Seeking Your Own Truth....

That's what became the mantra for Day 1 of my level 4 training at the Mind & Body Conference here in Palm Springs. "Seeking your own truth." Could possibly be the mantra for my life right now I suppose.
But let me start at the beginning, which began at 4 am this morning when my alarm went off signaling me that it was time to head off to my first YogaFit conference. I made the drive in under 2 hours and was blessed to watch the sunrise over the mountains of Southern California. When I arrived in the desert the temperature was already 94 degrees, an indication of what was to come later in the day.
Because this training is at the conference the location is not at a gym or a yoga studio, but rather at a resort in the older part of town. As I walked through the resort I was amused at the stark difference in the decor. The interior appeared to have been decorated by Liberace and looked like what I could only imagine hell would look like if it were an old-fashioned resort. Lots of red and black furnishings straight out of a movie from the 50's. The landscape outside looked more like what heaven would look like in a Hollywood movie, with lots of peaceful gardens to meander through if you like the heat.
Because I was not staying at this resort and because I did not want my laptop nor my perishable produce to be ruined in the heat of my car all day, I schlupted my way through the entire resort with my computer and a small ice chest along with my regular training supplies: yoga mat, bagful of books, pillow, blanket, and anything else I felt I couldn't live without for the next 8 hours. Unfortunately I forgot to grab the new bottle of red wine that I had picked up to enjoy later on that evening. And when I went out to my car at the lunch break I was horrified to find that the heat of the desert had uncorked my wine. Looks like I will need to attend more remedial wine-care classes with a private tutor perhaps.
After checking in and shopping in the boutique we were ushered into a room to meet all of the trainers and hear opening remarks from Beth Shaw herself. After her inspirational words we did the "Peace, Love, Joy, Gratitude" dance and then headed off to begin our 4 day training of level 4.
Our Masters class began with chanting and then warm-up stretches done to a tune called "Do you ever find yourself walking down the street with a big smile on your face?" Again, could possibly be the soundtrack to my life right now. I can tell this training is going to be right up my alley. The warm-up was followed by a series of Sun Salutations done without any verbal cueing which was a nice change of pace from the previous trainings I have been to these past few months.
After getting my butt kicked in this challenging class we settled into some pretty heavy-duty learning.
First we learned about the Sanskrit language, which is the language of yoga. Something cool about it is, it's what is known as a vibrational language. Meaning that the sounds are based on vibrations that are meant to bring out the energy within us in qualities such as being flexible and easy going or very strongly grounded. So that also means that some of the words do not have a direct translation. We practiced the vowel and consonant sounds first and then quickly moved into more complicated words such as: adho and supta, which mean downward and supine. Then we ended this session practicing phrases such as:
Adho Mukha Svanasana which means Downward Facing Dog, one of my favorite poses.
Another cool thing I learned was that about 5000 years ago the Earth made a slight tilt on it's axis that caused the gravitational pull to change. This made the ancient yogis feel the need to add movement into their personal meditation practice to help them become more balanced. So they looked to animals and how they moved to create the poses. And that's why we have poses such as Downward Facing Dog that look just like what a dog does every morning when he wakes up. When we do this we are simply connecting to the energy of the animals. Cool huh?
After lunch we continued with our study of the philosophy of yoga with a very lengthy yet interesting discussion about Koshas which are 5 different layers of your body that include your physical body, your vital energy body, your mental or emotional body, your intellectual/intuitive body, and your bliss body. It was interesting to talk about how our behavior can come from us acting from any one of these bodies. Made me think: what Kosha am I acting from?
We finished the day with an introduction to the Bhagavad Gita that included a homework assignment that is calling my name even as I type this post.
But before I get going on my homework assignment, I just want to finish up with one of the many great quotes I heard today:
Life should not be the pursuit of happiness, but rather the experience of happiness.
I was told that level 4 would be life changing. I think I can feel that already.