We enjoyed a lovely Sunday in London. After a lazy morning of writing and chatting I forced myself off the sofa to walk 35 minutes to Primrose Hill for a Yoga class on the basis it might actually help to energise me...which it did.
Tri Yoga was literally buzzing with both people and energy and it therefore came as no surprise to discover that one of the most respected and recognised international Kundalini Yoga teachers was holding a weekend workshop at the centre...quite incredible how the coming together of Kundalini practitioners could create such a change in resonance to the place. As much as I enjoy Kundalini Yoga I was there to attend an Anusara-inspired class with an American teacher called Lisa instead.
I once shared a room with a German girl called Kersten on a Yoga retreat in Goa who was a dance therapist and an Anusara Yoga practitioner and she said to me that she thought I would really enjoy Anusara Yoga. Kersten has been on my mind quite a bit recently, not least due to my new found love of dancing but also because I have been looking for a form of Yoga that suits where I am at in my practice...and so I guess it was no surprise that the one class I could make at Tri Yoga that day was an Anusara one.
It was a joy. Lisa is a joy. I have never experienced a class quite like that at TriYoga, she clearly has a regular following and it reminded me a little of my own classes back home (or at least my intention for my classes at home) where there is a sense of familiarity, community and light heartedness. Lisa has a beautiful energy and I realised that often my own classes follow a similar kind of format, in terms of moving the body to open the heart space, while grounding the energy, or attempting to ground the energy.
What I particularly loved about the classes, and something I would like to incorporate into my own daily practice one day, was teachings from Patanjali's Yoga sutras. The class was therefore based on the concept of faith and courage, not some airy-fairy, "yes I have faith out there" perspective but more so about the faith that comes from within in a grounded and real nature, with courage and therefore inner strength and yet a connection to something even deeper - thus we should approach our practice, as we do our daily life, with both faith and courage.
I learnt lots in an experiential manner and for me, therefore, the class was fantastically inspiring, so a huge, huge thank you to Lisa.
After class Hayley met me at Primrose Hill and just as we were leaving her housemate, Emma, called to tell us there was a festival taking place in Regent's Park - the Camden Green Fair & Bikefest no less - so we walked there on our way into town. And I am pleased we did as I love these sort of things and it reminded us both of being in Byron and the whole Sunday market experience with lots of eco and information stalls and people selling second hand books, clothes, jewelry, and arts and crafts.
There was a meditation tent where a Hare Krishna group were singing and over the other side of the Fair was some more live music, the instruments powered by some guys on bicycles, plus of course children's arenas and picnic areas. Hayley and I got some food from the vegan & vegetarian stall and sat on the grass and listened to the music. Hayley's other housemate, Lawrence joined us, quite by chance, he just happened to be heading in our direction - small world after all!
From there we headed to Oxford Street and stopped to have a look at a couple of the 216 (I think) elephants statues that have been placed throughout London and are being auctioned to raise funds for an African elephant charity, great stuff. Laden down with bags and a beautiful bouquet of birthday tulips (that we had to collect from Hayley's work), we caught the bus back to Kentish town and walked from there through the quiet and pretty backstreets towards Hayley's house in Tufnell Park.
We stopped at this lovely local pub called the Pineapple for an alfresco drink and ended up staying for a few hours chatting to some locals about all sorts of things. I love these random encounter when you find yourself meeting people who share similar interests despite coming from very different backgrounds an life experiences; one of the ladies volunteers for a Tibetan charity, one of the guys share my passion for poetry, all had some love-related experience to share, one even chatted to Hayley about the church we had visited the previous day.
It was such a random, go with the flow evening, Hayley and I were completely late for dinner and literally laughed our way back home. After eating (and thank you to Emma and Lawrence for a lovely dinner, still warm and waiting for us in the oven) we then spent the next 2 hours baking...long story but being her birthday Hayley promised to take into work home made cakes and tarts and while she had prepared half of them that morning she still had half to go...needless to say there were a few late night challenges but we were all baked and cleaned up by midnight, hoorah!
So thank you to Hayley and her housemates and all the other lovely people I met over the weekend, it was a truly relaxing and uplifting few days, I don't believe we should ever underestimate the healing power of laughter and spending time with best friends. Love you lots. xx
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