A Soul full Place - It's a Good Thing!

Years ago I practiced yoga everyday for 1 1/2 hours . I could bend here, bend there. Walk with feet over my shoulders, smile with my feet on my head ( I am exaggerating greatly). Today the simple lotus position hurts my knees, the tree pose requires absolute concentration and with my eyes closed an impossibility. The triangle pose wrenches my love handles tighter and the warrior pose a feeble disgrace. The years of life are hidden in every nook and cranny of my being.


Today I went to yoga and found during my savasana (Dead Man Pose) that I was getting emotional. Grateful for the moments I had this weekend and at the same time eliciting release from old dramas and traumas. Nothing specific but a lifting of a heaviness in my heart. Bend this knee here, place this foot there, point hand to the elephant wall, hips forward, stop gripping with your toes, reach to the sky and.... oh yeah CRY! I was stunned. I could not stop the tears from flowing down my face. Essentially, I had hit an emotional pain spot.

Where do you put all the pain that you avoid in life? You know, a friendship ends, your dog dies ( for me that is one in the same) a gallery rejection, love gone sour......... well I believe I know. It's in every cell of your being and when compressed and stretched you can finally say goodbye to it. It is illuminating and satisfying, not to mention extremely therapeutic.

I enjoy my yoga classes. I have two teachers Laura and Patrick. Laura joy in movement. Smiling even at 6:00 am. Patrick has clever grace. I am forever grateful for their light and thoughtfulness. It is the best time of the day, in that I only think about what I am doing in that moment. Along with the stretching, bending, pulling, there is the constant reminder to breath. It is a vacation from my mind. Away from the monkey mind that swings from thought to thought without a break for a banana or to scratch an itch. When I walk into class, usually harried being that it is early morning and I am not a morning person. I find that the studio holds an energy of acceptance and truthfulness. An intimacy you can't hide from. My teacher, healer and friend Patrick is the proprietor of this studio XO Yoga, and his presence brings another point of light to Chester. Intimacy is not only physical but also psychological and spiritual. It is to know and to ALLOW to be known. Don't get me wrong he is not an angel or infallible, he will admit often enough (although sometimes I do think so). However when I am in his studio I feel just a little more myself . I feel I am home. Not a house or a place but more in my heart. More soulful.

Now THAT'S a good thing !


The drawings were created right after class. I then I played with them on photoshop. They are not my usual expression but no one has ever said that I am predictable. I have new pastels and a new kind of paper that I have never used. Both are intriguing me at the moment. For those that want to know I got a set of pan pastels and some yupo paper. That paper is like silk. It is 100% Plolyprolene with a smooth finish that allow the pastels to glide like skates on ice..

Namaste!