Archive for August, 2009
roller derby boot camp dropout
So y’all know that I love roller derby. And when my local league offered a 2-month boot camp to train new recruits, I signed up and then bought myself a second hand shiny white pair of quad skates. I was excited to finally live my fantasy of being a derby queen; I’d even picked out a name for myself (Buns N’ Roses, #108). Even though I haven’t worn roller skates since I was 12 years old, I figured I’d be able to pick it up again.
But oh, dudes, it’s way harder than I remembered. My skating attempts were a disaster. I spent most of the time on my butt, with everyone skating around me. It brought up awful memories of being the slowest, worst player in high school PE class. I also realized that I’m afraid of injury: bruises, sprains, broken bones are all potential roller derby hazards.
I just have to be honest with myself that I am not an athlete. I have lower back problems, weak ankles, and I hate pain. If there’s anything that I’ve learned from yoga, it’s how to listen to my body and respect my limitations. Last weekend, in Kelly McGonigal’s yoga class at Being Yoga, I received a very clear message from my body: “I am a princess, not a tomboy. Cover me in glitter, not bruises. I am not designed for speed and smashing. Dress me in lingerie and dance.” Continue Reading
So the conference has come to a close, and I’m feeling the shakti vibe and getting ready for one last session in the sauna. The past 48 hours have been very full and I’m still trying to process it all. So much for my “liveblogging” ~ seriously though, as if I had time for the internet what with yoga and food and the lake and the sauna. Also, left my camera at home! But before I forget, here are the highlights from the weekend…
Location Location Location: As they say in real estate, it’s all about location. And it definitely makes a difference to a yoga gathering, too. The Omega Institute is a beautiful facility with a delightful staff (though you gotta watch out for those little golf carts they drive around). It’s amazing to come out of a yoga practice and step into fresh air and tree-lined paths. I even saw a wild turkey while I waited for one session to start (it was the biggest turkey I’ve ever seen! I thought it was some kind of mini ostrich!).
An actual sense of community & connection: I think the location had a lot to do with this, as everyone let down their urban shield. We were also sleeping and eating in the same spaces, so I kept seeing the same smiling faces over and over again. I enjoyed some beautiful and inspiring conversations over tasty organic veggie meals in the Omega dining hall (and in the sauna, of course).
No exhibition marketplace: I especially noticed this because my previous yoga conference experience has been behind a booth in the exhibition hall, watching the consumer mania. There was less of a commercialized frenzy, and between and after workshops there was time to sit in the garden, watch the lake, lay on the grass. (And if you really needed to buy the latest celebrity teacher DVD, there was the beautiful Omega bookstore – which was admittedly packed the whole time.)
Yeah, so how were the sessions? They were small and intimate ~ even the biggest draws had 90 people max. The sessions took place in different buildings around the Omega campus, and all the buildings had hardwood floors and lots of windows. Again, this just really made the experience much more pleasant. The highlights for me were Amy Ippiloti’s inversion workshop (moving though fear, yeah!) and Kelly McGonigal’s yoga therapy class (she was really warm and compassionate, I love the way she uses language and I felt that I could take what I learned from her into my own teaching practice).
Omega's beautiful (but awkwardly named) Long Pond Lake.
Okay, so tomorrow morning I’m getting on a train and taking the long journey from Montréal to Rhinebeck, NY (it’ll be my first time in NY state! and my first train ride in America!) for the 2009 Being Yoga Conference Retreat at the Omega Institute. As I’ve noted before, this will be my first time at a yoga conference as a regular old participant ~ I’ve only previously attended conferences to hawk ascent magazines, and the experience was always a little weird.
This is pretty much the Yoga Establishment here, and most of the teachers are familiar names on the conference circuit: Shiva Rea, Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa, Rodney Yee and Colleen Saidman Yee, Aadil Palkhivala, Seane Corn, Tias Little, Sharon Salzberg, David Swenson, etc. What sets this apart from previous Omega conferences (and the behemoth Yoga Journal conferences) is the location: the 195-acre holistic retreat centre. There’s even a lake! And a sauna!
