Hippy, Dippy, Trippy

Last night, I had the pleasure of attending a restorative yoga class with Jay Schwed and his singing crystal bowls as part of my yoga teacher training. I had no idea what to expect but I can assure that what happened wasn’t it. At first, I was taken aback by how beautiful the studio looked with the colorful illuminated bowls and candles glowing everywhere. We all pranced around the studio on our tippy toes and whispered quietly to one another as we waited for the class to begin. The energy was high and we all were excited for the moments ahead.

He began the class by telling us to expect a vast array of emotion, he warned that we might feel anger, frustration or even pure joy. Our teachers quietly walked around and told us to lie back in supported supta badhakonasa and his beautiful music began. The smell of incense burned into our sinus’ and immediately I was catapulted in my early childhood. A time before I knew the grief I would endeavor throughout my life, a time when I thought that smell really was incense burning. A time when I still felt innocent.

The class moved on and next on the pose list was pigeon, one of my beloved favorites. The minutes dripped by and my discomfort began to rise. I shifted and shuffled and felt utter relief when the teacher whispered in my ear to switch sides. My emotions were pumping through me as if they were fresh and new but the discomfort lingered with familiarity and comfort. Why was I walking through my life this way? He reminded us to just let it go. Words I hear all to often but can’t seem to process completely. How does one just let it go? The pain? The burden I felt in my shoulders? I could literally feel it in those moments, as if the world were pressing on top of me and I just needed relief.

The sounds of those bowls were penetrating deep into my soul and my heart begged and pleaded for it to end. I reminded myself that it was only emotion and that I would stay. The class moved on and I was transported back into a different part of my history. I past I often feel ashamed of. I freely admit that I have used food to cope but the things I did during those times feel unbearable to recount. The glow of the lights and the smells burned deeper into the grooves of my mind. My patterns were awakened and I felt broken open.

Time passed and the poses started to feel comforting, like a loving embrace. I felt my shoulders melting and the sounds taking me to a place of peace. A place of content and a place where I once again felt the world was my oyster. A place that reminded me that the past is in the past and that I make the choices each and every day to let those moments go. I make the choice to wallow in my discomfort or to just let it go.

Eventually the time came for color therapy with small egg shaped orbs. We placed them onto our eyes and then onto parts of our bodies that needed healing. I looked around the room and orbs were glowing a rainbow of colors in a vast array of places. I placed my orbs onto my heart and watched as the colors turned from red, to blue, to green, to violet, to yellow, orange and then back to red. I felt at peace and let the healing light rush in. Soon after, the class was over and he told us to be sure to hug someone before we left.

We tiptoed around hugging one another in an energetic trance and finally parted ways into the cold night air. I left feeling unsure of what it all meant and I knew that in the days to come, I could know. I would feel the release in my life and I would be awakened to the possibilities to come. I will stay all the while letting it go.

More on This Topic?

• Getting Real with My Mat
• Starting Over
• Life Lesson # 4358610
• A Time and A Place
• Pushing Too Hard