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Joy is a form of expansion - and Summer with us will be full of it
Summer season is ripe for soul expansion. We will be in it, and of it. Our aim is to support our entire community's alignment with the expansion of Summer's sun's rays, felt now in the next few months in all their cosmic glory. Think delight. Connection. Community. Contentment. Joy. Three dates, half days, once a month, all inclusive. Come once or (preferably!) all three times. Enjoy Yoga time, beach time, meal time, and play around the Hamptons when you're done!
Yoga's premise centers around expansion, but let’s start with it’s antithesis, since Yoga itself is a practices which recognizes dualities and their interplay. I wouldn’t know hate without love, neglect without care, ups without downs, smiles without frowns. Experience is a spectrum, and the longer we practice, the less frequently we abide in the extremes. The wrecking ball of psycho-emotional heat that plays out as we live our lives doesn’t swing so widely; instead, it’s replaced altogether with something like a metronome, a regular, well-paced sense of even keeled-ness, driven by a deep engine we can’t see.
The exact opposite of expansion is Yoga’s starting point, duhkham. This Sanskrit word for suffering, for which Yoga was conceived to minimize, is comprised of duh, constriction, and kham, the space in the heart. Think back to why you started Yoga to begin with. Was everything summer peachy? Or was there a pain, a heaviness, a confusion, some symptomatology that whispered, “try Yoga?” For me it was fear, anxiety, insecurity and straight up paranoia. I was self-medicating, addictive, and realizing I was needing to find something to help me escape the cycle, and in walked Yoga. I truly thank my ex-boyfriend, a learning experience and an unethical mess, for one, causing the realization that I needed help, and two, for having brought it back from one of his escapades. I asked him to show me what he learned, it was exactly what I needed, and I’ve been doing it daily ever since.
Why? Expansion. In the midst of fear and confusion, expansion. While under the influence of ignorance, expansion. While unsure and lacking confidence, expansion. While lost, expand. Trickling here and there throughout the grieving process to support healing, expansion. In hopelessness, expansion. The movement from duhkham to sukham, the opposite of constriction we feel in the state of suffering, is Yoga. An expansion of the space in the chest, where we feel at ease, amazing, joyful, connected, safe, lightness, vitality and content is Yoga.
Make room for joy with us this summer at our Summer of Joy retreats. We’ll use the tools and practices to generate summer within while abiding in Summer itself.