“Your way begins on the other side. Become the sky. Take an axe to the prison wall. Escape. Walk out like someone suddenly born into color.” ~ Rumi
This week I began the next leg of my yoga teacher journey with ISHTA. Just entering the studio and taking a seat in the back of the room, I felt a vibration there, an energy of the highest order. It’s a place of supreme acceptance, growth, possibility, and support. It is no accident that on a day when every hour at work seemed to break me down, I would walk into this studio and find the beginnings of another way. One of my fellow teachers termed it as the idea of “a return to wholeness.” And that’s exactly how I felt in that space and in that time, whole.
What I am going through in my 9-5 is a form of tapas, a wringing out or burning away, so that I am ready to absorb the energy of a new place, a place better suited to help me operate at the peak of my authenticity. The warm glow of the lights created the perfect balance with the cool cerulean door at the back of the ISHTA studio where we were all huddled together for our first class.
Wendy Newton, our ISHTA teacher, encouraged us to recognize that our only job in this training, and even in life, is to do our practice, the one that opens us up to yoga so that we can be receptive to our teaching. And this teaching is meant for us, and only us, and it is different for everyone. We are each here on this planet, at this time, to learn something quite specific, and our yoga can lead us to that place. It is a particular teaching, taught in a particular way, that suits our particular soul through this leg of the adventure. We must go in search of it, while also slowing down enough to let it find us.
Rumi, I have found my way to the other side.
Published by Christa Avampato
The short of it:
Writer. Health, education, and art advocate. Theater and film producer. Visual artist. Product geek. Proud alumnae of the University of Pennsylvania (BA) and the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia (MBA). Inspired by ancient wisdom & modern tech. Proliferator of goodness. Opener of doors. Friend to animals. Fan of creative work in all its wondrous forms. I use my business skills to create passion projects that build a better world. I’ve been called the happiest New Yorker, and I try hard to live up to that title every day.
The long of it:
My career has stretched across Capitol Hill, Broadway theatre, education, nonprofit fundraising, health and wellness, and Fortune 500 companies in retail, media, entertainment, technology, and financial services. I’ve been a product developer and product manager, theater manager, strategic consultant, marketer, voice over artist, , teacher, and fundraiser. I use my business and storytelling to support and sustain passion projects that build a better world. In every experience, I’ve used my sense of and respect for elegant design to develop meaningful products, services, programs, and events.
While building a business career, I also built a strong portfolio as a journalist, novelist, freelance writer, interviewer, presenter, and public speaker. My writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, PBS.org, Boston.com, Royal Media Partners publications, and The Motley Fool on a wide range of topics including business, technology, science, health, education, culture, and lifestyle. I have also been an invited speaker at SXSW, Teach for America, Avon headquarters, Games for Change, NYU, Columbia University, Hunter College, and the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America. The first book in my young adult book series, Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters, was acquired by a publisher and launched in November 2017. I’m currently working on the second book in the series.
A recovering multi-tasker, I’m equally at home in front of my Mac, on my yoga mat, walking my rescue dog, Phineas, traveling with a purpose, or practicing the high-art of people watching. I also cut up small bits of paper and put them back together as a collage artist.
My company:
I’m bringing together all of my business and creative career paths as the Founder of Double or Nothing Media:
• I craft products, programs, and projects that make a difference;
• I build the business plans that make what I craft financially sustainable;
• I tell the stories that matter about the people, places, and products that inspire me.
Follow my adventures on Twitter at https://twitter.com/christanyc and Instagram at https://instagram.com/christarosenyc.
View all posts by Christa Avampato
“Your way begins on the other side. Become the sky. Take an axe to the prison wall. Escape. Walk out like someone suddenly born into color.” ~ Rumi
Christa Avampato 
Love this post. It’s so true, yoga is a personal practice. We might all look fairly similar how we’re lined up in warrior I, but what happens inside (and isn’t that where the real yoga takes place?) might be different for every single one of us.
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Absolutely! I do think it’s different for each one of us – it’s attuned to what we need at that very moment.
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Good for you!
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