“True North”: A Journey to Estes Park, CO
| October 21, 2011 | Posted by joshua under Root Down Yoga Studio News |
ROOT DOWN TO RISE UP! FIND “TRUE NORTH!” After a three day Immersion with Baron Baptiste this phrase continues to echo through and through. The three-day Baptiste Power Flow Immersion was the first part of the weeklong Yoga Journal Conference in Estes Park, Colorado September 19-22. The Garage Posse, represented La Crosse well, with nine yogis in total: Mandy & Nick Roush (Root Down Founders), Instructors: Beth, Lori, Holly, and fellow yogis, Jess, Julie, Stefanie and Joshua.
Traveling and learning with this community has been an outstanding experience! Learning directly from Baron, the founder of Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga is beyond words! The three-day immersion started off with a welcome from Baron and his senior instructors. Each day, 500+ students began with a four hour master class taught by Baron and assisted by both senior and certified instructors. We were guided through a 20-30 minute mediation every morning before opening up with the Baptiste Community through discussion/partner exercises.
You should know this was Stefanie and Joshua’s first time practicing in this type of setting and we definitely approached the Immersion with a beginner’s mind. The Yoga Journal Conference is a week long event with exposure to all types of yoga. The three days we spent at the conference were solely focused on Baptiste Vinyasa Power Flow. The afternoon consisted of numerous breakout sessions where the “Yoga Posse” split up and focused on a number of direct topics ranging from: Backbends & Twists, Empowered Moms, the Physiology of Baptiste Power Flow, Art of Assisting, Inversions (Joshua didn’t “master” inversions as he had hoped, but now has that more knowledge when he rolls out of a head stand!), Creating a Yoga Community and so much more. After learning and sometimes practicing for another three hours we were all eager to share our new knowledge and EAT! Yes, Yogis Eat!
The evening sessions varied greatly from a restorative practice on Monday night, a special movie feature on the Africa Yoga Project on Tuesday, and on Wednesday night we broke loose with the DJ Yoga Party and Shiva’s Fire. If you haven’t learned this by now–yoga is fun 
Baron and the senior instructors included this throughout the Immersion with humor, various yoga flow series, “nuggets” of insight and great music. As a group excited to be on “vacation” experiencing the beauty of the Rocky Mountains in Estes Park, we all shared a transformative experience. Everyone on this trip took something different from from the Immersion and would love to share this with you in their practice!
- Group photo on Baron’s stage
Yoga pit stop on the way home!