Monday 13 June 2011

Spirit statements

Yesterday my good friend Sue Elmas and I put on our first workshop called "Elevate Spirit". It was inspiring, powerful, touching and, well, sweaty.

I am so grateful for the Baptiste training I've had, and for the framework for transformation that it provides. Yoga works. The Baptiste method works. If you're scratching your head wondering what I mean by that the come to one of my workshops and find out! I'm excited to share!!

The theme of the workshop came from what the Yoga Jam is all about. The only guidelines I have ever set up for the Yoga Jam is to elevate spirit, cultivate community and generate abundance. These words, spirit, community and abundance sprung up and bounced around the room at the first Yoga Jam and have been present ever since. I considered what "spirit" meant to me and how to go about defining it. I created a few key questions to help land some wording around creating a "spirit statement", and as I did the work myself I was amazed at what came out of it. I created my own spirit statement which I will share with you: I am inspiration through connection and love. I use this daily. I use it as a touchstone to remind me of what I'm about. I use it as a compass to guide me through challenging situations. I use it to inspire myself to get back to my true essence.

I asked the participants to do this work and challenged each to reach deep inside to articulate who they really are. This was met with delight, tears, withdrawl, resistance, frustration, love, compassion and grace. I was completely inspired and I am continually amazed at how we are at once completely different and exactly the same. My brother has a great way of defining how we move through life differently. He says "it's like we all use different golf clubs, some of us reach for the driver and some the putter." We're all playing the same game, just using different tools. As I reach for my large headed driver, I am grateful that Sue was there offering the fine touch of the putter.

This kind of work is like taking a vitamin. There are days when it's like swallowing one of those comically huge green flecked pills that you have to tell yourself are good for you. There are days when the work unlocks intense sensations. There are days when it's like swallowing something bitter and nasty.  But as we do the work, life pulses, vibrancy enters our bodies and our cheeks flush. How good it is to be awake and alive.

Come to our next workshop and see what is possible when we come together to do the work. It feels pretty sweet to sweat it out after and leave it all behind on your yoga mat. Unleash your spirit, I want to know you.

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My name is Erin Anderson, I'm in love with yoga. I found out how to love deeper, live lighter and reach further through yoga. I'm passionate about sharing just that. In order to do that, I created The Yoga Jam Events as a means to elevate spirit, cultivate community and generate abundance. Coming together in play, breath and movement we can make real impact in the world, starting in Kenya with a possibility that knows no bounds. Each Yoga Jam Event donates proceeds to the Africa Yoga Project www.africayogaproject.org. This blog is dedicated to what I've learned along the way.
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