YJCO 2011 – The End!

I was disappointed for the end of the conference, as the weekend was really fantastic. The weather was gorgeous and everyone was incredibly friendly. Melissa and I sat with different folks at every meal and had great conversation about where everyone was from and which sessions they were there for, as well as their opinions on what they’d done. It actually made me think that, given the right sessions, I’d consider the weeklong conference provided I could put together the scratch (or get a slot volunteering).

Sunday morning began with breakfast and a keynote from the founder of the Africa Yoga Project (which I’ll link to after their promo movie becomes public). It was a great speech and one of the Project teachers led some rapid-fire vinyasa that got my butt (my actual butt) in pics on the YJ recap on the yjevents site. The short film they made about the project was moving and impressive and it’s a fantastic program which is encouraging me to work on an idea of my own.

The vinyasa was just enough to work out some residual soreness from the weekend – a good thing as I had two hour meditation session afterward. “Meditation for the Love of It” with Sally Kempton was a very nice session. We alternated in discussion/lecture and meditation so that we sat for 4 meditations of about 15 minutes each. The bad thing was that Kempton’s voice is great for relaxation and I’ve gotten so used to tuning out voice during savasana that I literally heard nothing she said during the meditation sessions. I think it was supposed to be techniques/pointers but I suppose not hearing her was less relevant than the fact that each meditation session wasn’t as hard as I’d expected it to be.

After session we had lunch, took some photos with the mountains in the background and made our way back home. It’s left a residual… glow. Even the downside of things like the conference were mitigated by a lot of great learning and general good vibes.

Today was sightseeing in Breck and then a mini-tour of the fall “colors.” Colors gets quotations because what passes for color in Colorado (and is lovely, don’t get me wrong) can’t touch Michigan at all. With or without colors, though, the views are pretty spectacular.