What are we doing, what is the project at 1317 East Carson Street about?
I'd like to ask you that question. What are you doing? How do you see the world? How do you see yourself? How would you like to engage in this cultural transformational process?
What are the phases of the process, how does the founder of the
Transition Town process, Rob Hopkins, describe
Transition Town, the movement from Peak Oil to Resilience? What is Permaculture, why bother? What is
Somatic Movement Education, and how do we infuse ourselves and others with its glorious essence? What is the Living Building Challenge? All of these processes, and much more, are part of the seeds sprouting at 1317 East Carson Street, the home of Schwartz Living Market.
Yes, all of these things are questions that I think about and act on, on a daily basis. What else do I do on a daily basis? I meditate, exercise and juice greens and sprouts, love my family, and pray! What do you do? What is your passion? When I drive along the road from my suburban home to the South Side of Pittsburgh, I put on XM radio station 68, ethereal calming music, SPA Radio to be exact. But tonight, Tuesday, September 3, was anything but that with Kim Massie's BLACK YOGA class, in South Side among the Tatoo Parlors, the Bars, the cool shops, and on a block that has maintained its non commercial ambience for a very, very long time....
Join some Alternative Action On East Carson Street! Black Yoga at 1317 East Carson Street on Tuesdays from 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM with Kim Massie.
So, it's a Yoga class......This is Black Yoga....When Kimmee called saying she'd like to offer 'Black Yoga', I, like many others asked her, 'What is Black Yoga?!' She told me it is the same yoga she teaches at a few other studios in the Pittsburgh region, Vinyasa Flow Yoga, but with different music. Oh, did I have an attitude about that. I said, o.k., we can try it, and then I looked at her website and cringed. Some of the language, from my perspective was not acceptable. So, was I discriminating against a culture? I opened my mind and gave it a try...
My experience tonight, Tuesday, September 3, 2013, the first Tuesday Black Yoga Class at Schwartz Living Market was an amazing experience. The music is the key. The music, by INNerVation is Drone....
I thought to myself, what the heck am I doing taking a Yoga class tonight? You see, I had cranked my back out of whack a few weeks ago and really thought I needed to see a Chiropractor.
But, as one of the owners of the building at 1317 East Carson Street, I knew I needed to be at that first class to see and experience just what Black Yoga is.
It was incredible. I asked Kim before the class if it was o.k. for me to not necessarily do what everyone else in the class was doing. She said, "Sure." That's part of the point. The point being not to worry about what you look like, how you are doing. Just be there, and be.... Hey that is what Yoga is all about anyway. Being, at all times in your life walk, not just when you take the class.... is Yoga.
As I am professionally trained in Ballet, the idea of not following the teacher the whole time and the teacher really, truly being o.k. with that was close to a first. Well, for me not really, as I am also a certified Somatic Movement Educator from the School for Body Mind Movement, www.bodymindmovement.org and I have been now in loads and loads of classes that do not require exact following of the class, but I know this is not a mainstream concept. Or...maybe it is, just not in the circles I've been part of!
So for the first half of the class I just laid there and wished someone would turn off the music. Then I suddenly started doing the poses. With the WARRIOR pose, I started ROCKing. I am the woman warrior I've been waiting for. And that drone music really got me GOING!
The pain in my back is much less. Like I said...amazing. The best part is that I did just what I was able to do. I worked within my elastic barrier, a term I learned from local Pittsburgh Yogi Sheila Caffrey many moons ago. I'm not sure if she coined the term, but I've sure used it for many years in my profession when I describe and recommend to folks how to do their work, in this case exercise, in the case of my profession, vision therapy.
I will facilitate a Vision Gym the second and third Saturdays in October, from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM. Come learn about what a developmental optometrist is, what vision therapy is all about, and experience some expansion of your vision! Go to the Schwartz Living Market Facebook page for details and this blog as we get closer to October.
Today is Monday, September 9, and I was practicing some Yoga poses outside in the magnificent sunshine at our home. The pain in my back is long gone. And I noticed the sound of the drone of the crickets. The sounds of nature are varied and often 'white' noise. Or is that drone a 'black' noise? What is Black Yoga? Tomorrow is September 10, the second Tuesday in September.
Join the class tomorrow evening between 6:30 and 7:30 PM and every Tuesday evening! You will surely be surprised. We are excited about the idea of folks experiencing Yoga that might not otherwise. Join the class, invite a friend or two, too! Black Yoga classes Tuesday evenings between 6:30 and 7:30 PM, 1317 East Carson Street, Free parking behind the market across Bingham. Bring a mat if you have one...
Let us know your thoughts and let's try something new...together!
And back to the original question...what is this project about? And what does this all literally have to do with the word
Deconstruction? Hey, that will be the subject of a future blog, and in the meantime, it is food for thought! Come join us when we are open, every Saturday between 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM at 1317 East Carson Street, eat some wonderful food and drink some amazing juices, meet some wonderfully diverse people, and we will learn and plan it all out together!
Free parking behind the market across Bingham Street!
Elisa Beck :)
Developmental Optometrist
Renaissance Womyn :)
Join Schwartz Living Market on Facebook!
