Friday, September 10, 2010

Yoga, Part One

My yoga journey is all mixed in with my cancer journey. Prior to 2007, I had not had a positive experience in a yoga class. My experience was limited, but it seemed too slow, too calm. For 27 years,  I was at the gym 5 to 7 days a week, doing high impact aerobics! I loved it, it kept me healthy, and it was fun.

In 2007 I went to the Power to the Peaceful concert for the first time. The show is at Speedway Meadows in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. It begins Saturday morning with a yoga class from 9:00 - 10:00 am, followed by a second yoga class from 10:00-11:00. My first year I was very ill. I thought I was suffering from interstitial cystitis, a condition I had in my 20's. It is not unusual for it to go into remission and recur later in life, and the symptoms were the same. So, I parked Stella Blue (My VW van with a pop top) near the show and made up the downstairs bed. Yes - she has an upstairs bed, too!! I was feeling so bad I did not expect to make it through the show, which lasts all day. I took my beach chair and prepared to watch my friends practice yoga, because I wasn't into it and because I was feeling so bad. There were about 200 people there, and 199 of them were on a mat, practicing yoga. It felt wrong to sit and watch, so I grabbed an extra mat and positioned myself next to Amt but with my mat staggered behind hers so I could mimic her. I didn't know a Warrior II from a Child's Pose! I followed along with Amy and I did the complete two hours. Afterward...I felt better than I had in a really, really long time. I not only made it through the show, I danced all day long and then went to the Fillmore that night to see Michael Franti again and danced until around 1 am!!

I could not believe that two hours of Yoga could do so much for me. I came home determined to find Yoga teacher. Being the Humboldt County Hippie Chick that I am at heart, I wanted the total spiritual Yoga experience, not just Yoga in a health club. Just a few weeks after the show, I received a post card in my mailbox, announcing the opening of a Yoga Studio in Atascadero! I asked, and the universe sent me Yoga in the Vines and its fabulous owner, Cathy. I went to a class the day she opened the studio, and my real Yoga journey began. Since the studio was new, in the beginning I had many private classes with Cathy because only I came to class. I not only received lots of one on one teaching, I gained a friend who has enriched my life. I practiced with Cathy from October 2007 until December 2008 when my cancer was first diagnosed. I had been sick for two years but misdiagnosed. That year of practicing with Cathy gave me the strength, both physically and spiritually, to stay strong and positive and to fight. Cathy gave me private classes throughout my treatment, which kept me strong, centered and positive.

I find  have more to say on this subject but not enough time to write, so next post will be Yoga, Part Two. Casey and I are heading off to Power to the Peaceful this afternoon, so we have a fun and friend filled few days ahead of us, and then surgery Tuesday. I may not post again until after I get home from the hospital, which will be Sunday, September 19. Send me all of your love and positive, healing energy - especially on the 14th.

Namaste, Jill

2 comments:

  1. From today, until the 19th, at 12:00pm, each day, I will do my newly learned, Pranayama breathing and send the "FIRE BREATH" to you. As you have your experience, I will enforce your peaceful HEALING! xxxoooDani

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  2. ......sending you Love and positive healing energy!!!!! It is so cool how yoga is so powerful and helps create physical and spiritual strength. Yoga Power!!!!!!! Franti Power!!!!!!! Next time perhaps we can all dance with you till 1am.

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