The next course

My first four months in Mexico were very rich and meaningful, but they were also relaxed. I found time to work in the garden and to watercolor paint. I spent many weekends just walking my land and meditating. Not so, this time around.

It started with one simple invitation: to replicate the program I delivered in Cordoba in December in another city, Orizaba.

I would offer a Kundalini Yoga workshop and kirtan (singing meditation), I would add live flute and harp music to the other yoga classes and I would do two days of private healing sessions.

I was half teacher/half tourist that visit because in a new city there is so much to see! Orizaba is home to the very famous children’s singer Cri Cri and the park is full of the characters from his songs.

Orizaba is another “Pueblo Magico” or Magic Town, so it’s historic river way has been restored, as has a (probably unethical) outdoor zoo.

Here, I tested a new way of teaching. I cut out the division in my teaching. I didn’t offer a yoga workshop, followed by a flute journeying event and then a concert after. This time I put them all together.

The yoga opened the lungs for singing, and the singing relaxed the body for deep journey with the flutes.

Something must have been right in that combination, because a series of workshops and sessions in other cities opened for me. Orizaba, then Perote, Orizaba again, then Cordoba, then Perote. Over night my empty schedule was full of beautiful opportunities to share something new with communities interested in music, in healing and in yoga.

Then my colleague Pati invented a new use for my offering. A very skilled yoga teacher and healer herself, she asked “Why don’t we use this singing and movement combination to focus on disease?” That’s exactly what we did.

Two weeks later, we started a four-week series using sound and movement for healing. Our clients were recovering from chemotherapy, were experiencing extreme stress or were grieving a loss. Unlike my intense Kundalini yoga classes, with jumping and dancing, this class was soft and gentle. But it held true to the elements of Pravada authentic sound, healing mantras, movement and meditation to both listen to the body and liberate it.