A Word From Kim...

Sunday, October 14, 2007 - Kim Groark

My journey into yoga began over ten years ago when I was depressed, addicted and totally stressed out! My very first yoga class was in NYC touched me on a level that I still can not articulate today. After that class, I DIVED into yoga. I began to practice regularly, up to 6 days a week. My life, almost immediately, began to move in a new direction. My body changed. My relationship to my body changed. My eating habits shifted. My depression lifted. Deep inside, I was beginning to love myself again and feel comfortable in my own skin. As I continued to practice, I noticed how it got easier to let go of jobs, boyfriends, habits and friends that were taking away from my life rather than adding to it. When I moved to California, I enrolled in a teacher training course, with no intention to teach, but to simply deepen my own understanding of yoga.

Teaching yoga brought my personal yoga practice to a whole new level. Over the years, I been privileged to witness profound change in my students lives. While the physical transformation is most obvious and celebrated, what is most remarkable to me is all the “other’ stuff…the stuff that really matters! You become kinder. More sensitive. More honest. Suddenly, you’re no longer getting angry all the time. You’re calmer. You’re able to focus. You quit that job you’ve always hated and find the courage to pursue your deepest dreams. You begin to let go of relationships that no longer serve your spirit and health. You begin to appreciate the life that you have. You wake up to the perfection that is you.

My experience has shown me that yoga is both a healing and universal path, one that empowers us to move through this world with greater ease, joy and grace. While committing to a yoga practice can be challenging, the rewards are endless. To get what you want out of your practice requires dedication and a sincere willingness to confront your sadness, your joy, your fears, your dreams, your obstacles, your strength. The best part about yoga is that we can never outgrow it. Like being a parent, it is a lifelong journey that deepens our own evolution, self-realization, and truth. Sometimes the journey is painful and frustrating. Sometimes it is pure ecstasy and you think your heart may break open. At the end of the day, it is a journey worth taking every time.

Blessings on your path,

Kim

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3 comments (Add your own)

1. Green Spirit wrote:: Just about three years ago, I was debating about retiring and searching for some hobbies and areas to spend my time. I had always been reasonably fit: I worked out in the gym, would routinely go on long all day hikes, take major bike rides, and play golf, tennis and ski. My fitness coach suggested I try yoga, since a class was starting up at our center. I went to my first class and was impressed with the full body workout and the lack of pain and suffering I experienced with weight lifting and most aggressive aerobics. It just felt good. I had always thought yoga was some kind of cult following with some exercise thrown in for good measure. But what I experienced was a feeling of deep personal gratification with my effort and a strong desire to do more. I kept going. First once a week, then twice or three times and now I try to practice every day. It is a journey that is constantly challenging and always rewarding.

To me, the journey is not just about myself. I am impressed with the people with whom I come into contact. They are good, loving people who want something better for themselves. They are willing to work hard to improve themselves and would do almost anything to help each other. I experience energy in class that I believe contributes to my well being. I believe I also freely give my energy to the others in the class which likewise helps them. This feeling is something I had never experienced before except in the rare times I led or participated in a completely focused team work environment. This makes yoga something very special.

I plan on doing yoga for the rest of my life. There are things in yoga I know I will never master. But the fun is in the trying. I have always been a happy person. Yoga has made me a happier person. My goals are simple. I would like to continue to learn and help myself and others realize their dreams through yoga. I want to be a peaceful warrior and a green spirit.
October 22, 2007 @ 7:30 AM
2. Jesse wrote:: Its taken me a little while to come around to yoga since I was first exposed to it as a teenager at Unity Woods in Bethesda. I guess (wanting to be a punk rocker) I never thought that really giving the time to relax and love/know yourself was a good idea and that yoga might be narcissistic.

But after touring around playing really loud drums with a glam/electrorock band and living a life of sensual decadence, I had a breakdown, came home and (two years later) realized that all the artificial excitement is a substitute for the self knowledge/love and that being ego-driven takes so much more effort (with so much less return). By the way, I'm just referring to my personal experience not anyone elses: playing music was awesome I'm referring more to the relationships and the substances.

I'm learning that Yoga itself is all about body music(naad) and letting your thoughts/imagination/expression to do what they will without trying too hard. And like many Yoga/Zen masters say: all of the previous stuff is not "bad," it just becomes fertilizer for the lotus/fruit/flower that comes once you discover what you really want life to be about. I still listen to a lot really loud, rough music when I am working out but it's always in context of gently pushing myself and really kicking out the jams on the treadmill.

I recently had the opportunity to pass on what I received from my sister(primary self-love guru) and the wonderful people at Yogaville, which is the Joy/Transcendence/Bliss experienced by seeing Love/God/Self/Child in yourself and others. A long-lost acquaintance from middle school came back into my life and I could tell that she needed someone to support her in moving away from some of the negativity in her life. I gave her a yoga mat. I always want to be selflessly giving away what I know and definitely want to do Teacher Training in a couple of years.

Like Kim, it has been a tricky thing for me to give up all the substances and still be around my old friends. Going to Sacred Space for the past month has sometimes been the only contact I'll have in a day with people other than my family, as I work through this process. It has been such a relief to take refuge in this sangha without pressure to be anybody's fast friend or partner in crime. As for my friend who has since gone back to her home state, she tells me she is making decisions about influences in her life because she is seeing things in a new light since we hung out. I take no ego-credit: its all Patanjali, Suzuki Roshi, Swami Satchidananda,my Dharma friends Josh and Andy, and the Sacred Space teachers. Thank you. Pass it On. OM Shanti
January 19, 2008 @ 5:54 PM
3. jreh wrote:: I have so far taken one class at Sacred Space, which I loved, and plan to take many, many more. The teacher of my class was someone I am familiar with from Thrive. I take classes at Thrive as well, and will continue to do so. I understand that there was some sort of conflict that lead to people leaving Thrive and subsequently establishishing Sacred Space though I do not know any details. Whatever it was I am disappointed to see it spill over onto this page for nearly a paragraph. I'm still learning about what it means to be a Yogini. I am sure I have a loooong way to go. However my sensiblity tells me that is it does not include characterizations such as "Good versus Evil", and referneces to laughing AT people, in this sort of forum. There are still some wonderful teachers at Thrive and its not fair characterize all with such a broad stroke.

Maybe I'm naive. Because in end the we Human Beings are just going to be Human Beings, right? What I'd really to believe though is that yogis strive to float above all the pettiness exhibited in the prevous post. My hope is that the post says more about the author than it does about Sacred Space.
January 22, 2008 @ 4:05 PM

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