All's Well In The World

precariously housed teen could skate like the wind after a yoga class

In a class I offer weekly at a drop in center for "precariously housed" (homeless) teens, a 17 year old guy had one comment to make after class:

"I feel like I could go out and skate like the wind."

Another guy had comments to offer through out the entire class.  He joked, he fell out of poses, he made off-hand comments.  During the yoga nidra, where awareness is guided through the body, he touched and moved each part as it was named, even though I repeatedly reminded the class to be as still as possible.  After the relaxation, we rolled up to sitting and I suggested they just sit and follow their breath.  Everyone was still, even this guy, for at least 5 minutes.  It was a very cool class.

An evening with Chuck and Maty

After nearly a week in La La Land, I have returned to make a blog entry...

Last weekend Chuck Miller and Maty Ezraty came to Chicago for a weekend of Ashtanga yoga.  This is a very popular style of yoga among the 20-somethings and is huge here in Chicago.  Chuck and Maty ran Yoga Works in L.A. for 18 years and trained some of the best teachers in the country including Sean Corne, Saul David Raye, Siva Rea and my man, Paul Weitz.  Paul studied, practiced and taught at Yoga Works for six years before moving to Chicago and considers Chuck and Maty to be great influences.  It was a pleasure for me, then, to meet and practice with them when they were here.

Both Chuck and Maty are incredibly open, kind and unassuming people with an impressive depth and breadth of knowledge in the realm of yoga.  This became stunningly apparent during a two-hour dinner conversation with Chuck.  We had the pleasure of dining out with them after the workshop at our favorite restaurant, Karen's Cooked.  I sat across from Chuck.  Tall and shaggy juxtaposed with a true graciousness, he reminded me of Stan, the guy I traveled with in Asia and Africa for 4 years.  Our conversation roamed from travels in India to Vedic philosophy (he was impressed I had studied Advaita*) to Vermont to living in Hawaii and all that grows there. 

They were both delighted to see Paul again, commenting that he was the reason they finally made it to Chicago and Maty cooed that Paul was her next rising star (before he up and moved to Chicago).  This is a very realistic statement as her students have gone on to make big ching posing in daring asanas for Nike ads and what not.   They were also delighted with his choice in partner.  They gave us lots of praise and encouragement for our relationship and invited us to visit in Hawaii anytime.  They are rarely there as they are now one year released of the Megalopolis that Yoga Works has become and are free to travel -off to Toronto now, then Italy. 

Since they live on the same Big Island as my sister and we do have a retreat planned there, I am sure we will see them again.  It was inspiring to meet them on many levels, as it is with any great teacher.  Chuck inspired me to get up a little earlier for my practice and study the sutras a little more in depth.  Maty inspired me to cultivate a deeper integrity and awareness in my poses and to follow my bliss with razor sharp focus.  They both inspired me to be at ease in a delicious relationship that encompasses all aspects of my life.

The end of the evening was all hugs and Alohas, until we meet again.

*Impress your next dinner date.  Advaita Vedanta is the philosophy of non-dualism.  Advaita is the non-dual part and Vedanta is the old, old Indian philosophy, found in the Upanishads.  One of the greatest teachers of Advaita was Shankaracharya.  This cat lived way back circa 7th-8th centuries A.D.  At dinner, Chuck commented that Shankaracharya's commentaries on the Upanishads were exquisitely poetic and could have 12 layers of meaning.  Paul said, "Like Bob Dylan."

Think about it.  The real, essential identity and nature of yourself, is really everything.  No me - you.  No good - bad.  No black - white.  This gets confusing pretty quickly when you consider that a three dimensional world, by its very nature is dualistic.  The philosophy proposes that we are living in such a state of illusion that we mistakenly perceive all these dualities, when the truth is All Is One.

I am chuckling as I attempt to smuggly sum up perhaps one of the most sophisticated, deep and ancient philosophies known to man but here goes...

