EVOLUTION:

Evolution... that continual process of adaptation that life undergoes at the smallest and grossest levels... more and more I find it to be a something that gives all the other activities in my day a context to exist within.  

As individuals and as a society, we are always evolving.   The problem is that we are not aware of so how we are evolving.   Some changes can hurt us and some are hugely beneficial.   In yoga we have a chance to see this process every time we are on the mat.  

Our bodies are the barometer by which we monitor the adaptation process in action.   Every thought and emotion we have somehow manifests a change in our tissues.   If we aren't conscious of these patterns we can end up with huge imbalances in our structure.

In a very real way, yoga is part of a much larger mission to consciously evolve as a human being in a way that is most benefit to all life.   To evolve in this way, we have to not just float through life like a cork getting washed around in the sea, but to go within oneself and find the deepest type of Love.   A Love that profoundly recognizes our inseparable connection to all forms of life everywhere.   This place inside - this immovable spot, is the source what we call a Conscience.   When we are act in our life from this place, we can truly thrive and not just adapt or survive.   The yoga practice allows us shed the old, stale parts of ourselves that numb our sensitivity to the power of this deep Love.  

This Love is the guiding principle of a good therapist of any kind.  

It is this place that inspires me unwaveringly every night when I teach.   And it is what inspires me to continuously evolve my teaching methodology.   As a side benefit of this quest to evolve my yoga classes, I find that I am never bored with what I do.   I feel like I am involved with a system of healing that covers every aspect of one's being.   How could I be bored.   Every class, I find myself so excited to share new skills, knowledge and insights that I have been working on that day.   It's incredible!

Last month I listened to a presentation Tom Myers, a structural integration therapist and author of Anatomy Trains . He expressed how this knowledge base is constantly evolving.   Each practitioner in their given field of therapy should be continuously developing their understanding of how to better serve needs of their clients.   One of the ways he phrased this is that as a therapist, "if you don't want your clients back that you had three years ago because you feel like you have better methods of helping them now then something is wrong."  

It's true.    I feel this link between evolution and inspiration in my yoga classes too.   How with each passing year, providence allows me to develop better and deeper means of helping people live better lives.   For this I am so utterly grateful that when I feel it, I want to bow and kiss the ground.

On that note, I would like to one, take a brief moment to acknowledge all of the teachers who have shared their knowledge with me over the years.  

Secondly, I wanted to share with you some of the exciting ways that the work that I am doing is evolving and the forms I hope it will take in 2006.

•  I want to make the yoga practice even more therapeutic for people.   Yes, the vinyasa flow practice is always this beautiful fluid dance of postures, but it can be so much deeper if we take a little time to study the dynamics of the poses in a more intimate, detailed environment.

•  I have come up with a system which organizes everything I have learned from my teachers along with some of my own insights into a systematic way of presenting yoga alignment called the Positive Force Yoga System.   I want to share it with as many people as I can.

•  There will be workshops in Vancouver every few months to explain this system.

•  I only meant to write a manual for this course, but something spoke through me when I sat down to write and I ended up with the outline for a book.   I will keep working away at this.   There is no deadline for when it will be out, but all I can say is that it is amazing how much inspiration you can find when you follow your heart.

•  I want to find a space where I can work with people one on one to help them with injuries and specific issues

•  Yes, the 'Power Flow to Go' dvd is happening.   So sorry it has been delayed.   Several things have slowed it down - the health of my dad, the Yogathon, the writing of the Positive Force Yoga System.   But it is happening.... Full attention will be directed to this project in   Jan and we will aim for a spring release

•  Workshops.   I won't be doing any YES retreats until next winter.   I will be going to Toronto in the Fall - also in the works; Calgary, Mexico, Japan, a few US cities as well as Bombay, India this December

•  Super Flow Yoga - I think it is important to compliment the linear, inward experience of yoga with the extroverted, rhythmic experience of Super Flow which fuses yoga with Martial Arts, Tai Chi, Dance, and organic movement patterns.