World Yoga Day
This year's International World Yoga Day took place on Tuesday 21st June. Helpfully, for those who work in the week, there was the United Nations extra day of celebration on Sunday 19th June at Bondi Pavilion, Sydney.
As I am particularly passionate about pursuing my yoga journey, embarking on my teacher training in India in 2017, I was keen to attend the event. A mere $30 allowed access to a wealth of yoga classes, meditation, talks, and more. I appreciated this price particularly because I feel so much of yoga these days has become centered around money, expensive 'special' yoga clothing, and luxury studios. This is, at the root, the opposite of what yoga is about. Don't get me wrong, I understand the amount of time and effort that goes into running a yoga school, it is the excesses I struggle to resonate with. The amount that was on offer for this price was awesome! (consider that most single drop-in classes start around $20, $15 if you're lucky).
Anyway, pleased I wasn't working, I made my way to Bondi to meet my friend. I arrived before her and, knowing I had a little while before she arrived and wanting to make the most of the day, I headed to a Goddess Meditation class. There Beth Borowsky from Just Breathe Yoga, who runs Goddess Retreats, led us in a meditation invoking Saraswati. Saraswati is the goddess of knowledge, learning, and creativity, and this resonated with my focus of late. My goals of working back into, and expanding, my creativity, as well as my knowledge in a myriad of topics. As highlighted in my post, The Book List, since leaving University it has become imperative, and exciting, to pursue my own self-study.
Next, I met up with my beautiful friend Amelia and, after grabbing some warming, organic specialty coffee with honey and cinnamon, we headed to a Winter Seasonal Vinyasa class. This was probably the highlight of my day, and you can read a little more about it in my Quietude of Winter post.
Bryony Lancaster, from Egg of the Universe, led us in a beautiful class combining strong poses with gentle flow. I enjoyed the sentiments she shared, resonating with what I had been feeling of late, and the warmth and energy that came with them. I would recommend Bryony as a teacher, and the class ended with me feeling emotional, but happy.
Next up was another meditation session with Rob Ginnivan, before grabbing some lunch, and trying out an acro yoga class. This class was more just for fun, and a little messy in stance and performance. Our day ended at a Hatha class. It was good but I was aware I felt restless, particularly due to the intense drumming workshop we could unfortunately hear, and other members of the class. I think it is hugely disrespectful to wander into a class late, or talk within it, as do most of my friends, and unfortunately this class had a few people doing just that. I still managed to check in with myself however, and was pleased we'd really made the most of our day. By the end we were ready to head home and I enjoyed further self-reflection, sat on a long bus journey looking out at the rain..
The day left me with many things to think about, feeling more in touch with myself, and reigniting further an already lit flame for yoga. I have been developing my personal practice and look forward to what the future brings. As ever, I can't recommend enough that people begin with yoga. I promise, it's not as scary heading into that first class as you may think!