Michael…on the road
Two (2) Conferences, one (1) Keynote, two (2) Workshops, one (1) Therapeutic Life Mentoring assignment, four (4) locations, one (1) brief family Fourth of July Celebration, eight (8) flights, and today, after five (5) weeks on the road, I finally return home. Yes, it’s been a busy June and start to July and, although I’m a little travel weary and looking forward to some home time, I feel great about all that has happened in our travels.
Lori and I were very pleased about the way Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapists/Teachers showed up at SYTAR. It was an honor for me to deliver the opening keynote address and I was pleased to have the excuse to reach out and interview colleagues I hadn’t touched base with in a while like Larry Payne, Richard Miller, Gary Krafstow, Leslie Kaminoff, Judith Lassiter, Rama Jyoti Vernon and many others to help me synthesis shared insights on the past Thirty (30) Years of Yoga Therapy in America – the topic of my keynote. (Note: We will let you know when the SYTAR video containing my keynote is available)
Also at SYTAR, our Phoenix Rising Trauma Team created a fantastic CIC presentation which was delivered by Renee Groenemann and Soleil Hepner. It was well received and impressed many. We had a booth staffed by PRYT volunteers, as well as quite a few PRYTers who chose to be fully immersing themselves in all the workshops. What particularly impressed me was the amazing way in which our practitioners showed up – being present in a way that reflected the essence of who we are as a community. We gained a new student who attended last week’s Level 1 in Bristol because she was so impressed with the vibrancy and cohesion of the Phoenix Rising team present at SYTAR. Thank you to all who came and represented us!
A few days later we headed to Denver in support of our team hosting their first ever back to back Levels 1, 2, 3 and A&P in the Rocky Mountain Region. While there, I led an Experience Phoenix Rising (EPR) workshop for both the students and general public. Shout out to Bev, Liz, Kat and the whole team in Denver for creating a great presence for our work in your area. Lori and I took the opportunity to shoot over to Boulder and met with the interim Editor and a writer of Yoga Journal, had tea with Laura Kupperman, leader of the Facebook Group ‘Yoga Therapy’ and spent a little time in meditation at the Shambhala Center. Lori will head back in September for Yoga Journal Live – Estes Park.
On to San Diego for the Yoga Journal Live conference. Again we had great team support from the SoCal PRYTers. Thanks to Malinda Romine, Bill Brown, Jessyka Young, and Alex van Frank, and Jill Hybertson for your help, presence and all the mini-sessions you offered. Malinda hosted me to lead an EPR workshop presentation at Yoga Jai Ma and Lori and I also took advantage of the time to visit some other yoga studios like the Soul of Yoga in Encinitas and took a tour of the Chopra Center with PRYTer Kris Slugg who works there. Needless to say we loved the weather in sunny California and can understand why Soleil chose to live there. The area seems a natural place for a strong PRYT presence going forward. Did I mention we like it there?
With no more than a pit stop after our red-eye flight home, it was off to Maine for a family celebration over the 4th and then over to Bristol for to mentor Alex Bauermeister in her first Level 1 SOLO. She did a fantastic job with a very talented group of students. I’ve very much enjoyed mentoring Alex and am pleased to welcome her to our faculty as our newest Level 1 teacher. Congrats Alex!
Now for a few days break before returning to Bristol to visit Modules A and B led by Sarah Kaczor followed by our PRYT Professionals Conference, and then…checking in on our last course of the summer: GFT led by Lyn Tally. In August, I plan to create time to work on a new book before heading to Japan to lead the Level 3 midterm with Toshiro Miura.
Yes, it was a whirlwind, yet the last several weeks have given Lori and I a visceral experience of the many ways our work is showing up in the world. We have a deep sense of gratitude for the fantastic connections that exist in our PRYT community and the amazing work being done by our practitioners and teachers. I’m loving it and looking forward to our next round of travel in the fall. Hope to see you on one of these rounds.
