Yoga home…. Yoga Family and how to hold on to the positive

This post is long overdue.... and deserves to be written. New York can be an urban, frenetic mad house. It is in many ways not only the city that never sleeps but also the city that doesn't let you sleep! One of the places that makes it worthwhile, sane and at times calm, in comparison to the bustle of the concrete jungle,  is with out a doubt a certain urban oasis found at 430 Broome street as my yoga teacher so aptly put it the other day....
I came to New York as a nomad, a yogi traveler if you will, and on this journey found that there is a place I and many other yogis call home. There are countless yoga schools and yoga studios in New York…. in fact hundreds. One can find any type of yoga they want, need and desire. Anything from very spiritual practices to the most commercial state of the art latest yoga craze. 

Yoga teachers of all traditions have their base here and anything from a very basic no frills yoga studio to a huge yoga palace chain offer tranquility, peace, yoga, magical teas, amazing food and yoga butts. All things for all people. Yoga courses, yoga videos, yoga conferences, yoga teacher training, and a myriad of choices. It has been a privilege and good fortune to practice with some amazing inspiring teachers here in New York over the years, including Dharma Mittra, Cindy Lee, David Life, Sharon Ganon, Guy Donahue, David Swenson to name a few of my yogi heroes.

When I first visited Ashtanga Yoga New York back in May 2010,  I was in for a wonderful surprise and realized then what set it apart from any other yoga "studio" I had been to. The school looked quite different, before its impressive renovation and transformation in 2011. The floors were made of old wood, slightly creaking at each jump back and jump through. A beautiful ornate temple offering to Ganesha, paintings and murals of deities honoring Shiva, Lakshimi bright colors and flowers everywhere… Incense wafted through the space from the morning Puja,  a golden box was available for your payment and or offering for the classes. Warm chai was given after a workshop on the Vedas, and a guided meditation was lead by one of the teachers. No one took your money or asked who you were… you came in, left your donation, bowed to the practice space and silently started your practice…. From 6am onwards there were amazing bodies carefully lined up in rows practicing first, second, third and forth series of Ashtanga Yoga…I distinctly remember practicing next to this tall lanky guy with a full tattoo of a dragon all along his back,  who I later got to know as being a warm, and very funny teaching assistant here at the school. Gold leaf squares marked each place so everyone knew where to go in order to start their daily Mysore practice. This was my first image of AYNY, a yoga school located in a very unimpressive (from the outside!) building on Broome street in Soho…. yet as you go up that first flight of steps and enter the school, you enter a sanctuary. The space has since changed and has been slightly polished from it's earthy predecessor, with new floors, freshly painted white walls, a front desk area and  a new clean finish but what remains unchanged and unspoiled is this sense of coming into a sacred space. 

I must confess that this sacred space has been my salvation, my home away from home, and a port of calm in very troubled waters. I found friends, the warmest of smiles and strong hugs, here I found laughter and joy, a family and lovely energy from people from all walks of life. I found peace during some of the roughest and loneliest times of my journey. Here I found love and surrender. Here I found healing after much heartbreak and disillusionment. I thank the universe everyday for allowing me to be here, learn and be a part of this loving and beautiful community. 

In the eve of a new year, I stand gazing at the horizon and this is the one gift I cherish each morning when I wake up to either work or practice at AYNY.  Thank you Eddie and Jocelyne for welcoming me into your yoga home. 




---Now begins the study of yoga 
Atha Yoga Anushasanam 




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