Between Earth And Sky: Urban Mystics

Hip-hop artist MC Yogi says in Sept's Yoga Journal about his new CD, Pilgrimage, and his travels in India: "I climbed the mountain, and when I came back down, I wasn't the same person. I'd had this glimpse: that which is shining in me is shining in everything. And the idea of otherness started to dissolve."

Mystics, poets, sages and seekers throughout history have climbed their mountains and made their pilgrimages. MC Yogi climbed a physical mountain at Arunachala, but he's describing the same experience sung of by the romantic poets Whitman and Wordsworth and sought for by the ancient "rishis" in the Himalayan mountains.

Like him, we thousands of yogis climb our mountain every day, be it on our mat, bike, surfboard, slackline, city streets, office corridors. We make our pilgrimages, and if we are lucky, if we are blessed, if we do it with devotion, we get momentary glimpses when the idea of otherness "begins to dissolve."

We see this on the faces of the Olympic athletes, more in training and action than in the reaping of success. More in open-hearted support of their fellow teammates, and of competitors, than in the roar of the crowds.

So why do I note that? Because when I read Dean Potter, the famous "funambulist" that is line-walker, his poetry and imagery in his description of "floating" between the mountains, his sense of "soft-focus" in the landscape, feeling no void around him but instead the air as fluid atoms and molecules enfolding him in their dance together, I realize that adventurers are, in the physical-metaphysical realm, truly transcendentalists. And I am not the same coming down from Potter's mountain.

And I realize that, in my way, I try for all of us to feel that amazing enfoldment of the air, the mountains and the valleys in soft focus all around us, our floating suspended between earth and sky, whenever we breathe on our mats together. To dissolve the "otherness."

See you on your mat! On our mountain.

WALT WHITMAN POEM "SONG OF MYSELF"

August 25 Summer Restorative Bliss

I've scheduled a Summer Restorative bliss-out at Pure Yoga Eastside, to chill us out after the sultry July and August months and refresh and reboot us in readiness for moving into the fall season.

A comment this week from a new restorative student, Jennifer: "I've been trying to describe your restorative classes to my friend who has stress in her life and could really use you. I told her: 'it's like you're getting massage, therapy, and church - but it's better because it's all together.'" LOL - but yes - amen to that.

Restorative Yoga deeply accesses your own inner health resources, through simple, graceful yoga poses completely upheld by props. The use of gentle music, dim lighting, guided meditations, pure essential oils and aromatherapy lotions, plus my Thai massage touch and the nurturing touch of my assistant team will nourish your physical, mental, and spiritual being.

A great gift for yourself or a friend at our special summer season price, $10 below winter/spring prices. The charity to benefit will be Fresh Air Fund, sending lower-income children to experience the fresh outdoors. My restorative workshops always have a charity I donate to as an abundance and gratitude offering. I welcome your participation in joining me.

Appropriate for all levels, no Pure Yoga Studio membership required.

8/25 SUMMER RESTORATIVE

Sept. 28-30 Weekend Retreet

My student Ora Ramat owns a beautiful yoga studio in Bethel, New York, and has been coaxing me to come and lead a weekend retreat there. At last we have chosen the date in late September for a Redefining Balance yoga adventure weekend! There will be multiple styles of yoga classes, from Friday night Restorative/Yoga Nidra to Sunday morning Hiking Yoga. On Saturday we will have morning Vinyasa, and afternoon Slackline Yoga and AcroYoga.

No experience is required! It is a joyful and adventurous foray into finding our balance through different styles of practicing yoga that are both vigorous and relaxed, challenging and invigorating for mind and body, peaceful for the soul.

We will adapt the practices offered to the level of the student, whether you are adept at one discipline and newer at another, brand new to everything, or a pro at each!

See my website within the week for details and registration links! Spaces are limited and we offer $25 discount for friends that register together.

MARY'S WEBSITE

YogaFit Restorative Training in October

After several months' hiatus from traveling to MindBodyFitness Conferences with YogaFit, I am set to be on the road again to lead a four-day Restorative Teacher Training in Indianapolis on October 11-14. These are wonderfully nourishing weekends with YogaFit; the energy of the trainees and trainers at these conferences is healthy and rejuvenating. Two of my New York teacher trainees have taken trips to these conferences to do my Restorative trainings. If you are not a YogaFit teacher and have an interest in doing so, you should let me know so I can connect you with YogaFit to acquire the needed permissions.

