Finding a Bit of Tranquility in the City of Brotherly Love
Every February I make my way to the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia, to attend one of my fraternity's annual leadership conferences. This February, I also made my way to find a dose of tranquility. I arrived in Philly at 8:15 AM yesterday and after settling in a bit, I met up with one of my first Tranquil Space ("TS") teachers, Colleen at Dhyana Yoga to take an all-levels vinyasa class together. (We actually have been planning this for over three months.) We went to Justin's class at the Rittenhouse studio. It was exactly what I needed yesterday - a perfectly paced, challenging, core-building, sweat-producing yoga class. It's been a while since I sweat this much and it felt great. We started the class right off with slow (5 breath) navasana crunches. The sequencing was intense at times, a lot on one leg, and holding poses for five long breaths before transitioning - but that was all part of the challenge. Justin emphasized not only finding your edge in each asana and listening to your body, but also pushing up against the edge to see if you can find a new edge. Although I wasn't finding my way into handstand at each opportunity that arose, I did find myself having done over 120 navasana crunches to build core strength, flying into bakasana (crane), twisting and flying into parsva bakasana (side crow), and pushing myself beyond where I might otherwise stop. It was awesome. Next time I'm in Philly, I will be going back.
After class, Colleen and I met up with a former TS tranquility concierge - Lisa, who's also in Philly now, at Continental for brunch. Lisa's been pursuing her 200-hr certification at Dhyana Yoga and Colleen is actually exploring one of their immersion trainings. We enjoyed a delicious brunch, while talking about yoga, teacher training, and life. It was really cool how Tranquil Space brought us all together. I even brought some of the new TS flair for them (maybe you can see it in the picture of the three of us).
After brunch, Colleen headed home, while Lisa and I made our way down Walnut Street to do some shopping. We had a great time making our way into Lululemon and then getting a little lost in Athleta - we found a few too many great pieces to outfit us for teaching and taking class, even bought a matching top, because it was just too cute. It was so much fun.
After the great afternoon out and about, i headed back to my conference. I had such a wonderfuk afternoon. I am definitely planning to get back up to Philly again soon for another visit filled with yoga, friends, and shopping.
