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Namaste and welcome to the October edition of Conference Connection.
Thanks to everybody who 'dropped back into nature' and made the Estes Park Conference a such a memorable experience! Over 1,700 yogis and yoginis came to the Rocky Mountains to relax, make new friends and, of course, practice with the world's best instructors.
In addition to the yoga classes and intensives, we're proud to have raised over $2,000 for the Breast Cancer Fund at the LUNAFEST Film Festival and over $5,000 for YouthAIDS through the benefit concert with David Wilcox, sponsored by breathe yoga.
Now with Estes Park behind us, all eyes are on the
San Francisco Conference. If you're planning on attending, don't forget the Early Bird discount ends Friday, November 16th.
As our special feature this month, Sharon Gannon and
David Life, the creators of Jivamukti yoga, share their enlightened journey of spiritual activism.
Also this month, Nora Isaacs' exclusive article, Finding the Middle Path, explores how her recent trip to Banff helped define the "off season" in her life.
Namaste,
The Yoga Journal Conference Team
Elana Maggal, Conference Director
Renee LaRose, Conference Manager
Heidi Hill, Conference Marketing Associate
Alden Conant, Conference Coordinator
Sara Mesing, Conference Marketing Coordinator
5th Annual San Francisco Conference
Hyatt Embarcadero
January 18-21, 2008
Registration is now open for our 5th annual San Francisco conference.
In addition to our celebrated Main Conference, we will offer a Beginners Conference, All-Day Intensives, Continuing Education for Teachers, Kids Yoga and a 2-Day Business of Yoga Workshop.
Plus, this year we've added all-day Yoga As Medicine Intensives.
Our highlight events this year include an opening keynote with Michael Franti and a Friday night YouthAIDS and Power to the Peaceful Benefit Concert with Michael Franti.
And for the fourth year, we are pleased to present Shiva Rea's Yoga Trance Dance with DJ Dragonfly on Saturday night. Kicking off the evening will be a Kirtan with Suzanne Sterling.
Click here to register and for more information.
by Nora Isaacs
I recently got back from a trip to the mountains near Banff, Canada. Snow kissed the tops of the mountains, the crisp air felt wildly invigorating, and I was relaxed and happy. There was sun and snow, a breeze and stillness. I couldn't imagine a more perfect time for a visit.
Yet everyone, visitors and locals alike, kept talking about how this was the "off-season." Apparently, this destination gets packed with skiers during the heart of winter and crowded with boaters and hikers in the summer. But during the "off" months like October and April, it resorts back to its tranquil, peaceful and sparsely populated roots.
I kept on turning over this phrase "off-season" in my mind. The silence, slow pace, and relaxed feeling of the place made it all the more enjoyable, even better than the height of the season, in my opinion. Sure, there wasn't much to do except go for walks, read and spend time with my family. But I appreciated it more than I would have at any other time.
We all have our proverbial "off-season." It could mean time away from our family, a slow period at work, the space between appointments and carpools, or just a time when we potentially don't have a lot going on.
What do you do with this time? Many of us operate in perpetual motion. We are stuck in productivity mode. We can't stop. And even when a quiet moment presents itself, we can't quite appreciate it. We are addicted to forward motion, doing instead of being; to the adrenaline rush we think makes us happy. We sometimes feel lazy, lost, or purposeless without it.
Then most of us get so overrun that we grow desperate for a vacation. When this finally happens, we throw ourselves on the couch, sick or exhausted, depleted from the amount of output.
But we can change. October is the perfect time for this, the "off-season" smack-dab between summer and the holidays, considered a relatively quiet and more introspective of the year. During this time, we can practice living a different way. Instead of simply filling the time and space, we could try to create a sense of balance, find our center before the momentum of the holidays get going, girding ourselves so that we can move through the upcoming few months with grace. We can remember that what we "do" is not who we are, so no matter how busy or productive, no matter how much praise or accomplishment we achieve, it doesn't really matter.
So why not try something new this month: Instead of chasing excitement and activity, quietly pursue rest and balance. Rather than planning, try resting. Notice when you are filling the time, when you look around you to fill a void, or feel uncomfortable with silence. Stay aware when you feel bored, empty, or obsessive. In your yoga practice, instead of striving for more advanced poses, take this time to go back to remembering why you started in the first place. Find the joy in the most basic of asanas, in your daily rituals, in coming back to the breath.
I like to think of the Buddhist Middle Way this season, where we aim for balance instead of extremes. "Not too tight, Not too loose," as the saying goes.
And most importantly, remember that you can still enjoy yourself during your "off-season." Just because you don't have a vacation day coming up, or a street festival to go to, or a school play or a holiday party doesn't mean you are lacking or not living a full life. When outer circumstances are steady, this creates the space to dig deep and calibrate your inner rhythm with your outer one. We all can learn to appreciate the off-season, seeing its beauty for what it is, and how it helps us live an authentic and connected life.
Nora Isaacs is a freelance magazine writer with a specialty in health, wellness, yoga and the author
of Women in Overdrive: Find Balance and Overcome Burnout at Any Age.
Editor's Note: Sharon Gannon and David Life will be at the upcoming San Francisco Conference.
Click here for more information: Sharon's classes | David's classes.
