the language of yoga

Here I am at the local Starbuck's in Campbell River, listening to a man talk about his enlarged prostate. This really, really isn't by choice. Obviously along with all the other maladies and remedies he's sharing with his friend, hearing problems must be somewhere on that list. This is definitely one of those moments when I wish they would crank out the music deafeningly loud as it seems I have super hearing and his voice pierces through the hushed tones of the other customers.

Anyway, I'll try and focus on the task at hand.

I just came from the 5:30pm Level one and two yoga class led by Geri at Yoga Solace Studio. I went in with a migraine hovering around my head and body but have come out feeling energetic, revitalized and refreshed thanks to the class and a changing weather pattern.

How wonderful it is that I can go virtually anywhere and drop-in on a yoga class and instantly people are "speaking" my language. The different "dialects" that each place presents makes it all so interesting. I did poses in Geri's class that I've never come across in my 42 years of yoga practice. And, there in an Iyengar style class (note this is my comparison regarding "styles" of yoga, no where does she mention the Iyengar approach) was emphasis on bandhas and breathing that I've not come across in this style of yoga since I left Victoria in '86 (before the formally organized system of Iyengar yoga teacher training evolved).

Yoga room was to the right of the sign behind the raised parking lot
Cathedral is across the street

Just 2 Sundays ago I was in Victoria enjoying the yoga class offered at the Iyengar Yoga Centre of Victoria led by Ty Chandler and as serendipity would have it, the bells of Christ Church Cathedral pealed in the distance sporadically throughout the class and again at its conclusion.  The cathedral is situated just around the corner, directly across the street from what was then the Y's yoga room where I taught my first yoga class under the guidance of the Yoga Centre of Victoria teachers who had taken me under their wings.

Iyengar Yoga Centre of Victoria

I had the sheer joy of being in Shirley Daventry French's class the previous Thurs morning (the first time since 1986) amongst some of the same teachers and later shared lunch with yet more. A few days prior to this I took part in my good friend Marlene Miller's class at the Peninsula Yoga Centre in Sydney.

So many times during this trip I have had reason to declare "this was worth the trip"; these have been just a few of those moments.