Calm Amidst Chaos

I began practicing yoga in the cold late fall a few years ago when I was living in San Francisco and it seemed various aspects of my life were shutting down. I wasn't seeing any proverbial 'open doors' at this time, I was sitting in my apartment with a lot of white noise in my head. Among the drums beating were things like "What am I going to do? Where am I going to live? How am I going to pay my bills? Who am I going to love?"

I went to International Orange yoga studio in Pacific Heights with my friends Lauren and Ann, and took my first yoga class. While certainly there are numerous physical, neurological, physiological and spiritual benefits to yoga, what I remember most was laying in a resting pose with salty tears running down my face. I was finally able to release some of the sadness I was feeling inside. Two months of practicing yoga helped me to finally be still, and listen, ultimately tap into the courage within to uproot myself to a small beach town in Southern California where I knew no one, and join a fast moving, though arguable risky, start up company - and trust that I was doing the right thing.

I continued practicing yoga in Southern California, in Venice and Laguna Beach. I especially loved yoga outside the studio, on the beach in a paradise-like setting: a quiet cove in Laguna with a lyrical French teacher, leaping dolphins, feet in the sand and breathing with the waves. Yoga in Southern California helped me to enjoy, to play, to appreciate the beauty all around and the pure pleasure of the practice.

In New York, breathing with the waves has remained actively in my imagination, and I've been on a journey for the past three months in the city and in Brooklyn to find a teacher and practice I click with most. Of course its often right in front of you....a teacher who teaches at studios in the city as well as a Saturday morning and Monday evening practice four block walk from my apartment. Besides her challenging vinyasa practice, and her use of aromatherapy and massage (which I love!), it's her positivity and story-telling that I enjoy most during the class.

Last Saturday morning she told us how she was part of a 'yoga takeover' event at Grand Central Station, the first Monday we were all returning back to work in the new year. Grand Central Station is a glamorous Beaux Arts building that is undergoing a massive multiple-year restoration after falling in disrepair several years ago. The image above showcases the beauty - and the busyness - that flows through this famous station every day. During the yoga takeover event, there was a roped off section of Vanderbilt Hall, and she was on a headset teaching 175 students in a class, showing how to maintain a sense of calm within chaos all around.

She confessed that part of the challenge last Monday was overcoming her own shyness and not wanting to be center of attention; as well as the obvious distractions that are central to life in New York. Tuning out the outside (and inside) noise and hecticness and remaining focused on the freshness of a new year and personal goals and intentions was the living analogy the event was conveying.

Life in New York is often not the balmy blissful journey on the coast highway to a beach in Laguna...it's a daily practice of learning how to live honestly and remain calm, centered, and open-hearted amidst chaos all around.