Wilbo Checks Out Yoga Studios, But He Doesn't Sit Down Barebacked

Hi, it was pleasant to meet you and your friend at our coffeehouse by the side of Woodward Boulevard. It took me a little while to see what is now readily apparent. You have made your life sacred by your practice of yoga. I am glad that you've moved towards establishing your own studio. I don't remember discussing my writing with you, but then again, sacred people intuit details about people readily and almost magically.

I wanted to share with you four noteworthy yoga studios I have encountered in my travels. First is Bend Yoga Studio in the Highland Park enclave of Dallas: http://www.bendstudio.com. What's remarkable is that the studio hosts concerts when the studio is not hosting classes. The owner is doing so well with the concerts, she's now in the business of booking "highly conscious" music acts. I think she's expanded to two studios, also.

Second, I was enchanted by this remarkable studio near the Chatsworth Reservoir in Chatsworth, CA, the far corner of the San Fernando Valley: http://www.revivestudios.com. The entire compound is solar powered, if I recall correctly. It also has a coffeehouse and smoothie bar with a changing exhibition of paintings and wall hangings.

Third, Harbin Hot Springs, http://www.harbin.org, is a haven for the yoga spirits who want to live yoga day in and day out. I was astounded when I met the community -- everyone comes out for unconditional dances at the community center three nights a week -- how the practitioners have created lives that flow out of their commitments. Many of them have branched off from Harbin, establishing retreats on land nearby or in the wilds of New Mexico or Arizona.

Fourth, I can't resist adding this Benton Harbor yoga session in a 100 year old horse barn that also triples as a performance space, art gallery and microbrewery: http://liverybrew.com/. The concrete floor is heated. All Livery employees get free yoga, last I knew, and the yoga teacher gets inexpensive space ! All the woman barristas at the Livery have impossibly good posture as a result.

There's three ways that my writing progresses. One, is by traveling to places where life runs a little counter to mainstream culture. All of these yoga centers are clear examples of an alternative way of life. I also am very fond of chapels where the eucharist is adored 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Every Catholic Church in the area has one. Two, I write email essays to people who evoke a certain theme in my mind. Today's your turn, and worry not, this is a one-off. Several have participated for years and print and save my essays. Third, I always celebrate when the ordinary is transcended. For example, today Hannah Montana paraded up Woodward in a line of limos and sedans bearing lighted, nine branched menorahs on their roofs. And personally, today when you let your sacredness be effulgent in the public coffeehouse. But isn't that another definition for namaste --- letting your sacredness be effulgent? The effulgence in me sees the effulgence in you?

Namaste all day.

Wandering Wilbo

Wilbo has gone to a Toga Party, but he's never gone to a Yoga Party.