A Second Babymoon : Diane’s Yoga

I couldn’t believe my luck.  Last week I threw my name into the hat when Jade Yoga offered a free pass to the Anusara Grand Gathering at the Yoga Journal Conference in Estes Park.  This is a big yoga conference that I had wanted to sign up for, but didn’t because I knew it would be too close to my due date to risk.  So, wasn’t I shocked when I was contacted to say that I had won!  For days I stewed over the decision – go or don’t go?  Take advantage of this great opportunity or forego it because I would be at week 38 of my pregnancy?  Estes Park, the gateway to Rocky Mountain NP, is a 1 1/2 hour drive from home.  What if labor starts?

After much debating, contacting fellow yoga teachers to act as backups, coming to an agreement with Andy and conferring with my doctor the Friday prior to the conference, I decided to go for it. 

Andy went with me and worked on his lap top from several locations around Estes.  Initially our plan was to drive up and back both nights in case anything happened.  But on the second day, we decided to spend the night because it is such a beautiful time of year to be up there.  Elk bugling, aspens turning gold, perfect temperatures…it was just too hard to resist one night up there.  I’ll tell you, there’s magic in the air when you wake up in the morning to the sounds of elk bugling.

The 3-day pass I had received was for Anusara yoga – created by John Friend.  I had heard enough about this style of yoga to want to check it out, but this was my first exposure to it.  It is a yoga of proper alignment and love.  John Friend and his teachers talked a lot about sharing messages from the heart and having it spread from you to your students and outward from there.  I did my best during the daily 3-hour practices with John Friend, having to sit out and watch when they got to the advanced poses.  And the baby just loved the chanting.  There was a 4-person band with a wooden flute, guitars, drums, and bells.  This Kirtan-style of chanting was upbeat and truly rocking at times.  This is when my belly would start to bounce and wiggle with her moves.  I might have to buy one of Shantala’s cds to keep the little one happy.  The afternoons were occupied with lectures and break-out sessions (combo of lecture & practice).

Not only did I learn a lot that I could incorporate into my future yoga teachings, but I really enjoyed the challenge of the practices.  I’ve been primarily doing easy “bliss” style or prenatal yoga practices.  So to return to salutations and a standard practice helped me to feel strong again.  I’m sure my ability to practice was helped by the energy in the room.  I’ve never been in a yoga class with over 600 people before.  Incredible energy.

In between work, Andy was able to squeeze in two hikes – he deserved a little “rejuvenation practice” himself.  I’ll post pictures from his hikes on the next post…