The last few months for me have resembled a perfectly flowing extended Kripalu Vinyasa Class.  I have journeyed back and forth from Switzerland to the United States several times, safely.  Discovered that each trip had a beginning, a middle and an end only to take another breath and find myself beginning again.  By allowing for smooth transitions between each event whether my daughter’s graduation, visits to see my aging parents, family weddings, guiding yoga classes and a 10 day opportunity to assist Kripalu Vinyasa Teacher Training, I have learned that the most gracious way to travel is to travel slow, fully participating in each moment. There has been a natural evolution to my path, each experience building on the previous moving toward a peak reality.  The presence of this reality allowing me to dive inward noticing where the beauty lies, the intermittent kinks reside and the knots build up.  Inviting me to savor the spacious, juicy terrain while also doing the work to release the sticky, sometimes painful inner landscape. I have had to modify my plans allowing for more comfortable travel.  Often creating options to adapt to my needs and the needs of those around me. Of course there were moments of meditation, reflection and introspection, encouraging me to discover what is true and real for me, Om Tat Sat! In addition to finding movement within an underlying stillness. Throughout my journey, there was carefully selected music in the back round ranging from Vance Joy to Kick Bong.  Each song creating the bhav(mood) for my wanderings.

Coming full circle, I return to the perfectly flowing Kripalu Vinyasa class. As you may have detected from my personal journey, there are components to a Kripalu Vinyasa class that coin it “Kripalu Vinyasa.”   The ingredients include and are not limited to:

• safety
• a beginning, middle and end
• movement within stillness
• modifications, options, props
• journey
• smooth transitions
• moments of inward reflection
• slow it down, sense and feel
• evolution of sequences
• intensity
• music perfectly sequenced
• prana response
• time for meditation
• an experience for the practitioner
• Om Tat Sat: that which is true and real

With that being said, my Sankalpa/Intention for the next 40 days is to dive deep into the Kripalu Vinyasa Practice and Teachings both “On and Off” the yoga mat.  Would love to hear what your Sankalpa is?