Finding Support in Community

This week’s class is about drawing in and connecting to the energy of community in helping you connect more to your own heart and to yourself. I had this wonderful experience recently where my wife and I were driving to a community oriented class of 108 Sun Salutations on top of the Mount Philo. It was a sweet event put on by Lindsey Foreman and Sofi Dillof who have formed an organization called the Vermont Community Yoga Project.

A few miles from Mount Philo I hear a big ‘BANG’ under the hood. I pull the car over, turn on the emergency flashers, and open the hood. Jane gets out and walks down the road about 20 feet, picking up a very large washer that she spotted in the rear view mirror as it was flying down the road behind us after we heard the sound under the hood. I look under the hood and see part of the alternator is MISSING. Not only the washer Jane found, but a number of much more important pieces.

Jane and I have 10 minutes until the class starts on Mount Philo. If we hurry I’ll get there in time and I figure we can deal with the car later. We drive to the bottom of Mt Philo five minutes later and the car is severely overheating. The car not only doesn’t have a working alternator, but it clearly no longer is able to keep cool.

We have no choice and decide to drive up to the top. Mount Philo isn’t really a mountain, but it has a very steep mile long hill to the top. As I start heading up the hill I look in the mirror and see huge amounts of smoke billowing out behind the car. I figure the only choice now is to race up the hill as fast as I can — the engine thermostat is pegged to the maximum heat.

Finally we make it to the top and I park and turn off the car – we immediately get engulfed in smoke. Jane and I quickly grab our mats and leap out of the car. We look back and the car is almost hidden by the amount of smoke coming out of it. Jane says, “Well, nothing we can do about it now – let’s go do some yoga.” We are laughing at the whole craziness of it all as we head to the practice area.

We arrive at the yoga spot just right when it’s time to start. The organizers quickly welcomes me, I apologize for cutting it so close on the time, we lay down our mats, and start practicing. Everything is absolutely perfect. There are no bugs, the sunlight is beautiful, we can see for miles and miles across the landscape below as we practice, and there are around 50 people all practicing together on top of a mountain for the benefit of others. During the course of the practice Sofi invited us to do sets of salutations for the benefit of others — family, friends, pets…basically practicing in honor of community. It felt so good to take the time to focus in that way in such a perfect setting.

Both Jane and I had a wonderful time – the car problem was meaningless compared the joy of giving to the community in person by really being with a community on the Mountain, and from the heart for dedicating the practice to others. The individual focus and problems of the car didn’t mean that much compared the joy of community. In fact, the cool thing was that by focusing on community, when we slowly drove the car back home we actually had fun. Giving to community, being part of community, made the individual experience more full. It was fun to have a broken car!

So, in this video class we focus on really hugging in the energy around us, the energy of community, to give us more support in postures.

Enjoy! john