Now where did I leave off on my quest to thoroughly blog my adventure at the NYC Yoga Journal conference? (click here to read part one! Or about Shiva Rea’s class).
I believe I promised an in-depth blog post about my class with Rodney Yee. Well, I will write about that (pinky promise!) but today I want to finish my Saturday events by telling you the chocolate chakra class I took with David Romanelli. If you never heard of him – check out his page here. This guy is hysterical. As real as you can get with a dorky smile, a winning attitude, and a love for food, chocolate and all things yoga. The class was more yin yoga based, holding a few restorative poses as he told snippets of fun stories about each chakra. It was exactly what I needed to wrap up my yoga filled Saturday and I don’t know about you, but holding forward fold pigeon for five minutes makes me either want to fly or cry. Both are pretty satisfying feelings! David was also on the food and yoga panel the next day and he kept the conversation light and fun. As much as I love yoga teachers that are intense about their craft, it is refreshing to have some fun mixed in there.
I was about to call it quits for the day and meet with MT for dinner when I decided to find some remnants of energy and watch Cameron Shayne’s demonstration of Budokon yoga. I am glad I did because boy was he delicious! And I mean it in every sense of the world – Cameron Shayne is one good looking man and his body clearly shows the hours of yoga and martial arts practice he must have spent (my favorite quote from him was “i AM my practice I do not “do” my practice”). He did a great, very animalistic, demonstration and then it was our turn to try some of the pose sequences. I only stayed for a bit because of my level of exhaustion but I definitely want to try budokon next time I go up to NYC! Although, after perusing their website it does seem a bit intense…
ANYWAY, Sunday I woke up bright and early to make it to Nichol Nicole’s 7am meditation. I hear she is hosting Solstice in Times Square this year and I wish I could go!! The first class of the day was David Swenson’s balances and inversions class. To say I fell in love with him would not give it justice. I fell in LOVE. I want to make a little DS robot to keep under my bed so whenever I need a good dose of laughter and truthfulness, I can pull him out and just listen. OR when I am not in the mood for that, I would just press the play button and he would perform demonstrations that would give me the permanent awe face. Seriously, this guy is the total package. Not only is he hilarious, but he is also so serious about his practice and so dedicated it permeates his entire being. He walked us through a quick Ashtanga primary series to warm up our bodies and then we spent the entire class doing partner work and learning how to perfect our transitions from downdog to forward fold and from forward fold to chaturanga. Well, some people in the class were perfecting. I was like a fish out of water, flopping everywhere trying to not to make a COMPLETE asana of myself – laughing the entire time. He used me in various demonstrations (AH DAVID SWENSON!) and with just a flick of his wrist I was doing crazy things like going from a seated cross legged position to chaturanga. Now do you see my need to have a DS model 2.0 under my bed? Some of his quotes from the class -
- When asked about a specific way to do a pose he answered “what feels good when you’re doing a pose? just do that”
- “Gotta learn to be efficient with our movements; to be graceful is to be minimal in our actions. Relax where possible, activate where necessary”
- “Yoga is not about tricks – but to how to use prana to shape you into a better person in the world; if a pose isn’t happening, what’s the point of being grumpy?”
It was a fantastic start of my Sunday and although I would have loved a picture with him, I felt a bit too teenage guppy in movie-star love to ask him. So I walked to my Sadie Nardini class on cloud nine – arms tired, core tired, but super excited for what Sadie had to teach me.
To be continued… 
Namaste.
Wow just reading this makes me want to go to a yoga journal conference. How cool that you got to practice with all these wonderful teachers. Can't wait to read more about your experience. Thanks for sharing!
Again, thanks for sharing your experience…I think I left pretty much the same comment on your previous posts! haha!
LOVE David Swenson. I took a class from him at YJ SF this year and it was so great. And I agree with you – he is so cute you just want to have him around with you everywhere!!!
Fun! I took a class with David Swenson years ago and he IS a blast! He taught me that humour can be a part of yoga and in our everyday lives. "Lighten up" is a life-long lesson. Loved reading your description of his class!