Thursday Night

Well, it's getting late for me after a pretty busy week. I did have the good fortune to get some bodywork this morning from the talented Kristina Rodriguez, one our recent TT and Immersion grads here in Austin, TX. This week she makes her way out to Arizona to do anatomy and therapeutics with Martin Kirk which is pretty exciting for a lot of reasons. One of the reasons I find her upcoming trip exciting (other than the obvious reason that Martin is a great teacher and she will learn a lot of awesome stuff from him) is that part of what I see my job around here as is training people to participate in the larger Anusara Yoga culture. As a teacher who introduces people to Anusara Yoga a lot and who takes people through the Immersion and Teacher Training process, a lot of what I see my job as is preparing people to be skilled, knowledgeable and contributing members of the kula beyond Austin. I have always felt it was my job to prepare my students to be John's students. So anyway, it's always fun when someone from Austin makes a foray beyond the city limits to see what they are really a part of.

Don't get me wrong-- I LOVE local community. I am very committed to it and that is why despite my intense travel schedule and being gone so much I have hung on to my local classes for as long as I have. It is so important to me to be part of a local group of people practicing and sharing the yoga journey together. But something often happens for people when they realize that other people in other places  are also talking about Shiva and Shakti and loops and spirals and so on. It is so grand to watch people realize that this "community" we are always talking about is actually a world-wide movement fully of creative, dynamic, amazing people. Seeing the big picture is always good for the smaller picture, I think.

Way back in the early days,  I used to pack my mini van full of my students from Prescott and we would drive down to Desiree Rumbaugh's studio in Phoenix and go to her classes all together. We would drive across the desert to study with John in Los Angeles, make trips to Albuquerque and up to the Utah mountains as well. I am actually pretty convinced that the reason we grew into such a tight community there with such commitment to each other and the method was that we all knew what we were doing in the remote mountains of Norther Arizona was part of a much bigger movement.

So anyway that was fun. After lunch I got a bunch of work done, met up with Gia briefly and then made my way up to The Castle for the event that Jeremiah organized to watch the Heart of Transformation documentary. We met first  for a group practice- led by Jeremiah, me and Mandy--and then Food for Fitness Cafe donated some awesome refreshments and then there was the screening. Kelly and I actually went home after the practice part of the evening. I had a lot to do to get ready for Noah's visit and my sore throat is threatening to return and since I have seen the film already, I figured my presence was best given to the practice and I could conserve my energy and head home early.

It was a nice turnout and a lovely energy at the event. There were lots of people there that I knew and some faces who have practicing Anusara Yoga in town in other studios who I have never met. So even locally, there is a bigger picture to get acquainted with.

On a personal note, I am looking forward to Noah Maze being in town and teaching a workshop with him again. We have a great time being together and teaching together is really delightful. I had a lot of fun this week but was also working with some pretty intense themes inside myself and I am really happy to have my friend and colleague here for the weekend.

All right, time to hit the hay. Its a big weekend after a big week and I am tired.