Sharon Gannon and David Life created the Jivamukti Yoga Method and have been teaching for 20 years. The first school was in NYC and now there are Jivamukti Yoga Centers in South Carolina, Toronto, Vancouver, London, Munich and NYC. They live in Woodstock, NY in a wild forest sanctuary with deer, black bears, birds, flowers, trees and seven cats.
The Jivamukti Yoga method came about quite organically. We never sat down with a business plan and decided, "We are going to create a method of yoga and open a yoga school and teach that method and write books about it and make DVDs." We were both activists and were devoted to challenging the norms of our present culture and we were trying to do that through art.
We were artists who practiced yoga, but over time our audience became more and more interested in our yoga practices and less interested in our music, poetry, dance or painting. We began to realize the potential inherent in yoga, to elevate consciousness and dismantle our present culture at this time of global shift on the planet.
We started teaching yoga by default. We just thought to share with the students who showed up at our door, everything that had personal meaning on our spiritual journey. Hence, the emphasis on compassion for all beings: animal rights, veganism, environmentalism, political activism, music, Sanskrit, scripture, personal meditation techniques and reflections, and the love of God we integrated into the way we taught.
Yoga was exciting to us because of its spiritual activism. Our teacher, Swami Nirmalananda, who we met in India in 1986, encouraged our activism. He taught us the mantra Lokah Samasta Sukhinoh Bhavantu. If the practice of yoga was not going to make us better people, able to contribute to the upliftment of the planet- then why do it? We discovered through our practices the incredible transformational power that yoga has which allows one's own innate compassion and kindness to manifest. Yoga teaches us that it isn't all about us. In fact, we as separate individuals don't exist apart from the whole.
We named our method Jivamukti because it was a name that would remind people when they said it- of the goal of yoga; which is to become enlightened while still living, so that you could relieve the suffering of others. The Sanskrit term Jivanmukta describes someone who wants to become enlightened in order to benefit others. We aspired to that, and that was how we wanted to live our lives, that is why we practiced yoga and so that is what we naturally shared with those who were interested.
We were not interested in becoming just two more consuming members of a culture which is based on exploiting others, primarily other animal nations, robbing them of wildness, enslaving them and using them without any regard for their happiness or wellbeing. We found in the Yogic scriptures and teachings of our teachers support for our passion to live harmoniously with the earth. Everyone wants to be happy, but few people seem to realize that you cannot be happy by causing unhappiness to others. Your 'own' happiness is dependent on your contribution to the happiness of others. In this way Yoga is quite radical as it challenges the very foundation of our present culture, where might is right.
Perhaps the popularity of yoga at this time has come about because we are in the midst of a global crisis caused by human beings. Yoga holds the potential to save the planet. Yoga teaches us, how to live harmoniously with the world, which means all other beings and things. We as a species have forgotten how to do that. Yoga is waking us up and reminding us how to live. When we rediscover our wildness the shackles of cultures will fall away and we will find ourselves in the land of freedom.
The practice of yoga can teach us something about the interconnectedness of all beings and things. The best way to uplift our own lives is to do all we can to uplift the lives of others. What each of us does, matters to the whole. Everything that we experience in life is a direct result of how we have treated others in our past. Kindness is the only action worth pursuing. Ahimsa is the foundation of the practice but asanas can help us to understand how and why to be kind to others.
Asanas should never be perceived as mere physical practices. Our bodies are made up of our past karmas. The practice of asana can purify one's karmas by revealing them. Our present reality arises from our past actions. How we have treated others and how we have treated ourselves, determine the present moment and propel us into the future. Asanas are potent tools, which can enable one to resolve their own karmas and reroute the future course of our own lives.
Many people ask if there is a future for yoga or is it just a passing trend. Yoga is eternal, it exists in the infinity of the present moment, there is no future for yoga, nor can it be imprisoned in the past. To be a yogi is to be free…absolutely wild…and completely at ease.
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breathe yoga
The more you shop the more you earn!
As we move toward the holiday season when shopping becomes inevitable, why not shop in one place and earn a few dollars to get a little something for yourself?
Check out our Frequent Shopper Program at http://shop.breatheyoga.com.
Plus, from now until December 31st, 2007 5% of all online sales go directly to The Cambodian Children’s Fund.
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LIVING SPIRIT CHANNEL
This is a time where we find our most profound truths and resolve our deepest fears.
We seek to connect how we are with what we intend in our highest potential.
We understand there are many viewpoints and we are able to fuse them into a paradigm of freedom for all. Do you know the myth?
Check out our videos, books, programs, music and social network.
LIVING. OUT. LOUD. WE NOW EMERGE.
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lululemon athletica is a yoga-inspired athletic apparel company that creates components for people to live longer, healthier and more fun lives.
By producing products that keep people active and stress free, lululemon believes that the world will be a better place.
Setting the bar in technical fabrics and functional designs, lululemon works with yogis and athletes in local communities for continuous research and product feedback. lululemon athletica was founded in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1998.
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Upcoming Conferences
San Francisco 2008
Hyatt Embarcadero
January 18-21, 2008
Registration Now Open
Save the Dates
Boston 2008
Sheraton Boston
May 16-19, 2008
Estes Park 2008
YMCA of the Rockies
September 21-28, 2008
South Florida 2008
Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa
November 14-17, 2008
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