Yin, Unicorns, and The Magic Of It All: Teaching Yoga At The Ojai Yoga Shala: Ojai, California: October 23, 2017

I used to roll my eyes when I'd hear about unicorns. Today I see them all the time and teach about them in classes and workshops. Unicorns are the energy of magic and miracles.

One of the reasons I love to travel is because it forces a shift in perception. Likewise, one of the reasons I love yoga is because it does the very same thing.

Part of being cooped up in a tour bus for three years contemplating life is the  churning up of big questions like ‘who am I?’ and ‘what is my purpose?’ . Mythic figures like Steve Winwood, Joe Cocker, Stevie Wonder, and Greg Allman, have appeared in front of my eyes, and so have unicorns, the energy of magic and miracles. I’ve witnessed numerous nights where empty theaters alchemically transform into soul swinging revivals and and plastic CDs with psychedelic blue covers mystically turn in to twenty dollar bills. There is a lot of hard work involved, of course, but so is the practice of yoga. It’s difficult to see God in all people and Life as a path sprinkled with pink and gold glitter.

I’ve just returned home to Nevada after co-teaching a workshop about connection in Ojai. Part of the magic of teaching yoga, if you let it, is what you’re trying to teach is what you’ll be learning about the most. What I learned is that when you really love something, whether it be a person or a place or a great cup of chai, you’re already connected because Love never fails.

This is our workshop flyer. I think its really groovy.

I love Ojai more than almost anywhere and I love teaching yoga almost more than anything.  Saturday evening, after our workshop was over, we attended a kirtan with one of my favorite artists, Girish. Somewhere amidst some shree Ram's and jaya Ram's I caught myself telling myself how much I like the person I was in Ojai. Why don’t I live here and be a full time yoga teacher?

While the purpose of my trip to Ojai was to teach a workshop, the bigger purpose, of anything really, is to teach you how to live in love and love how you live, anywhere and all the time.

This morning , as I sit in my home in Nevada at the kitchen counter, my eyes shifting from the magical sunrise to my massive to do list,  I am clear about one thing at least. My work on this planet is not done. My journey here on Earth into loving myself unconditionally is in full swing. I can see that I can’t see they are both really one in the same, and timing for what is occurring in my life right now is as correct and magical as the dark night shifting into the fresh crisp October morning.

Namaste

October sunrise from my kitchen window in Nevada. The Sierra Nevada mountains turn pink for a full 15 minutes as the sun comes up.