Field Notes from the San Francisco Yoga Journal Conference 2010

Wow! I can't believe how much fun I had last weekend up in San Francisco at the Yoga Journal Conference.  I learned many things, not necessarily in this order:

1. That deodorant that may kill you really works.
On Day 1, Debbie confirmed that my natural paste was not doing the trick.  She lent me her aluminum rich Secret and one pass lasted the rest of the weekend.

2. How do we teach without pushing off of another system.
Communication is such a mystery, but the reliance of comparison to make a point always shrinks the information.

3. I am in love with Angela Farmer and Victor van Kooten is pretty cool too.
I took 2 classes with Angela and Victor and one with just Angela.
Ganesha's Seat, Inner Voices and Nadi Sodhana.  The links will take you to extensive notes, video and photos.

4. The male patriarchal system is alive and well in the yoga community and there is an effort to nurture the word 'Guru' back into our hearts.

5. The food in San Francisco is really really good.

6. Tias Little is sharing the unwinding modalities like Feldenkrais in his classes.  I really like this.
In both his Unwinding the Neck and Unwinding the Back, he offered simple rhythmic patterns to help the body get unstuck.

7. Knowing all the details about how the breath works makes it even more magical.
Roger Cole's course, Breathing: Physiology and Practice was supremely geeky.  I love yoga nerds.

8. The nice people at Yoga Journal work really hard to produce a stellar product that is helping to spread the messages of Yoga.

9. It is surprising when people look just like their head-shots.

10. I have met a lot of great people through Facebook.

11. Learning is an art.
The last time I was at a YJ Conference I was struggling with the dual feeling of "I suck" and "I am better than everyone here."  This makes you miserable and closes you up to learning anything. This time I sat up front in every class putting myself at the feet of my teachers, introduced myself to my mat mates, socialized and went out at night.  I followed my intuition at every turn, making small leaps towards eventually saying yes when Ashley from YJ asked me to teach at their HQ on the Wednesday after the conference.

12. Debbie will always choose the bright color.
Getting dressed in the morning, I had 3 GFs to check my clothing choices.  I am so grateful to Uschi and Catherine for ensuring that I looked great.  I love BeyondYoga, Mixie and LuckyUschi.

13. Transmission.
More happens when the relationship is correct than hours of words.

14. My Pelvic Floor is uncharted territory.I took an immersion with Leslie Howard called on the Female Pelvic Floor, about 8 hours worth of information.  She is awesome and her work is very important. The main homework assignments were a)Talk to your girlfriends  b)Self Massage, c) Do the exercises given.  I have not written out my notes yet, but I recommend taking her workshop.

15. I have a lot of good friends who live up north and I might try to make it up there more often.

16. Sebastapol is beautiful.
After the conference, I visited my good pals Marc and Mary.  They live on a chicken, lamb and pig farm.  I did farm chores one morning.

17. I love Ojai.
I am a country mouse and I love the magical valley where I live.