Crashing in Montreal

I said a while ago that I hardly know anyone outside of yoga and that's pretty much true. One of the other ways I know people is from Landmark Education. I did the Landmark Forum back in 2004 and since then I've taken a number of courses. (Back in 1991 when I first went to Kripalu to live, the Forum was happening the day I arrived. As I was too early of a resident to join in, I didn't take it. But I lived with 350 people who had just done it. So the Landmark Education distinctions all sound like yoga to me.) I'm redoing the Landmark Forum again this weekend and I'm staying with a friend who did the Forum at the same time. I'm with another yogini and we're crashing in a part of town here in Montreal I can honestly say I don't think I've ever been to before.

It's great! I'm with people I like doing some work I love and it's feeling really good. I've gotten back in touch with people and with myself at the same time and I must say, it's just what the doctor ordered.

I could go on and on about what I'm seeing and how I'm feeling and what ah-has I've had and I may just do that on another day. But I can tell you that I am for sure feeling more myself than I've felt in a long time. I have been doing this stuff for a long time and I stopped almost a year ago - the treks to Montreal seemed too much at one point - and I gave up except for a few short visits.

This happened to me with yoga once too. I stopped for a while. I got creaky and stiff and uncomfortable and I even went numb in my body sometimes at night. That freaked me out and I started going back to yoga practice and I haven't looked back.

I don't imagine that I'll ever give up yoga again. It keeps me sane and in touch with myself and physically comfortable. And after this weekend I think I could probably say that I won't give up being in some sort of Landmark Education program again (there are all sorts of ways I can be doing the education) because it also keeps me sane but rather than having me be in touch with myself so much, I'm more in touch with other people when I'm practising my Landmark stuff. So Montreal's great, but I'm not really here. I'm just crashing for the night while I spend my days and most of the evenings in sessions and on the phone and being in touch with what's really important to me in my life.