Lengths and Breaths

Just got of the phone with one of my yogis, we meet in Cranston during the Ana Forrest Advanced TT. It's amazing how the yoga community hooks you up with interesting people. I guess it happens in other communities as well but I have never feelt it as deep and real as in the yoga community!

He just started a blog, I read it this morning and spot on!
He puts my feelings into words - the way I put them into motion/asanas!
He is my poetic Guru!

Enjoy!!


"Ana Forrest stands in all her shit and, like a lotus flower, rises above it. The depth and darkness of her story frames the context in which the use of the word “shit” is appropriate. Against her story, that word carries sweetness in the images that she has passed through. Forrest Yoga is flavored in a way that’s more like my time studying theatre; sharing the commonality of feeling. Ana’s mantra is “mending the hoop of the people”. To heal we must surrender to the disease, and the discomfort would not be pretty, in fact the demons inside of us are dark. How do you make come to terms with your monster? By creating a safe space, and believing in its ability to heal its hoop. It’s not swatting the cockroach but surrendering to its quirkiness.

In the book, Dan Millman’s journey has him striving for an opening beyond the third chakra, into the heart. It is said that the journey from the third to the fourth chakra is the biggest leap any individual can take. The shift from manipurna to anahata is as huge as if you’re taking off on a long haul flight to JFK, it’s like flying. Or like in the movie The Matrix, where Neo had the ability to leap like superman, but still had parts of his identity to let go of before he was ready to feel the depth of his ability. That giant’s leap, that was the shift; that was my shift!!!

Ana’s hoop imagery is inspiring to me, so much that I recognized it in Leonard Cohen lyrics-

"Ring the Bell that still can ring, forget your perfect offering, there is a crack, a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in."

Healing is the ultimate acceptance of the monster, and the monster when looked at through the eyes of possibility, through the fourth chakra, Anahata, is the window to the light. The crack is nature finding an artery to shine the light in. Mending the hoop doesn’t need to look like a car with a brand new body, as it’s perfect already as it is, as a vehicle with a dent in the fender and a rope holding the door closed. In these creative moments we discover character, grit and authenticity. This is the seed of Freedom Yoga."

Won't be around a computer until Monday - But then I'll tell you all about my weekend adventures!

Thank you all Amazing YOGIS and YOGINIS for coming into my life. I carry so much love and grattitude towards you (and some of you might not even recognize yourselves as yogis yet - but YES I am talking to YOU;)

Jo