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Namaste and welcome to the February edition of our Conference Connection.
Thank you to everyone who attended the recent sold-out San Francisco Conference.
And thank you for making it such a community experience with your generous donations. This conference marks the most money we've raised for charities — over $14,000 for YouthAIDS and Power to the Peaceful and $1,600 for Trees for the Future.
As you know, sound is an integral part of yoga. If you were there, you certainly know how The San Francisco Conference was linked to music.
Michael Franti's music filtered through the Hyatt filling the hotel with a captivating energy.
As our special feature this month, another musician yogi, David Wilcox, who performed at our 2007 Estes Park YouthAIDS benefit concert, shares the path that led him to his guitar and what makes a life worth singing about.
Also this month, Dayna Macy reflects why, after 20 years, she and her husband don't celebrate Valentine's Day but how they still celebrate their love.
Namaste,
The Yoga Journal Conference Team
Elana Maggal, Conference Director
Renee LaRose, Senior Conference Manager
Heidi Hill, Conference Marketing Manager
Alden Conant, Conference Coordinator
Sara Mesing, Conference Marketing Coordinator
2008 Boston Conference
Sheraton Boston
May 16 – 19, 2008
Registration is in full swing for the Boston Conference.
Take a class with Seane Corn, Shiva Rea, Patricia Walden, Rodney Yee and many other master instructors. Bring your kids for family yoga. Enjoy a walking meditation. Rock out during the benefit concert with Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls.
Cruise the Yoga Marketplace for the latest yoga products, stylish yoga wear, CDs, DVDs, books and more.
Opening the Conference this year, designer Donna Karan, will give a keynote address on how she became an advocate for well-being through her Urban Zen Initiative (www.urbanzen.org).
The Yoga as Medicine all-day intensives will kick off with remarks by Yoga Journal’s medical editor, Timothy McCall, M.D. and Dr. Bijoy Khanderia, Mayo Clinic cardiologist and lifelong yogi, will discuss how to blend traditional and alternative approaches to health.
Matthew Sanford, an Iyengar-style yoga teacher who is paralyzed from the chest down, will also speak on integrating a mind-body approach to health care.
New this year! Earn Continuing Education credits in Psychology and Social Work in an all-day intensive on The Lymphatic Web: Revitalizing the Immune System and Emotional Body.
Approved by the American Psychological Association and the National Association of Social Workers.
Click here for more details.
Click here or call 800.561.9398 to register and for more information.
Estes Park 2008
September 21-28, 2008
Registration will open in April for our 13th Annual Colorado Conference. This year we are excited to announce a 3-day Anusara Gathering with John Friend and other senior Anusara teachers, September 21-24, 2008.
by Dayna Macy
My husband Scott and I do not celebrate Valentine's Day. Do we sound like curmudgeons? After almost 20 years together, has our love flown the coop? Is romance kaput?
I don't think so. We don't celebrate Valentine's Day because we both bristle at the idea of a retail driven holiday created in order to sell stuff like chocolate, flowers, jewelry, and perfume. Instead, Scott surprises me with flowers and sundries when I least expect it, and his unexpected thoughtfulness fills me with warmth and good will.
There's nothing wrong, of course, with celebrating Valentine's Day (I'm not that much of a curmudgeon!). It can be fun, silly or sexy (or all three) and can reward us in delicious ways (like a fine meal topped with a great piece of chocolate cake). But love is bigger than that.
There are many ways to love. My yoga teacher Ana helps me kick into handstand and teaches me a lesson in self-kindness I am unlikely to forget. This is love, from a teacher to a student, and returned in kind.
My friend Rebecca, one of the best cooks I know, recently made me an insanely great chickpea and spinach soup, because she knows I go nuts with happiness when I eat this dish. This is love.
On a family trip to Lanai, one of the Hawaiian Islands, I watch with joy as my twin sons try to ride the ocean's gentle waves, laughing as they tumble in the salt water. This is love.
Scott wakes me and the boys before sunrise to take us on a hike to nearby cliffs to see Maui, a neighboring island. We do, and the winding volcanic path leads us to one of the most beautiful vistas I've ever seen. This is love (albeit a sleep-deprived sort).
As I stand on the cliff and look out over the ocean, I wonder what remarkable force could have formed such a beautiful world. I feel love (and awe).
On the same hike, we see a cairn on top of a nearby island barricaded by cliffs. Legend has it that a young fisherman lost his wife in a tidal wave, then climbed up this seemingly unreachable cliff, buried her, and jumped hundreds of feet to his death. This is love (though of a tragic kind).
When I meet my extended family for dinner that evening, I watch as my aging father-in-law enters the restaurant in a wheelchair. He seems tired, and I feel moved by his increasing fragility, and his never-ending kindness to our family. This, too, is love.
Forms of love may differ, but they are all part of a bigger love. Big Love, with a capital "L," moves us from the center of our universe and shows us we are part of a much larger wheel of life. Big Love softens our hearts and minds. Big Love moves through us, connecting us to some greater, unseen web that contains and connects us all. In this way, Big Love makes us more humble, and more human.
This Valentine's Day, make a toast to Big Love. Let it flow through you, to those you love, and on out to the world. My guess is that when you eat that chocolate, or smell those roses, they will be sweeter than you ever thought possible.
Dayna Macy, a writer and musician who can be found at www.daynamacy.com, is the Communications Director of Yoga Journal.
Editor's Note: David Wilcox performed to a sold-out audience at the 2007 Estes Park YouthAIDS Benefit Concert.
What makes a life worth singing about? Surely we all have different answers to that question. But the one provided by our standard consumer culture doesn't often make for very happy lives or good music.
Charting an independent course has allowed singer/songwriter David Wilcox to create a wealth of wonderful songs across his 13 previous albums. His recent full time travels with his family in an Airstream trailer from 2005 to 2007 lead to the early 2008 release of his next disc, entitled 'Airstream'. This simple and direct album was recorded in the trailer and inspired by his travels.
One of the recurring themes of the CD is: smaller house = bigger life. David's music speaks, often with wry wit, to matters of the heart, matters of faith and matters of life and relationship, encouraging all of us to ask for more - not in the consumer sense of 'more' but for better and deeper connections to the world and to those around us.
You can learn more about David and his music at: http://www.davidwilcox.com
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Upcoming Conferences
Boston 2008
Sheraton Boston
May 16-19, 2008
Registration Now Open
Save the Dates
Estes Park 2008
YMCA of the Rockies
September 21-28, 2008
Registration opens April
South Florida 2008
Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa
November 14-17, 2008
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