Service was a recurring theme at the Omega Institute's Being Yoga retreat held in Rhinebeck from Aug. 20-22. More than 400 participants attended, socializing and taking classes with more than 25 yoga teachers."Your life is a tapestry. You are here now; you got here. You worked to be here. Now let the baggage go, and the resentment and guilt. Exhale pain out; inhale light to surround you. Now go out and feed the poor. Get up, work, share," instructor Gurmukh Khalsa said.
"For most people, strength comes out in adversity. We all have the potential to become Mother Theresa," said her husband, Gurushabd Khalsa.
The Khalsas, who trained with Yogi Bhajan in India, havefounded Golden Bridge, a yoga and meditation center with locationsin New York City and Los Angeles.
Gurmukh Khalsa also teaches pre- and post-natal care to mothers, and works with Amrit Davada World Health Organization to bring much needed medical supplies to orphanages in India, Tibet and Mexico.
During the weekend, teachers emphasized yoga is more than a mere stretching class, challenging participants to leap into a state of interconnectedness and surpass their boundaries.
Poughkeepsie resident Lisa Prince Fishler said she attended Sharon Salzberg's class on equanimity meditation. Fishler, the founder of HeARTs Speak, a Poughkeepsie-area nonprofit that helps photographers take pictures of rescued animals to increase their chances of adoption, said she found Salzberg's class helpful to her work.
This type of meditation "helps cultivate ... spacious stillness, leading to better navigating life's challenges and accepting things as they are. (Salzberg) stressed that this was not a state of indifference, but rather the foundation for loving kindness and compassion toward ourselves and those around us."
Omega Institute Managing Editor Jenn Brown taught a session in yin yoga, which slowly works the connective tissues around the sacrum, hips and lower back.
"The practice is quiet and contemplative and provides us with an opportunity to practice a form of meditation," said Brown of yin yoga, "We use the breath and sensations in our body as things to focus on, supports to help us be in the present."