My Pilates Yoga Retreat

Siri Dharma will be the first person to argue there “is.no.Yoga.in.Pilates!”   

However, she will understand, as much as anyone could, why her Big Bear Pilates Intensive is a great yoga retreat for me.  

An important part of the path of yoga is Karma Yoga, understood as a yoga of selfless (altruistic) service - -  in simple terms, being of service. *to lay all your actions at the feet of God.  *whatever virtue I have accomplished, including the merit generated by this practice, and all that I will ever attain,  this I offer for the welfare of sentient beings. ~ dedicated to a practice, a purpose ~

Siri and I have divergent yoga paths, which converged one day when I walked into her Pilates Studio in Los Angeles over 16 years ago.  I was pregnant then, teaching yoga at the time at a nearby Family Fitness.  I chanced upon her studio, and began to flip my earnings from teaching so I could, in turn, have someone work out my pregnant body.  We just celebrated my son's 16th birthday, so now Siri and I have 16+ years of deep friendship and time talking shop.  

Each of us had been schooled in yoga by prominent yogis: she with Yogi Bhajan, for whom she even served as a bodyguard, and I with Bikram Choudhury at the Yoga College of India in Beverly Hills.  Each of us had an appreciation for and experience with Guruji ~ I had been practicing meditation at the Self-Realization Fellowship and already prayed and bowed to “Saints of all Religions, and our guru, Paramahansa Yogananda.”  A dear friend suggested I might like Bikram’s yoga, and she was right.  I attended everyday, 6 days a week (no yoga then on Sundays) and for years.   

Siri (or Dharma, as I often continue to call her) and I understood to our core, the nature of student and teacher, and devotee.  It isn’t exclusive to yoga, it is a teacher, a mentor, an elder.  

“O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.”

There is a great meditation practice on giving and receiving that illustrates how the body receives energy and recirculates, and projects it, thus acting as a conduit of energy.  

Siri’s training and strengthening my body during my pregnancy were the seedlings also of an enduring, supportive friendship.  It is most fair to say during our friendship over 16 years we have seen each other at our strongest and weakest.

I am not a Pilates person and to ask me about the Airplane Boards or the Push-Up Handles, I'm not too helpful, but I am totally happy to smile, greet and direct traffic as best as possible, photograph, and run errands as necessary.

If you see where this is going, her Pilates retreat becomes my opportunity to wholeheartedly offer my skill set, “sizzling with enthusiasm*”  as an offering to my teacher, friends, all the dear ones in the room, my teachers, my teachers’ teachers, to a Lord most high, Saints of all religions, et al.; I am so in my right place and the satisfaction and pleasure I derive from it make it feel like play, not labor, and it is for the good of all mankind.

It is a joyous unexpected gift of my yoga practice, the return on the investment ~ Bikram would say you do yoga, you live on the interest.  

When you live a life in service, everything you do in service even if it is washing your dishes,  brings satisfaction and joy, and cultivates love and good spirit in everything you produce.  The spirit shines a little brighter in Big Bear than at the sink at home, hanging out with comrades, clear skies, a boat ride on the lake underneath the stars, fresh air and friendship fellowship, which makes it extra special.  

Did I stretch and sit and chant and breathe om all weekend long?  No, I took strides up and down stairs, packed and unpacked Pilates equipment, made sandwich runs, swiped credit card purchases, tidied the kitchen, photographed, and with little sleep, repeated twice.  The time brought growth and challenges, stretched my boundaries ~ and a dip in the jacuzzi, which I soaked in, and the wonderful views, from the lake and starry nights, to the tops of the trees and blue skies.

Next year, we'll be at it again - August 22, 23, 24 Big Bear Chateau

Dedicating “Alfie” to Siri Dharma Galliano for my 50th ~

*http://www.expressionsofspirit.com/yoga/eight-limbs.htm

**http://www.heartspace.org/writings/traditional/Prayers.html

***Eva Redick, piano teacher.