Il Dona da Scoprire

Today was a beautiful day, I couldn't think of a better way to spend it. I woke up nice and early, made a yummy breakfast of eggs with toast and peach jam, then met Sam for a yoga-filled adventure. After the yoga class with Alba on Thursday, she mentioned an Anusara workshop that was all day Saturday and Sunday. Sam had told me about it before class, and after the amazing practice that night I HAD to do it. We took the metro a few stops down and made our way to the workshop.

We had no idea what to expect. We knew it was at the YWCA, that is was an Anusara yoga workshop, and that Marc Holzman was running it (check out his website: http://guerillayogi.com/aboutguerilla.html). And honestly, I knew close to nothing about Marc Holzman so that doesn't really count towards the "what to expect" list. We were excited to see what it would be like! The workshop was all day Saturday and Sunday with 2 sessions each day (3 hours in the morning, 3 hours in the afternoon), so Sam and I decided to just play it by ear today, plan on doing just the morning session, and if we were IN LOVE with the workshop we'd stay for the afternoon perhaps.

After getting a tiiiiny bit lost (we found it after asking directions. twice. it's fine, it was literally right in front of us the whole time), we made it to the YWCA. We walked in welcomed by friendly ciao's and buen giorno's, followed by being asked a bunch of questions. In Italian. Sam and I stared blankly back, until one lady said "Oh! Hi! Americano? Alba told us her two American friends were coming!" And from there it was a breeze. We signed in, found a nice spot on the floor, and observed the excitement around us.

The room filled up quickly! There were tons of people there, I'm terrible at guessing numbers but it was probably 50? Or so? Let's just say it was a fairly large yoga room and my mat was about 6 inches from the people on either side of me. Quite the squeeze! Almost everyone was Italian..we heard a few English speakers, but not many. Marc was from California so he taught the class in English with an Italian translator. It was really cool to be in a class like this, where when he told a joke to lighten the mood Sam and I would laugh and the rest of the class wouldn't respond until a few seconds later, after it had been translated. Very cool. This also meant that we held the poses for MUCH LONGER (about twice as long) as we would in a normal class, since it took twice as long for him to communicate to everyone what to do. In other words, I'm going to be veeeery sore tomorrow:)

The workshop was called Il Dono da Scoprire: Vivere una Vita Piena di Valore e Significato. Translates to "The Gift to Discover: Living a Life Full of Value and Significance". He based it off of a book by Stephen Cope called Yoga and the Quest for the True Self. It was a really wonderful topic, that book is definitely on my TO-READ list now. In a nutshell, it was basically about how everyone has a unique gift or talent that they must first search for and then practice their gift in order to live a full and happy life.   The first session we worked on backbends mostly, and did a lot of partner yoga which was fun. Alba helped Sam and I out a lot which was great to have her advice and support along the way too! At one point we were all in a high lunge, and since we were all so close together he cued us to hold hands with the people next to us to help with balance and strength. It was so cool that everyone in the room was both supporting and being supported by each other ... just a really neat concept. Yay yoga!

After the first session, we were SO OUT OF IT. Backbends induce the Vata dosha, which is associated with air, among other things. After you do lots of backbends, you tend to feel very spacey and out of it, almost like you're floating around instead of walking. It's hard to explain - when I get home I'll teach a back-bending class and you'll understand:) Sam and I were trying to figure out if we wanted to stay for the second half, but we were so out of it that we decided it would be impossible to make a decision before having a nice hearty lunch. We walked down the street to a little cafe to try and re-ground ourselves with a little soup and pasta.

We had a great lunch, talking about the morning session, meditation and yoga experiences, and just life in general. It was lovely:) When we looked at our clocks again we realized it was almost time to head back to the YWCA for the second session! Although lunch didn't help too much to ground us back to earth, we were much more energized and strong after eating and decided to do the second session. We floated back to the studio to prepare for the afternoon session of hip-openers and arm-balances. Hooray!

There were even MORE people there in the afternoon! This time, I was about 1 or 2 inches from the mats on either side of me. This practice was much more relaxed and fun, because we tried really challenging postures including Eka Pada Galavasana (flying pigeon), Eka Pada Koundinyasana (one-legged arm balance), Bakasana (crow), Adho Mukha Vrksasana (handstand), etc. Crazy. But crazy amazing, of course. Once again, we used partners (sometimes more than one) to get into everything. And once again - I'm definitely going to be sore tomorrow. Looks like I'll be doing a more restorative morning yoga instead of my usual practice..

Sam and I with Marc Holzman, the instructor

We talked to Marc a little after the practice, said goodbye to our newfound yogis and yoginis (some of whom teach in Rome so we may try out their classes!), and headed home. We were so zenned out at this point, all I wanted was my bed. I had planned on going out tonight, but that was completely out of the picture after the intense (physically and mentally) day of yoga yoga yoga. I loved it. It felt so good to be in a community with such positive energy and support and love again. YAY YAY YAY. I'm actually really excited because Marc lives in Paris now, so I'm thinking about going to one of his classes next weekend when I'm there! He gave me his schedule, so I'll see if Jada and I are up to it once the time comes.

Even though I was tired, I decided to head to Storico Centro with the roomies for a yummy dinner near the Pantheon. And by near the Pantheon, I mean AT the Pantheon. It was such a stereotypical Italian dinner. We literally sat outside in the Piazza just feet away from the Pantheon, ate pasta with wine, and were serenaded by a little quartet of Italian men. So. Precious. After dinner we headed to the Trevi Fountain to (finally) throw in our coins. We'd been saving this moment until we'd collected enough small change to throw in 3 coins each. In the Roman tradition, each coin represents for a different wish. FIRST: Wish that you'll return to Rome again in this lifetime. SECOND: Wish to bring about change in some aspect of your life. THIRD: Wish to find true love.

I threw in all three (it's tradition, how can you not?), but I KNOW I'm coming back to Rome at some point, so I'm not too worried about wish numero uno. And as for the other two, life is all about change and I'm so happy and grateful for everything about my life.. I don't think I have anything to worry about at all:)