Wow – what a busy weekend in Bangkok at the Yoga Festival – so many people to connect with and share Yoga and connections.

The Thai people are so warm and welcoming.

There is something beautiful in receiving everyone you meet with anajali mudra (hands in prayer at the heart). Anjali means offering and as we bring our hands together in this offering at our mind centre, we connect the right and left hemispheres of the brain, unifying and yoking our active and receptive nature, nourishing us with awareness. This awareness and acknowledgement repeated as a daily salutation shifts my consciousness in a way that a simple Western wave of the hand does not.

Being surrounded by my own kind, so many Asian faces in bodies similar to mine…bendy over stable and seeking balance and sensation. I know these bodies, I live in this body. So much I want to share with my people, these beautiful, kind people…

And can you imagine being in a room full of 150+ yogis and as we begin in meditation, and come out… I am sitting in padmasana (Lotus) and fold forward and more than 80% of the people get into a quick lotus and fold forward too! That would NEVER happen in the US!! The Asian body and the Western body are very, very different, and I have been noticing and commenting about this for years. I’ve approached Yoga Journal and other magazines about discussing this, but we are very PC in the US, so these types of subjects don’t get discussed!

It is wild to see so many super flexible people…in one class, a young girl folded like a piece of paper into uttanasana (standing forward fold) and I noticed her ELBOWS were resting on the FLOOR. I have been teaching for 17 years and assisted many Yoga luminaries like Erich Schiffmann, Rodney Yee and Judith Hanson Lasater; all of these teachers have taught in large forums of 100+ in conference settings so I have seen a lot of bodies over the years, and I have never seen someone rest elbows on the ground in Uttanasana!

Thailand is a predominately Buddhist country and my journey in Buddhist studies began at 8, so it is lovely to use terminology and references without having to explain or define…

Many of the well known teachers in Asia are caucasian men and as in other countries, students are predominately women. It is an honor and a privilege to be here as an Asian female teacher sharing my experience and bits of information with this audience. Perhaps I am Yin to existing Yang…balancing the equilibrium 🙂

So many visuals and experiences to share in teaching and developing community around the world.

Yoga unifies. It is the community that supports and is refuge for us. Helping to create a global Yoga community is an honor and a privilege.

Namo, I bow.