YS Weekend Update: Moving Forward Together
Dear friends,
Yesterday I listened to a poem called “Phase One” by Dilruba Ahmed, recited by Pádraig Ó Tuama in his podcast “Poetry Unbound.” The poem unfurls a long list of personal failures. After each failure, the poet writes, “I forgive you.” Sometimes she writes this phrase three times in a row. The poem’s title implies that self-forgiveness is not the end, but the beginning of the journey. Ó Tuama reflects, “Self-forgiveness comes early so that all these other things can come after that; so that you can be present to your life without holding the life that you never had against yourself in such a way that you might never live the life that you have.”
This poem resonated deeply as I reflected on departing from one career and diving fully into business ownership. Hopefully your experience of the Yoga Sanctuary transition has been positive. There are many wonderful changes taking place that honor Sara Rose’s legacy and bring new vision and vitality to our studio. And yet, beginnings are often messy and rarely done perfectly (whatever perfect means). I have had to confront my own need to be good and accept that I will falter as I grow into this role. With each day I am learning something new from this experience. And I am trying to remember that learning a new thing is not an indication of failure, but a welcome discomfort that only comes from living at one’s edge, which is the path of yoga.
This fall there will be many invitations for our community to move forward together. Dianne Bondy’s Yoga for All Workshop is coming up October 17–18 and is open to members and non-members, teachers and students. Anyone with an open heart and willingness to learn is welcome. Dianne is an international yoga teacher and social justice activist, and it is an honor to host her work at our studio. Let’s support her the best we can.
We also postponed the start of our Yoga for Teens and Intro to Yoga 6-week series, both of which will start in late October. As the best press is word of mouth, I hope you will share these courses within your networks to anyone you think would be interested.
Another way to support our studio is to visit our new, returning, and longtime teachers at their new class times. While I know that many of our longtime members have their favorite class times, I strongly encourage supporting these new classes, even if that means visiting occasionally or recommending the classes to others.
StrongFlow (Level 2) with Andrea Kwapien: Tuesdays, 6-7pm *note time change*
Yin Yoga (Level 1) with Erin Haenlin: Wednesdays, 5:30-6:30pm
StrongFlow (Level 2) with Angelica Lopez: Thursdays, 5:30-6:30pm
StrongFlow (Level 1/2) with Chandra Cantor: Saturdays, 9am-10am *note time & level change*
Our first Yoga Wine Down this Friday is fully booked (yay!), but all are still welcome at the social hour 5–6 pm. If the weather doesn’t cooperate, we will postpone this event to Friday 10/9.
This morning I used Dilruba’s poem as a prompt for my own self-forgiveness exploration. And now I ask, what is the list of grievances that you hold against yourself? What would it feel like to forgive yourself for these things, to release the “should’s”, and to step forward into the life that you have?
Yours,
Lindsay
