Yoga at Club Med

I spent the first nine days of 2011 as the guest yoga teacher at the Club Med in Sandpiper Bay, Florida. It was a unique experience that afforded me the opportunity to do the work I love (teaching yoga) while enjoying world class accommodations. Beyond the obvious pleasantries of being in 70 degree weather at an amazing all-inclusive resort in the middle of winter, I got to meet people from all over the world, fly on a trapeze, go sailing and do yoga daily. It was a pretty sweet gig.

I taught every day, morning and at sunset. Classes were an eclectic delight. Most days, I would have the elders from France who couldn’t speak any English at all (and didn’t have any yoga experience), a crew of teenagers with iPods, ear buds, cell phones and lots of questions, serious tennis pros with sculpted bodies and intense focus, worn out moms with baby brain (including myself), and lots of professionals enjoying a few minutes away from the hustle and bustle of their lives.

I had to think for a minute, how do I teach this class? We are outside on bumpy ground, no yoga mats, windy weather with so many ages, phases of life, languages and needs and just 60 minutes. In that moment, I was so grateful for my many years of students that have taught me all the possible ways to do yoga, grateful for gentle and vinyasa flow yoga styles, grateful for hundreds of hours at Kripalu Center and grateful for the beauty of a yoga practice and its endless possibilities.

I’m not sure what I taught or how it landed in each person, but as the week wore on, I noticed something interesting. Yoga was working. These people were having profound shifts, big revelations and wondering how to take this experience home. They were coming daily, sometimes 2x a day for practice. It occurred to me that people are in a very receptive space while vacationing. A healthy space free of the mundane tasks that consume our lives (dishes, laundry, caring for the children, errands). Free from work, ridged schedules and normal stressors and free to just relax, reflect and listen to themselves. Add yoga to the mix and watch out! Transformation potential skyrockets. This also applied to me, as a teacher. Because I too was on vacation, I was receptive, open, and more present than usual. I was available to stay after class, to listen, to enjoy the moment and available to be considerate and sensitive.

So I’ve been inspired by my students. It’s not the first time. I got home and unpacked my sandy yoga mat, laid it right out on the floor in the midst of my mess-of-a-pile of unpacked luggage and stepped onto it. I ignored the mundane and chose myself for a few minutes. It’s the beginning of a new year, the start of our 21 day yoga challenge at the studio and an opportunity to commit to something. Transformation is just a yoga practice a day away. Life is living with or without me and i don’t need to be on vacation to enjoy it.

Lets see how far this wind carries me…