notes from seane corn workshop

My workshops with Seane Corn this weekend were ahhhmazing! I met took classes with Seane over four years ago when I stalked....I mean supported her by taking all of her yoga classes in San Francisco at the Yoga Journal Conference.

This summer marked the fourth year she's been coming to Indianapolis for a visit. I've made it to three of the four. I think that these workshops were among some of my most fave.

Saturday morning was a Shakti Flow class. And oh my, was it intense? Yes, it was. There were 71 yogis in this room and it was warm. It took me a while to start the sweating but once I did....it soaked though my clothes, dripped from my nose in down dog, and poured down my face in various other poses. People were making a variety of noises, it was all pretty great.

I came fully prepared to get my yoga butt whipped into shape in this particular workshop. It was for intermediate/advanced and I've taken classes with Seane before. I knew fully I was going to be drenched in sweat. It was 2.5 hours of a hard, sweet, and sweaty flow. At the end I felt like a million bucks. I felt totally in the flow and so loved the challenge. Andy snapped the photo above post sweaty Seane class.

The afternoon session was Yoga for a Broken Heart. Yep, that's right. We spend an hour having a discussion before the practice. Seane's father died last August and this was his request to her. That she offer this workshop as a way to offer and engage in dialogue about grief and being broken open.

During the discussion people were talking about about their losses, their griefs, and emotions. I sat there, feeling awe that complete strangers can come together and share such intimate parts of their lives. I was shocked to hear the losses, the hurt, and struggles this group of people had experienced. I was saddened by the hurt experienced by so many people. People that many would assume "have it all".

It's a reminder to me that when never know what the people around us have experienced...the person next to you on the mat, standing in line behind you, the co-worker in the next cubicle....I think we'd all be surprised to learn the hardships that they've all encountered. That we've all encountered. I'm reminded that we all have hurt and hearts to heal, in one way or another.

You could feel the raw emotion in the room. Grief was lingering in the air. It was uncomfortable, and hard for me to breathe at times. But I stayed with it, as yoga has taught me to do. Stay with the dark and the light, cause it's all yoga.

We moved to our mats for a practice. We weren't 30 minutes into the practice and I heard people crying, some sobbing on their mats. To practice yoga, to really practice...we can't separate the body from the mind and the emotions. They're all right there. Deny your emotions and you create tension in your body. It's much better to deal with it in the moment. I was again in awe of these people, the practice, and Seane. It was truly amazing.

The session Sunday was about Everyday Miracles so the practice was about gratitude and me moved and grooved in a way that felt very sacred. It was sweet and felt like the perfect ending to the weekend.

Here are a few valuable things I wrote in my journal:

In dealing with challenges, ask yourself:
1. What is this?
2. What does it mean?
3. How can I grow from it?

Also, when you don't want to deal with challenging times, people, situations, how do you deal? Do you use food, drinks, tv, gambling, etc to deal? What is really going on and what's healthier way of coping?