Practicing Air
We can’t always see it.
Hello my love,
How are you? Thank you for coming to Practice* today.
I'm doing well. Lots of exciting and surprising changes are happening in my life right now. Some doors closing and others opening.
As you may know, I've been offering outdoor yoga practices in my area this summer. I've met some sweet new folks and have enjoyed many mornings gazing at the reflective waters of Lake Paran. For the past several weeks, I've offered practices at the lake moving through the themes of the five elements: water, earth, fire, air and ether. This past week, I’d planned to focus on the element of air, but nobody came to class.
I had imagined offering invigorating pranayama and sweeping transitions between postures; instead, on Tuesday, I practiced alone on the dock in the early morning haze. The sun was a bright white portal behind an indistinguishable sky. A heron (I think) plunged into the water, diving for breakfast. I thought about what it would've meant to offer breath-work outdoors in the transcontinental wildfire pollution – I was glad no one came.
On Thursday, Yanyi and I arrived to find a fine mist hovering over the glassy surface of the lake. The heron swept out of the reeds and posed in the shallows. We watched it for a long time and it flew away when I got close. We left without practicing that morning. We were both tired and grateful that no one came.
Today was the first day this week that I've had the time to practice at my leisure, or the first day that I've felt like I had the time to practice at my leisure (those two aren't always the same thing). That meant I could offer myself a whole hour of practicing with Kallie Schut on YouTube. The practice I selected was uploaded yesterday and she offered a space to work with today's Full Moon in Aquarius. Aquarius is an air sign - the entire practice was focused on the element of air.
I've had this experience with Kallie's, and other teacher's, practices before. It's one of those things that cements me to a deep love and appreciation for the practice of yoga. Someway, somehow, a person across the ocean who I've never spoken to is channeling a practice that feels in perfect harmony with what I was seeking at that very moment. It is the closest thing I've ever experienced to magic.
We cultivated deep, expansive breath and challenging, energizing movement. It turned out that the type of practice that I had imagined offering was the practice I needed someone else to offer me. And isn't that so often the case? It's something I notice myself moving through on an almost daily basis. There's an impulse in me to give away first. To offer anything I can to heal in others what I actually need to heal in myself.
Kallie's practice not only gave me the movement and breath I needed, it showed me how my empty class rosters were the perfect embodiment of the air element. To paraphrase a thought she articulates in this practice – "air moves and grows in all directions at once and they may not all be visible to you." My invisible students practiced air perfectly by not coming to practice and disbursing in their own directions.
A question for you to reflect on today, if you'd like – How has something not gone as planned recently and been exactly what you needed?
Moving Image by HK Goldstein: Hazy grey clouds are punctuated by a bright yellow-white orb. The water ripples across the sun’s reflection.
Where I’m Learning —
As I anticipated, I’m thigh high in yoga teacher training and so is my reading list —
I’m winding my way through Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda.
This month in training, we skimmed the surface of Ayurveda and along with the lessons I’m reading Ayurveda: The Science of Self Healing by Dr. Vasant Lad.
What I’m Offering —
EARLY BIRD YOGA — 7:30am Tues + Thurs — $10 — Outdoors, Lake Paran, North Bennington, VT
BLUEBERRIES + YOGA — 10am Sat July 31 + Sun Aug 22 — Suggested $10 — Outdoors, The Blueberry House, Bennington, VT.
TAROT READINGS — I offer in-person and virtual tarot readings on a pay-what-you-can scale of $25-$75. Quick-Reads are available for $5 per card.
PRIVATE YOGA — One-on-one yoga sessions with me are available on a pay-what-you-can scale of $75-$150. I will work with you to understand the needs of your body and develop a practice that will help you connect with your inner ecosystem.
NO TRANS* YOGA IN AUGUST! — Sasha and I have decided to take a little break in August and we’ll see folks in September!
Talk soon. Love you,
HK