Our class started at 6:30am, and the tears started for me by 6:31am....not stopping until well after breakfast. Danny Arguetty has a way of coaxing your deepest, darkest, most sacred and secret pains, fears and joys out of their hiding place and placing them directly in front of your face. Boom. Or, should I say "WHAM!" When Danny guides me through class I feel like he is writing poetry, with my body and my breathe becoming the most beautiful, intimate and authentic poem. He is very calm, articulate and gentle with his lesson plan as well as with his delivery. A good teacher will have a great warm up, a balanced, inspiring sequence and an intention woven into class. A great teacher is one who lives their yoga, and this shines through into their teaching. It's one of those things that's unspoken, but is incredibly tangible. Danny is one of the very few teachers who actually lives yoga, and therefore being in his presence you cannot help but to be inspired, transformed and challenged to rise up to your highest self. His classes nourish a part of me that has never been touched by another. And this mornings class had more healing and nourishment in it than all of the yoga classes that I've taken this past year combined. Wow. Mind blown.
And so, I cried. A lot. From the start of the practice until my last sip of tea at the breakfast table. It was exhausting, but necessary, and I am so grateful that the flow he created and the space that he held was able to help me move through and get rid of some of this grief that's just been *stuck* inside of me. As he's teaching us in this Advanced Vinyasa and Tantra training- vinyasa is a way to help us to reconnect with the rhythm of life...to feel fully. To reconnect with our innermost workings....
After class and brekky, we went on an excursion, hopping a push-boat, slowly cruising through the famed "backwaters" of Kerala. We made our way to a shanti little beach where we all sipped on fresh coconuts and had a dip in the Arabian Sea. And this dip was perhaps the most exciting part of the day, because it was Jo's **first ever** swim in the OCEAN! So a bit about Josephine...Jo is without a doubt my best friend here, and I think that the most important thing that I will take away from this training will be her friendship. As amazing as Danny is, I know that this experience without her here with me would be incredibly, incredibly different. We start talking before the training, having met on our TT's private Facebook page. We hit it off instantly and conversation flowed freely and deeply via gmail as we got to know one another- her in Arizona, me in Jersey. When we met it was like being reunited with an old friend...warm, familiar and safe. Jo is a desert jewel, having lived most of her 29 years in the dry, vast, mysterious desert- raised by hippy parents and surrounded by cactus and country folk. I, on the other hand, was raised on the sea- in the sea- and feel like I am *of* the sea. As we all prepared for a swim today, I could tell her hesitation. She asked me if I wouldn't mind helping her...explaining the waves, comforting her fear and assisting her with her first ever swim in the ocean. It was magical! I cannot wrap my head around 29 years without a relationship with the sea! But here she was! She was so scared, but equally excited- and completely trusting in my promise to help her along the way no matter what came up. She's been glowing the whole day, and so have I (or maybe it's all the sweat?!). We both overcame big fears today, and we couldn't have done it without the support of one another! I am so grateful that I am able to be here, in this beautiful country, with this amazing teacher and to journey deeper within- uncovering layers, discarding layers, and creating new layers- all with the loving support and friendship of my desert jewel, Jo!
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