Happy February 1st!
Today, I’m feeling joyous and alive for a multitude of reasons.
First, I’m writing as I sit looking out generous windows, past palm trees onto the greenery and mountains of sunny Nice, France. We’ve just landed in this new apartment and feel it’s a wonderful place to help us thrive in our new home of France.
Next, I’m riding a high from the 31-Day Meditation Challenge which I hosted and which just finished yesterday. It was a worthy challenge which cultivated a beautiful global community, all working on making the world a better place by making ourselves better people through the inimitable practice of getting quiet and looking inside. Whether or not you were a part of this challenge this time around, please consider joining us for the next one.
I’m also feeling very grateful because this Saturday, February 5th, I’ve been invited to offer a Yoga Nidra experience as part of an Open Class at an incredible studio called The Looking Glass Basel in Basel, Switzerland.
I’ll be sharing the bill with the regular teacher and studio owner, Kristen Watson Geering, who incorporates her copious years of yoga teaching experience to match the students’ needs of the moment and offer something that is both needed and appreciated.
This class happens every Saturday at 10 am CET and is offered both in-person and via Zoom. I’m very excited to be contributing to this class via Zoom with a unique Yoga Nidra experience that will reflect the namesake of the studio.
I adore the name of this studio. In my estimation, The Looking Glass refers to the practice of allowing yoga and meditation to be a mirror of your Truest Self. The sequel of Alice In Wonderland, is also called The Looking Glass, and is a psychedelic journey into the inner world of opposites which ultimately resolves into a greater understanding of Alice’s ultimate truth.
My hope is that the skillful poses led by Kristen and my addition of an extra-juicy savasana in the form of Yoga Nidra, will lead you on a beautiful inner journey (one hopefully less psychedelic than that of poor Alice) to reveal or refine your vision of the ultimate truth of who you are.
If you’re near Basel, Switzerland, please consider joining the in-person class. Otherwise, like me, perhaps you’ll join via Zoom from wherever you are in the world. Also, if you live near Basel, Switzerland, stay tuned for a live, in-person Yoga Nidra workshop, immersion, or training happening hopefully soon.
Also, keeping with the theme of Truth, specifically speaking your truth to stand up for what’s right, I’m feeling grateful today because my dear friend Nan Seymour, soulmate/cellmate (we are convinced that we must have done time together in a past life), is an incredible poet and is wielding the power of her pen, and YOURS, in a valiant effort to raise awareness about the dying of the Great Salt Lake. She’s building a collective poem called Irreplaceable, 1700 lines of verse reflecting the number of square miles the lake needs for full restoration. This composite poem is about this diminishing natural resource, and Nan encourages all who would like to, to add their own lines to this poem.
I have a deep personal connection to this Great lake and have written about in an more than a few blog posts, including this one. In an attempt to add my truth toward this subject, I offered a few humble lines myself, called The Arms Of The Great Mother. My friend, Alex Adams, is a gifted photographer and I was fortunate enough to be the subject of her lens at a photoshoot at the Great Salt Lake. One of her photos of me sitting at the lake graces my poem. Take a look at the poem and the pic here.
Regardless of whether or not you think of yourself as a poet or even a writer, consider adding your own lines to this growing poem and speaking your truth on behalf of this honorable cause and submitting them to Nan.
I hope this new month is catching you feeling alive, joyous, and present. I invite you to use the practices of yoga and meditation to inquire within and discover all the ways you might stretch into the best version of yourself. Furthermore, I encourage you to take small daily strides forward toward that end, knowing that we are all tied for first place and that somehow, we all get there in the end. We are all on our way to the top and we can’t get there without you!
Have a great week!