I cannot express enough the life changing experiences I am having here at the Midwest Yoga Conference. Just yesterday, I experienced so many "firsts" in my life that it brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. Not only am I experiencing these "firsts" but I have had the opportunity to connect to so many warm hearted people that this also brings tears to my eyes. This is only my second yoga conference (the first was Yoga Journal Boston) and I feel as though every time I come to one of these events, I know I am meant to be here. Just yesterday, I my first experience of meditating with a group of people for the first time. I had the experience of meditating to the gong for the first time. The feeling was such a natural high I felt as though I wasn't in my physical body for a moment. I had my first experience with Kundalini Yoga. I had my first experience learning from Shakta Kaur in the Sex and Intimacy Kundalini Yoga workshop. She is an amazing teacher and has a wonderful personality and sense of humor. I never had the experience of chanting with another woman while looking right into her eyes. It was a bond that I have never experienced with a person I have never met. Because of that, we now have connected. The class was very informative about the importance of sex and the relationship between yourself and your lover. After the class, I noticed my arms.....my veins were kind of bulging and pumping blood differently than I have ever seen or felt before. Very interesting. Check her out at http://www.shaktakaur.com/

After the class, I decided to have some dinner alone. I needed some "me" time and also I needed to prepare for the Midwest Yoga Underground Gathering that I am putting together. That will be tonight at 9:30pm at a bar a couple blocks from here. That in itself will probably be a whole other blog entry! After a lovely dinner alone I went to my hotel room and relaxed until I headed down to the Journey Dance workshop. I walked in on the end of Julia Buterfly Hill's lecture. (I wish I went earlier!) I caught about 15 minutes, and everything she had to say in that awakening 15 minutes was very inspiring. I am drinking water out of the same bottle all weekend because of her, and anyone who knows her knows what I mean:o) I didn't know that she lived in a tree for 2 years, and I am completely intrigued and yearning to learn more about her activism. She stopped by our booth this morning and she is using an Ultra mat as I am typing this...I was honored to let her try it!

After the lecture....the lovely Toni Bergins (who I met Friday at our booth) started the Journey Dance workshop. Not only was this the first time in my life I have ever done a dance workshop, the feeling of freedom was a "first" too! I never felt the feeling of freedom that I felt dancing in Trilium 1! I never experienced touching and dancing with others and not feeling awkward because they are strangers. It was such an intimate and sensual experience that we all bonded consciously and sub-consciously. I realized that my body can move in beautiful ways I wasn't aware of before. At one point when Toni directed us to tell our story through dance, I just did what my body told me to do. I was reaching to the sky and pulling the sky into my heart. Looking back, I realized that my whole life I have been trying to find God and my body was representing this at this particular time. Now I know that I have found God and my spirituality through Yoga and Dance. http://www.journeydance.com/

We are totally honored to have awesome booth neighbors. We are next to I Love Yoga and Moses and Zeina are incredible people. I am very interested in the Green Bus Project and their tour later this year! I had the chance to sit and chat with Moses for the first time and I learned alot from him just through conversation. We talked about the Flower of Life, Music, The Green Bus Project and Chanting. Plus - their clothes are pretty freakin' awesome. We are also next to Journey Jewels and they have some beautiful pieces for sale. The girls at the booth were also at Journey Dance last night, and it is interesting how we have bonded through this experience.

I could go on and on about the incredible amazing people and experiences that I have encountered since arriving here at this lovely resort on Thursday. I just want to shout out to the Nepal Orphanage Organization because what they are doing is a great thing. Check them out at
NepalOrphanshome.org

Namaste

Jess Santacroce
Marketing Director