Is This Heaven?

Nah, it's Massachusetts.  Sorry.  But, I could easily see spending the rest of my living days there.

Laurel and I recently attended a workshop at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.  For those who aren't familiar, Kripalu is the Holy Grail for those who practice yoga, we've wanted to go there for years.  For some perspective, imagine you are going to the Vatican, Mecca, Jerusalem, whatever holy place is important to you, and how giddy you would be to go there.  That was how I felt as we set off on our journey.

"Appreciation Instead of Expectation"

The beginning was difficult, as is often the case, "you can't get there from here".  We started out at 4 in the morning, finally arrived at 2, and our room wasn't ready.  We finally got to our room at 4 in the afternoon, 12 hours of travel, tired, sweaty, and irritable.  To be fair, they were very clear up front, you can check in at 2, but rooms may not be ready until 4, so I had no one to be angry with other than life itself, which did me absolutely no good, or me for poor travel planning, which again, does absolutely no good.  Not a great start to our trip to nirvana, but it was time to start appreciating and put my First World problems aside.

"Returning to Your True Nature"

The workshop we chose was led by Jillian Pransky, a very seasoned and accomplished teacher, who uses yoga, meditation, and mindfulness techniques to help us develop our spiritual health and wellness.  We spent four days in classes with 30-40 other people, absorbing what Jillian had to say, and also doing yoga, meditation, enjoying nature and having great conversations along the way.  I would never try to put into words what Jillian does or how she makes it such a great experience, but the main technique she uses is called "LARLAR".  LARLAR is an acronym for:

• Land 
• Arrive
• Relax 
• Listen 
• Attend
• Respond

The first LAR, Land, Arrive, Relax, was perfect for me based on the start.  I needed to land in my space, get grounded after a long journey.  I needed to truly arrive, find my breath and get centered.  I needed to relax, and it's really much deeper than that, I needed to find those areas of my body that hold the tension, that instinctively don't relax.  Maybe, just maybe, my "flight in" was a perfect way to start this workshop.

We practiced, we learned techniques and tools to grow, and we had an incredible amount of fun.  Laurel and I were so impressed with Jillian and her capabilities, we bought her book, and we've started looking ahead to our next adventure with her.  I can't recommend her enough.  She brings such a wealth of knowledge, she gave us so many tools to work with, and she brings her message with warmth, sincerity, and humor.  

"Shiny Happy People"

Recently I saw a show that brought up the song "Shiny Happy People" by REM.  I never really paid any attention to the song, but I decided to watch the video on YouTube.  I would challenge anyone to watch it and not be incredibly happy afterward, even if it is fairly silly and trite.  It's just a fun video to watch.  This song resonates with me as I think about my time at Kripalu.  Some various anecdotal experiences from my time there:

• When we first arrived, there was a young lady walking a large Poodle, named Poodle(how appropriate!), and she asked if we would mind petting her dog.  Her dog was old, 14, and if she sees people, she wants to be petted.  Of course, we loved the opportunity to pet her dog.  When we were leaving, there was a man walking the same dog.  Same request.  We found out that his daughter worked at the bookstore and couldn't get away to walk her dog, so he was doing it.  Again, we loved the opportunity, a perfect beginning and ending to our trip.
• There was a group of deaf people sitting at the one table near us every day for breakfast.  They were signing to each other each morning during breakfast, smiling, laughing, it was a beautiful sight.  As Laurel pointed out, it was supposed to be a silent breakfast, so yes, they were probably violating the rules, but I just find sign language so beautiful, I simply enjoyed seeing their conversations.
• I saw Rolf Gates.  I wish I could say I met him, because I so desperately wanted to thank him for starting me on my spiritual and mindfulness reading journey.  Seven or eight years ago, I read "Meditations on Intention and Being", and then "Meditations From the Mat" (OK, I read them out of order), and I was hooked.  Since then I've read several Stephen Cope books, Jack Kornfield, Michael Singer, Thich Nhat Hanh, Max Strom, and many others, a wealth of wonderful books and stories about being present, finding your dharma, living your true life.  These books have meant so much to me, and someday, I'd love to thank Mr. Gates for starting me on this journey.  Someday.
• Kripalu has several programs going on simultaneously and overlapping, so the campus was vibrant and alive the entire time.  There was a menagerie of people, all ages, race, ethnicity, just a melting pot of people on their own individual journey.  
• Kripalu has several technology-free areas.  For the most part, we saw little use of computers, cell phones, anything while we were there.  It was so nice to escape technology even for a few days.
• Probably partially because of the dearth of technology, or because of the type of people who come to a setting like this, people were so nice.  As noted, there are lots of programs, lots of people, and as you'd pass by them, they'd smile, say hello, hold the door for you, thank you for holding the door for them.  People were so intentional, I have to believe part of it is where we were, but also no one was "doom scrolling" on their phones.
• They have a beautiful labyrinth, winding through many small trees, it creates such a peaceful, introspective time to reflect, I've done labyrinths before, but walking one in such a natural setting carries a special meaning.
  
  

"Returning to Your True Nature"

OK, here's where I went a bit negative based on an incredible positive.  My God, the beauty all around us.  A beautiful lake, rolling hills, filled with huge trees, walking trails everywhere, you couldn't look in any direction without seeing nature in all its glory.  I then thought about where we live, and another song came to mind, "Big Yellow Taxi", or at least one line from the song, "Paved paradise, put up a parking lot".  Where we live, they are bulldozing everything, all the fields, trees, habitats for animals, are gone.  Just houses and apartments for as far as the eyes can see.  It was so relaxing and peaceful to be immersed in nature, even for such a short amount of time.

The best part, of course, is I got to share this journey with the person I love more than anything else in the world.  She was the one who started me on this journey, we have traveled it together for the last eight of our 42 years, and I look forward to further adventures at Kripalu or wherever our spiritual journey takes us.  Laurel, yoga and nature.  Almost Heaven.