Yoga Journal Conference San Francisco, Jan 13th-16th 2017

Reflection written Sunday evening:

​This whole weekend has been amazing, but today especially..

☀️Started my morning with a 120min surya vinyasa moving meditation lead by Shiva Rea - she helped me deepen my bow and full wheel asanas to an extension I've never felt before. Moved through 108 push-ups while chanting sun mantras. And felt the energy within our circle of 70 yogis of pure empowerment.

🙏🏼 Immediately following, I had the privilege to take a 120min pranayama and meditation class taught by Dharma Mittra - just as he says there are no words for thoughts, for thoughts are vibrations - I have no words to express how amazing this experience was. I wish I could share the feeling. Bliss. Knowledge. Understanding. Major take away lessons: We have much more than 5 senses - we can sense time, emotion, hunger.. we can sense compassion, we can sense god. / Our karma is established before our birth and is defined by the number of breaths we have in our life. Breathe slower to live longer. / For positivity, breathe through only the right nostril for a minimum of 10mins.

📿 I found it - I've been seeking my Mala for about three years. Mala beads can't be gifted - you have to find your own. I found mine today, a blend of yellow jade and blue aventurine, with powers to embrace change and manifest happiness.

🙌🏼 Jason Crandell. Amazing. Another 120min meditation and vinyasa fusion - nailed advanced arm balances and learned the significance of attention and focus. The mind is wired for drama - sensory drama! When something makes a sound, or a flash of light, or a sensation, we tune into it immediately. When we do a yoga pose, we focus on the deepest sensation, a common practice for beginning practitioners. But with experience and most of all discipline, we can expand that focus. The deepest sensation is only the door. When we go to someone's house, do we hang out at the door - no. We expand throughout. Same in yoga. Feel the sensation and know that it is the entry way for the body and mind to connect/understand what sensation is and then explore it everywhere; this is the true yoga practice of the advanced practitioner - complete body awareness, not just primary.

🍷 Finished the evening off with the amazing executives, staff, and volunteers, celebrating the successful weekend and sadly saying goodbye to Yoga Journal Conference. Found out tonight that this is the final San Francisco Yoga Journal (after 13 years), and their next conference in New York will be the final, final event. This has been a life changing weekend for me, my fellow volunteers and many of the participants - although we can be sad the event will be ending, we all choose to be grateful that it existed at all. Cheers to the ripple effect of love, gratitude, dedication, and YOGA that will continue on.

Namaste 🙏🏼🕉💛