YOGAFIT CONFERENCES

Summer/Fall Schedule

In addition to the August 28 Summer Restorative workshop and the September 28-30 Redefining Balance weekend, here are my summer classes weekly:

Pure Yoga New York Classes:
M-10:30 Slow Flow Meditation, East
T-12:30 Restorative, East
Th-11 YinYang, West
Th-5:30 Vinyasa 1/2, East
F-10:30AM Chakra Slow Flow, West
F-5:30 Restorative, East

Om Factory Flight School Union Square
M-5:30 Acrobatic Flying: Basics
M-7:15 July Jedi 1 Series: Great Wall Flow
and
M-7:15 August Jedi 1 Series: Buddha Flow 1

Om shanti! Peace.

MY ONLINE SCHEDULE

In This Issue:

Kula Lila Festival NYC 8/18-8/19

Yes, the East Coast at last, at the instigation of Om Factory, New York City home to AcroYoga, is inaugurating a weekend AcroYoga Festival this summer!

This first ever celebration of our Kula Lila, which means "family divine play," will take place August 18-19. Saturday will feature 3 sessions of classes taught by AcroYoga teachers from all over the East Coast, at all levels with many class options; all of the classes are paid on a donation basis, to welcome newcomers especially in this first year ever event.

Sunday will be an all-day community jam in Central Park followed by a therapeutics bodyworks decompression party at Om Factory.

This is a terrific introduction to the art form for those new to it, and a grand celebration for those already having dipped into it at any level! Keep your eye on the Om Factory website for the postings to go up imminently!

OM FACTORY NYC

Finding Center

My brother writes me from Menlo Park on the subject of Soul-o-logy, the harmony of all the parts of our lives into a single coherent tune with what we believe and hold true. That indeed is a great and noble task! Bandwidth Management is a term used by his pastor teaching this subject. Integration. Integrity. Finding your center.

What is my truth? Who am I? It is the same question I've asked all week in classes on Crown Chakra, with its connection to the Divine, to our Source. it affirms "I have the right to know" while acknowledging that the finding of that truth is a lifelong journey. It is itself the practice.

How can I make all parts of my life harmonize, be a single coherent tune? I can be mindful, thoughtful, prayerful, in what I do. I can keep my eye on the "drishti" the far goal. What is it for me, any given day or moment? Am I still on it?

What is essential to that walk, and what is non-essential? What lets me still myself enough to find my center of gravity? These are the physical questions I ask my body on the mat, on the slackline, or on the acrobatic architecture of partner work. They are also questions I can take onto the line or the mat in life. And that, again, is itself the practice.

MENLO PARK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Figure 4 At Pure Yoga

And Synchronocity ... everything comes together. Everything good helps everything else get better.

Finally I took a Figure 4 class, so raved about by students at both Pure Yoga East and West! This dance inspired conditioning barre class that uses the barres, floor, weights, and mats, is no joke. It targets specific muscle groups and then works every possible angle of each, and just when you think you're done there's a new variation.

You get a great workout, and you distinctly feel your muscles groups, and get a very clear diagnostic on which ones you have been missing, which is a delicious gift and a powerful tool to receive! I've felt serious improvements in my slackline balancing transitions since Lindsey conditioned the hell out of my inner thighs in her Pure East Figure 4 class! Thanks Lindsey!

PURE YOGA NEW YORK

Wholesale Props

I believe everyone needs certain yoga props at home and they include the basic restorative props: a bolster, an eye pillow, blankets. I always mention these online wholesale suppliers on my Restorative Teacher Trainings, but I include them here this month for your shopping pleasure. There are different shapes and sizes of yoga bolsters, so be sure to consider your needs and even measure the ones you like using at your studios, so you order the right ones for you.

www.yogadirect.com
www.yogaaccessories.com

YOGA DIRECT

Photo Thanks; Forward; Reply; Privacy

Many thanks for being my cyber sangha. Please feel free to Forward or to Reply or to Unsubscribe, at any time. I do not share email lists and I honor your email privacy at all times.

Thank you this issue for photos to: Mikey Schaefer and National Geographic for Dean Potter's photo highlining at Cathedral Peak, Yosemite, CA; The Alpinist Magazine for lower right Dean Potter photo; Fitness Magazine for Triple Wheel with Becca Krauss, Chris Loebsack and me; Sam Salwei for my graduation certificate pic over pool; Emily Ginsburg in sunset pigeon on paddleboard; Rob Matzkin, Emily Ginsburg, Chris Loebsack, Brian David, Stephanie Maceiras in paddleboard pyramid; Metta Murdaya, base, and Brelli, top, for parasal hangle-dangle; Ora Ramat for Wagging Tail Studio buddha; YogaFit for Restorative training photo.