The official press release for the event states, “By moving the conference, which has been held for several years in large city hotel environments to their rural campus, Omega offers a new approach to large scale gatherings for yoga practitioners and teachers, one that can foster community and provide an inspiring space for learning.”
So these are my intentions for this conference:
- Learn some stuff about yoga!
- Avoid celebrity teachers and “big” names.
- Hang out in the sauna as much as possible.
You can expect live blogging coverage of the whole weekend (though not of the sauna, pervs). But I’m not going to be tweeting about it. And I don’t know how to work a video camera, so there’ll be no multimedia coverage. I will be going into this experience with my notebook and a critical lens. Is this kind of gathering the way of the future? How is this relevant? I’ve noticed a small wave of criticism of “conference culture” within the online yoga community, and I’ve also observed changes in how practitioners gather (such as this year’s Wanderlust Festival and the Yoga Festival Toronto, both of which are more eclectic or grassroots). So what exactly is it about conferences that garners criticism? I’ll just have to find out!
I’ll be missing the half-day intensives on Friday, but I’ll get to Omega just in time for dinner and the 8pm opening yoga session co-taught by all of the yoga faculty (it’ll be interesting to see how that turns out). While there is a lot more than just yoga going on this weekend (including dance, environmental activism and vegetarian cooking), I’ve signed up for straight-up yoga workshops. Because really, I’m more interested in yoga than anything else.
In an attempt to cover my wide range of yoga interests (scripture, yoga therapy, anatomy, Anusara and activism), here are the people I plan on taking workshops with:
Reverend Jaganath Carrera – kicking it old school with the wise bearded guru from the Integral Yoga tradition, and disciple of Swami Satchidananda.
Kelly McGonigal – my interests are turning towards yoga therapy and pain management, so I’m intrigued by her workshop, “Befriending the Body.” Kelly teaches yoga, meditation, and mind-body psychology at Stanford University and has a deep interest in the mind-body connection and psychology (I guess all yoga teachers do, but seriously check out her long dense bio).
Stephen Weiss – it’s a yoga anatomy workshop! I’m an anatomy nerd, and I’m particularly interested in this guy because he’s a holistic chiropractor. In my experience, I’ve seen a big schism between yogis and chiropractors. However, I’ve also experienced profound healing through chiropractic treatments. So I’m curious to see how this guy, the official Omega chiropractor, bridges these worlds.
Amy Ippiloti – I’ve been immersed in Anusara for the past couple of years, so I’m excited to study with a senior Anusara teacher.
Seane Corn – okay, so I’m breaking my celebrity teacher vow, but I have a lot of respect for this Jersey girl and I’m aligned with her vision of service-oriented yoga. Looking forward to concluding the conference with an upbeat vinyasa class and inspiring talk about saving the world.
Okay, gotta go finish packing. Hopefully next year, I’ll get a chance to attend this awesome yoga conference (courtesy of YogaDawg).
You’ve probably noticed that things look a little different around here… I’d like to bring your attention to the fantastic beautiful banner image, which is the work of Jonathan Himsworth. He’s better known for his Stadium Art Movement (soccer stadiums in dense urban settings), but he sure knows how to say “it’s all yoga, baby.” Yay!
Sweaty Sundays dance class: “It’s kind of an American Apparel ad come to life.”
I would love to take choreographer and performance artist Ryan Heffington’s Sunday morning dance class in Los Angeles’ Silver Lake neighbourhood, and sweat it out “to a soundtrack of indie rock, techno, and 1980s new wave hits.”
As you could gather from the above photo, participants “wear pink leg warmers, sparkly headbands and the type of tiny shorts not seen since Richard Simmons felt the burn in them in the 1980s.”
While the focus is on fitness, fun and creative expression, there is also a little bit of yoga in there, too. It’s not unusual for dancers to warm-up with “amped-up versions of yoga poses, interspersed with aerobic jumps.”
nytimes.com: A Los Angeles Dance Class With a Retro Dance Code [via Jezebel]
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