Day: June 22, 2011

I welcomed the long days of the year by wrapping up what felt like a too-long day in the middle of Times Square. Douglass Stewart taught a yoga class right in the heart of it all. He helped us to focus on how to feel a part of all of that energy without letting it frazzle our nerves. Could we be present and embrace the energy without letting it burn us out? Could we focus on internal hum as we embraced the outer hum of the city all around us, and in the process could we still have fun with it all? By the end of the class, I found myself feeling so much gratitude for the energy that surrounded us. It is a conscious, deliberate choice to live in this crazy city, and I’m thankful for its energy and it dynamism. So are the 8,000 yogis who took in one of three classes held today in Times Square in honor of the solstice.

Solstice 2007
When I moved back to New York in 2007, I attended the yoga in Times Square event for the first time and wrote this post about the experience. It was a much smaller event then. I had been back for all of 10 days and I hadn’t found a job yet so I had plenty of time to get re-acquainted with New York. I spent the first part of my career in Times Square managing Broadway Shows, and spent some time living on 49th & 9th just above the beloved Coffee Pot. In many ways, this area of the city helped to sculpt my view of the world as an adult because for many years this handful of blocks was my world.

Throughout Douglass’s class, I thought back to the summer solstice of 2007. I distinctly remember being on my mat in Savasana and feeling some street dust (or what I hoped was only street dust!) fly up my nose. I was a newly-minted MBA, a novice blogger, and a little hazy at best about my future. I felt adrift but distinctly certain that I was meant to be in New York City. I couldn’t articulate why I felt that I had to be in New York; all I knew is that it felt like home and I was craving to feel at home.

Looking back, I really should have been scared out of my mind with no job, a few suitcases of clothes, and a shared apartment sublet in Astoria, Queens, graciously offered up by a friend of mine. I had enough money to survive for a month or so and then I would hit rock bottom. And here I was lying on the ground in the middle of Times Square focusing on trying to find peace in the madness. I am more optimistic than I give myself credit for!

Solstice 2011
Fast forward to 2011, and I am amazed at the transformation – in my yoga and in my life. New York has indeed become my home, I am financial stable, earn part of my income from writing and teaching yoga, and have put the art and science of business together by beginning my own company, Compass Yoga. Despite all of this change, I laid down in the middle of Times Square on my yoga mat, still excited about the future, still soaking in all the vibes the same way I did 4 years ago. Though I could mentally register all the changes that have taken place in my life in the past 4 years, I was struck by how much my body’s experience of this year’s solstice class mirrored my experience 4 years ago.

New York, can I get an OM?
Toward the end of the class, Douglass asked us to do a round robin OM in which you take a breath when you need one and just continue the rolling OM chant. It’s one of my favorite ways to close a practice. The magical part was when our OMs were complete. The OM kept rolling in the city around us. The low hum that the city has sounded remarkably similar to the OM created by all of us. Unity, yoga, at its very best.