Highlights at Yoga Journal Conference

I had such a good time at the Yoga Journal conference after-parties. It’s been so nice to run into old friends and acquaintances these last two evenings. I remembered Omega’s “Being fearless” conference in NY back in ’05: how nice it was to meet authors I’ve read and have inspired me like Wayne Dyer in person, and run into familiar faces from all parts of my life. I had a similar feeling here. I volunteered with Michael Franti Friday night, then with one of my favorite Djs on Saturday night, DJ Dragonfly, whose monthly  party Groove Garden is usually a great time among the woods in Marin.

I arrived at the conference tired after being on my feet all day and with a bit of mental baggage. I was not quite feeling the kirtan, so I sat down for a bit to take a breath. I love the fact that the yoga community is growing, but sometimes it feels like it’s becoming so commercial. The “Yoga Marketplace” booths, “Shamanic cheerleaders,” and all the yoga celeb glamor with Byron Baptiste and Sean Corne can be a bit much. So I sat there a bit this evening, taking a bite of my friend the Chocolate Love Goddess‘ scrumptuous treats (a fellow Omegan and raw cacao alchemist) and waiting for things to get rollin’.

That’s when I saw my poet/yogi friend N’nahme walk past me and I joined him outside for a quick hello. He is one of many Omegans I got to see yesterday, among Tracy, Kaline, and Anthony – an amazing flower artist, who does the gardening and flower arrangements there every season. I hadn’t seen Tracy since sweaty dance parties way above campus in Hillhouse at Omega; she’s now an Iyengar teacher in the Pasadena area. Kaline said she’s heading to teach at the thai massage circus in Laos in February.

The best part of the night was running into Amanda, who I went to yoga teacher training with at It’s yoga in 2000. Not only did is she now married to our then-classmate Nick, but he is now yoga teacher-turned hip-hop star Mc Yogi, performing fun songs about Ganesh (“Ganesh is Fresh“) and Hanuman rappin’ to a hip hop beat. The two raised $13,000 for his upcoming album release titled “Elephant Power” with singers like Krishna Das through a benefit at their studio Yoga Toes in Point Reyes! It was so nice to see them. In fact, I may go to their 10 am class one of these Sundays.

————

As much as Shiva Rea‘s popularity’s grown, I don’t associate her with the commercialization of yoga. What’s she’s done blending yoga and dance is so unique. Watching her lead trance dance and getting lost in a huge, dimly lit room full of happy yogis and yoginis is a real treat. She has such strength and grace kicking her legs high into the air, then landing in a split. She’s so flexible and open, and yet so strong. I enjoyed meeting her again after our initial meeting back at Omega. I said I’d help again on the next Global Mala but Dragonfly would have to spin!

She led the crowd in doing breathing exercises, getting us to reach up for inhales extending our arms, then exhaling hard, and repeating it all over and over. It was so energizing, it helped clear my mood. Then Dragonfly began to get funkier and funkier and got us all to shake it up.

————

When I took a break, I connected with new folks. I met an interesting Argentinian guy living in Miami who does healing and thai massage and is now traveling through California, on to Hawaii. Then later I met a cute guy or two from OneTaste, a unique community that attempts to bring sexuality and spirituality together. This is for sure: only in San Francisco!

I’d been to OneTaste once with a friend. I was one of those who thought the place was really a cafe or healing center. Next thing  I know a very persistent woman talked me into checking out a free workshop the following morning (keeping the women around can be a problem). Sure enough, within ten minutes, I felt most of the attendees had sexual hang-ups, weren’t even that attractive,  and the facilitators didn’t offer anything I felt compelled to stay and listen to. I didn’t check out the Oming demos though, I was well gone before of any of that wild stuff! I got in the car (grateful for my own sexuality) and drove off to enjoy a stunning day at Chimney Rock in Point Reyes.

————

During the Michael Franti performance, Acroyoga teachers Jenny and Jason rocked the house with an amazing perfomance. She rotated in circles balancing her hips on his feet while he rested on the ground, facing her. Then she’d go into a bridge, and stand up, while balancing on either his feet or shoulders. This video of them in Amsterdam gives you a glimpse. My friends from Conscious Dancer magazine and I were in awe.

————

Monday I attended the “yoga and medicine” seminar of the conference representing a new online community for complimentary medicine education called rvita. If you’re a practitioner that wants exposure, check out the site – it’s geared to link consumers to CAM providers. The site helps guide you in choosing the right treatment from a trusted, local practitioner. Let me know what you think.

I was happy to catch Dr. Dean Ornish speak. Not only has the man led great research in preventing heart disease through dietary change and stress reduction, but he keeps emphasizing that making small changes really can add up to healing. I loved that he didn’t bore us with medical advice, but addressed pressing societal health issues that get neglected like the “epidemic of loneliness and depression.” Apparently Dean Ornish is into PDAs too, which I found endearing, and I don’t mean obnoxious ones. He was just openly grateful and demonstrative for the love he shares with his wife Anne. We could all feel it across the room!

Anne and I have discussed my working with PCRM to bring the Ornish program to more hospitals. How stupid that integrating practices like yoga and meditation with a plant-based diet should be so hard in institutions meant to heal people. I’m glad for doctors like Ornish and Andrew Weil for improving modern day medicine and paving the way to something more integrated and spiritual.