Amy in Paris

Paris in Autumn 2007

There is something about Paris that connects me right in to the diverse nature of the Universe.
Even when I have fleeting thoughts of never returning there again, I end up planning another trip before I even leave.

Walking down Vielle Du Temple every day toward the Seine to Rasa Yoga, my senses are heightened as I am hit with every possible smell, sight, and sound: A shop window filled with pastries that are really sculptures of art, several piles of dog-doo to avoid, a whiff of perfume from the woman who just walked by, the sound of a baby crying over the drone of church bells ringing cacophonously, the sight of a woman throwing open the doors to her ancient balcony and stepping outside to greet the day, men and women lined up eating at the sidewalk brasserie, the nasty smell of urine, a noisy Vespa squeezing through the narrow street, footsteps on the cobblestones, and wafting aromas of French bread.

The depth of experience in Paris is so rich, the people are so full of life, it is truly international,
and every nook and cranny on the streets is filled with some magic secret discovery bekoning me to slow down, and "check it in". Even when I am melancholy in Paris, usually a stroll across the bridges linking I'lle St. Louis with the land does the trick. Inevitably there are musicians on the bridge singing the exact words or rocking a solo that was just the thing needed to shift my mood.

There are layers of great beings to get to know in Paris, and I happily reconnect each year with my Parisian family though big dinner parties on roof tops and in flats, and celebrate it all with the growing Parisian Anusara kula when I teach at Rasa Yoga.

This year we were blessed to have students from New York City, Boulder, Finland, Geneva, London, India, France, Singapore, and Germany. I was as usual, completely blown away by the evolution of everyone's practice and harmony as a kula, in just 15 months since I was last here. Anusara is no longer a seedling in Paris's soil, it is a beautiful
plant about to totally bloom.