The Incredible Yoga Workshop with David Williams

It's taken me a week to come up with the courage to try to describe the transcendent experience that was taking a yoga class from David Williams. As you may have discovered from reading this blog, I'm not a woman of little words, but this class left me speechless.

It was like all along I'd thought yoga was this one thing, and his class came along and showed me that what I thought was yoga was only the tip of the yogic iceberg. It's this bigger, deeper, better thing that allows you to connect to something even bigger. I think the word is "sublime."

Clearly, my powers of description are failing me, so I'll revert to listing some of the highlights:

* Williams talked about using yoga as a way to take control of your thoughts (instead of letting them control you). This is big. But I need to learn more. For a few times throughout the week, I was able to apply the concept.

* The yoga itself was surprisingly simple. He started the class by saying, "The most flexible among you are at no advantage; the least flexible among you are at no disadvantage." And he was right. This was about accessing something bigger, not circus tricks.

* The breathing exercises were the hardest and the most transforming part of the class.

* The storytime, where he told the modern history of Ashtanga, was my favorite. But only because I love stories. The rest was equally awesome.

* I only attended the last day of William's workshop (although I'm kicking myself for that). He said that he'll return in about two years. I'm counting down the days.