Me outside the Yoga Tejas studio in the Tetons
I’m not sure how I can truly describe the past week in words. But….I’ll attempt. To say I have been journaling lately would be a bit of an understatement. Journaling as in writing with a pen in a notebook, not blogging/online journaling. Journaling has been something I have been working on for the month of July and last week provided a unique opportunity to delve deep.
My sister Robin and I have been planning for a couple of months to travel to Jackson Hole, Wyoming (a very cool mountain town bordering the Teton National Forest) for Level 1 (the first of 3 levels) in an Anusara yoga immersion course. We learned about this immersion from our favorite teacher on YogaToday.com, Neesha. If you haven’t tried Yoga Today, you really should. It is a bargain at only $10 a month for unlimited streaming classes and has really excellent content. I love it for home practice when I can’t get to a live yoga class. And I adore Neesha, who is such a positive force and has a way of talking me through poses that I didn’t think were possible (I have been known to tweet things like “Whoa, I just did a backbend for the first time in 10 years. Thanks @yogatoday!).
{No, I have not been compensated by Yoga Today for the above endorsement – I just really, really love Yoga Today!}
Robin had been learning about Anusara yoga, a relatively new form of yoga which emphasizes alignment in the body, connecting to the heart, life-affirming positivity, and a tight community. She had me interested. Plus, this was Neesha teaching the course (along with her fellow teacher Cate). And, the Tetons. Oh, the Tetons. Robin and I used to vacation every year at a ranch in the Tetons, so have a lot of nostalgia for the mountain country there. We haven’t been back in many years.
The 5 day immersion course was, in short, amazing. The days were long and very full. It wasn’t a retreat, it was an immersion. We became students in every sense of the word. We were pretty beat by the end of each day, but also invigorated. No, we did not do yoga for 7 hours each day. We did do yoga for 3-4 hours each day and had lecture and discussion for the rest of the day. Lecture on philosophy, intentions, the meaning of many sanskrit words, the iconography behind the dancing Shiva, anatomy. I loved how many of the women in the class wore jewelry while doing yoga. Dangling earrings? During yoga? Sure! Beauty is celebrated in anusara yoga. This was so not an athletic yoga immersion (though my muscles were screaming and Epson baths were in order because it WAS hard work….not being beautiful, of course, but getting to the proper alignment and hugging those muscles to the bone).
Yes, I bought earrings in Jackson. Pretty ones.
Robin and I sipped (gulped down?) green smoothies (I packed my blender!) and ate a few meals at Jackson’s The Lotus Cafe (my favorite salad sounds disgusting but is so yummy – a kale and avacado salad).
We made friends, took walks, wrote in our journals, talked, engaged the beginner’s mind. Our perspectives changed.
About a month ago, I have to admit that I had lost faith in people to some extent. Now things are so different. The world seems aligned again. The world seems good. I remembered a lot about who I am. Who I truly am. And I learned that….I have a lot more to learn.
Robin under Snow King ski hill and in front of Akasha Yoga studio in Jackson
Wildflowers in Jackson
Our favorite place to eat in Jackson - Lotus Cafe
