I had the pleasure of teaching yoga at the Ratha Yatra festival in Stanley Park with the Yoga Moves TV team. Anne and I were demonstrating the moves on stage with live kirtan artist Gaura Vani providing beautiful music for everyone, while Sandra led us through a gentle, flowing asana practice. It was late afternoon, the sun was radiating the perfect light and we were overlooking the ocean. It was a full hour of bliss, expressing myself through yoga and singing amongst the stunning backdrop of nature.

As I was reflecting upon the weekend, I realized for that hour that I was fully in alignment with my true nature of feeling joyful, playful and blissful – a situation where I was expressing my purest self. I wasn’t worrying about what I looked like or sounded like. I was looking out into the crowd and saw the smiles and peaceful look on people’s faces as they participated in the class – it lifted me up and I was having fun.
Prior to the festival I had a few sleepless nights with a lot on my mind over events I had no control over. I showed up feeling rather tired and not very social. However I decided to press on and not let my tired mood affect others.
Towards the end of the class, Gaura Vani asked everyone to close their eyes, raise their arms and sing along, chanting “I surrender” and “Krishna”, then we found our way into sitting quietly in meditation for a few minutes. I realized during meditation that this was the perfect moment and all I had to do was to surrender to it. By releasing control to the present moment all of my previous worries slipped away – it was total freedom.