Happy 2010 Shanti-Town-ers!! Twwwweeeeeeeeeeee!! (that's the sound of me blowing one of those new year's noisemakers.)
What kind of cra-zay New Year's did this yogini have? Weeeeell, after a 10 hour cross-country flight, an amazing (and much deserved) Indian dinner, several glasses of wine and a rousing game of "Hamburger, Hotdog" (a little like the game "celebrity" but with less rules)...this little monkey was crawling into bed around 11:45pm and not feeling the least bit guilty about it. The moon was full and blue, and I slept soundly, KNOWING that 2010 is going to be par excellente. More on the special numerology of 2010 later...for now, some stories of my travels.
Many of you may know that I spent the Christmas holiday in New York. Beloved New York. I've not been back since we came out to LA in March and I had been longing for every little bit and bauble of the city--especially at Christmas. I don't think there's a better place on earth at Christmas time than New York, if you're a Christmas junkie like I am. AND, I will admit it, I was particularly excited to get to practice once again at my dearly missed Laughing Lotus. I was practically salivating with desire just thinking about getting in that elevator, walking down that hallway, and doing the strange dance required in the tiny coat room when trying to remove boots and hats and coats amongst all the other yog-sters, coming and going.
Ladies and gents, we flew a red-eye from LA to New York, slept in our precious bed for a few hours and by 5pm that day I was in that elevator on my way up to the warm, radiator-clanking joy of the Lotus.
Betsy was teaching, one of my favorite teachers there, and she greeted me with a warm hug and a quick update as to her goings on when I arrived. I was both excited and scared about the possibility of walking into the studio and either A. seeing a bunch of people I knew and having to tell my travel story over and over or B. not seeing many people I knew, but expecting to, and feeling like an embarrassed stranger in my old studio.
It was a bit closer to B, than A.
The girls at the front desk were new (and one of them was a little snarky, in that yoga front desk way), and for the most part I only recognized a few of the students there. But Betsy was teaching, the studio was buzzing and as soon as the music started and my body got to follow along I was in HEAVEN. I was lucky enough to practice next to a lovely guy (who looked a little like Baron Baptiste...bandana and all) who had a very deep, graceful practice, and after class we thanked each other for the good vibes that come from being neighbors with somebody who is lit up. (Lit up as in drunk on yoga...) And I was FLYING after class. I'm in New York! I'm at Laughing Lotus! I'm drinking post yoga hot chocolate from City Bakery with my baby...life is goooood.
Next class was with Ali, another of my very favorites, and she made my year (what was left of it) when she sidled up to me halfway through class, during some vigorous set of standing poses, and told me how good it was to see me. I could have planted the flag right then. That's it--I'm staying! Screw this career nonsense...I'm going to wear an entirely Lulu Lemon inspired wardrobe and stay Right Here.
After this class, also...flying. Soaring. And, also...something else. A bit.... Um. Vaguely...just a teensy weensy little bit...dissatisfied.
I had this fear that after so many months of intense alignment work of the kind I'd been doing in LA, that going back to the quick and rigorous flow practice at Laughing Lotus would sort of...kick my ass. I worried that I wouldn't have the mojo any more for the fast stuff and that I would prove myself to be weaker and less resilient in my practice than I was before I left. But the funny thing is, the opposite actually seemed to be true. The practice at Laughing Lotus was flying by and at the end I didn't feel winded or sweaty or even...done. And I felt myself longing for some more complicated standing poses...for deeper hip openers and handstands! Where were the handstands? Not that they don't do handstands at Laughing Lotus, they do...and not that the classes I was taking there weren't great...they were! Amazing! As always. Betsy and Ali are two of the best teachers I've ever taken from, and Laughing Lotus I still firmly believe is the best yoga studio in New York, but having been away made me see that something had changed...me.
Was I, gulp, missing my LA practice? Yes, I guess I was. But it was something bigger than that even...I began to realize, as I lept back into my former practice, that the work I have been doing at Still has made my practice infinitely better. I could feel it. I was stronger, I was better aligned, I was using my body and my breath more efficiently during practice and I was able to do so much more now, even in the faster more free-form version of the practice, than I could before I left.
And as my week in NYC progressed, every time I walked out of a class I found myself feeling very grateful to Still and my teachers there. I began to feel so blessed that I had found that studio so quickly upon arriving in LA. I felt so grateful for being welcomed into the studio as a whole...for the support and encouragement of all the teachers there, for Erika, the owner of the studio, who has let me dive into a work-study position there...and I realized that Still has become as much of a home to me in LA as Laughing Lotus has been in New York.
On our last day in Brooklyn, as we were starting to pack for the flight home, I began to fantasize about the quiet incense-scented air at Still, the long hallway to the studio in the back, about Hagar and Maria Christina and Tony and Tara and Gina and all the other teachers there whom I have come to love, the classes that start a little late and end a little late and go deep deep deep into silence...
And I could not wait to get back.
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