We are all caught in this gerbil wheel/Habitrail thingy of birth and death, birth and death.  Those of us so inclined seek to break out of this cycle and attain liberation.   This bondage is a result of our ignorance of our true nature.  Liberation is simply realizing the truth of who we are.  We need not change our circumstances, we need only change our perception. 

Yoga classes in Chicago for children and families

Many people have been asking about the wheres and whens of the classes I offer around town and this seems as good a place as any to list them.

Tuesdays

4- 4:45pm ages 4-6 years old

4:50 - 5:35pm ages 7-10 years old

At Yogaview 2232 Clybourn Ave. www.yogaview.com

These classes will run through the first week in June.

Wednesdays

3-4 pm

Broadway Youth Center.
This is a drop in center for homeless teens, geared towards the GLTQB community.

Thursdays

4-6 pm

Edgewater Community Council's afterschool arts program. Ages 6 -12.

Friday May 19th and June 9th

Family yoga classes. 6:30pm -8pm. 1046 N. Sheridan Rd. Evanston. Geared towards everyone over age 5. These are lots of fun for everyone. okay...so are all the others.

Random Saturdays

I say random because due to my training schedule, many of my Saturdays are taken. When they are not, I am very happy teaching a 10:30am class at the Sivananda Center on 1246 Bryn Mawr Ave. This is for adults and is an accessible, relaxing style based on traditional yoga.

Just post back to me and I can give you more information or email me at mira@globalfamilyyoga.org.

Master teacher Rod Stryker in town for Tantra yoga

Yeowza. I have found my new Jerry. Instead of scribbling down the songs in a set, we are now intent on remembering the sequence of poses in a 2-3 hour yoga class, marveling at the genuis of one flowing into the other, just like the songs at a Grateful Dead concert. We walk away from these classes with the same high we got at Dead shows. Dispite what you may have heard, the high was a direct transmission of universal consciousness. Through the music, through the open hearted musicians sending it out through their instruments, through the grass on our bare feet and the stars in the open sky. This same feeling of elation, of connection and contentment is now cultivated in our practice of yoga.

When Paul, my man, turned to me during set break at the Phil (Lesh of the Grateful Dead~ for those of you who need coaching) and Friends show last Nov. and rattled off all the songs in the first set, my heart melted. Butterflies flew in my stomach at the realization that I was involved with a guy who not only cared which songs were played in what order, but knew the titles and thought to share them at the break. This same man now stands nexts to me in these tantra yoga classes where we exchange the same knowing glances, the same thrill.

Life is good.

I am so jazzed about Rod Stryker because, like Jerry (Garcia, ya know), he is streaming consciousness. This man draws on a tremendous amount of personal experience and shares it selflessly. He is also following the same lineage as me. His first teacher studied directly with Swami Sivananda himself and now he is fully into the Northern Himalayan tradition. Dig it.

www.sivananda.org

Paul and I have often times questioned the need for a master teacher present in our lives. We know this is the way of traditional yoga, but neither of us had really found one yet. We think we may have now. Paul and Rod both studied and taught at Yoga Works in LA so they have a long history. This was my first class with Rod.

There is a trip to India in January 2007. You will find me there. It will be like going on tour again.

In case you were wondering: Tantra is a system of inner and outer exploration. The literal meaning of the word "Tantra" is "system," and in a spiritual context Tantra is the system of philosophy and practices which puts together all possible means and resources to explore the inner and outer dimensions of life. Tantrics try to make the best use of all the means and resources available in our inner world as well as in the outer world. That is why they have incorporated the information available in Ayurveda, herbology, numerology, and astrology, into their practices, as well as visualization practices.
~directly from www.pureyoga.com.

Tantra, is translated as the yoga of everything. Described as a world view, its practice cultivates auspiciousness.

It has been very auspicious to be available to study with Rod Stryker every morning for three hours from Friday through Tuesday.