the blog. All I can say is thank you for the encouragement--it has meant so much. I am working my way up to taking an open class- courage and strength. Thank you--with so much appreciation and promise.
Andrea Stimmel