Into the Blue: Primary Steps
The Primary Steps
This week, in our Blue Light movement classes, we're focusing on the primary series of the Ashtanga practice. Ashtanga was the gateway to my practice 25 years ago. I remember my first yoga class well. Dressed in a tattered pair of cotton leggings and a go-to tank top (this was pre-Lululemon and the lycra, form-fitting yoga fashion industry we know too well today), my friend, Holcomb, who I adore and admire, and would follow anywhere (except West, away from the ocean) picked me up one Tuesday evening. We drove North on Route 7 away from the Middlebury campus to a church in the town center of Bristol. Like most of the American population in 1998, I had no idea what yoga was let alone Ashtanga, but Holcomb had found this community of ashtangis, and wanted me to give it a try, so I followed her into that church and up the stairs.
At the top of the stairs, I discovered a bright, warm room full of barefooted, welcoming strangers, and a teacher named Christine. I rolled out a borrowed yoga mat next to Holcomb's, stood at the top with my eyes closed, my feet together, my hands in a prayer, and chanted call-and-response Sanskrit before sealing my lips and attempting to breathe like Darth Vader.
What started as a curiosity coupled with faith in a friend's recommendation turned into a life-changing experience. After that practice, I never lived without yoga again. I'm not entirely sure what hooked me that first evening on my mat: maybe the immediate sense of community, or the sweet flowstate I dropped into when I linked my movement and breath for the first time, or the blue light that enveloped me in savasana, or the intense soreness I felt lifting my arms to wash my hair in the shower later that night. Regardless, I went back to practice with Christine and the Bristol Yoga community every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday until I graduated two years later. And when I moved to NYC, and later to Boston, and finally to Hamilton, I immediately found new yoga communities and teachers to practice with. Somewhere between that first evening in Bristol in 1998 and today, I became a yogi.
In contemplating my first experience with the primary series, I felt compelled to write about those primary steps that led to the creation of Blue Light. I'm a creature who appreciates starting with "first things first," and after Into the Blue's pause the past five months, it feels right to (re)start at the beginning. I created Blue Light as a means to provide multiple avenues to discover life beyond the ego, community, strength and flexibility of mind, body and spirit, and greater joy--all things I found in that bright room at the top of those church stairs in 1998. I invite you to consider taking your own primary steps in a new direction at Blue Light. All you need is a curious mindset, a little bit of faith, and the reminder that it takes one step at a time to cultivate something great in your life. At Blue Light, you can continue to read these mindful musings (don't forget to let me know what they bring up for you); you can join a Blue Light Yoga or CAKE class (live or recorded); you can join one of our Blue Light Book Clubs or Discussions; or you can book a counseling session. The primary steps to take: hit reply and tell me what you're interested in...or surprise us, and show up in class. And please help me spread Blue Light and share these links when you feel so moved.
As always, thank you for reading,
Georgia
PS The above photo was taken last month at Nugget Point in New Zealand- stepping stones into the blue;)!!!