The SF faerie yoga scene began in 1993 with Nymphaea Guru Darshan teaching a weekly kundalini yoga class at Marty's place. I started attending this class in early 1994. Right away I loved it all: the yoga, the sense of community and the yummy veg. potluck after class. So I made myself at home and started going every week to yoga class. There was always an interesting eclectic group of students who attended. I thought it was a beautiful way to delve further into faerie culture, having already been enjoying faerie gatherings and heart circles for the previous two years.
I had no notion at the time that three years later (and still to this day) I would be teaching that class. By early '95, when Nymphaea passed away from AIDS, I was already living at Marty's "faerie house" having been invited to house-sit Bill's room during the month while he was away. A few months after Nymphaea’s death I wound up moving into his room and the rest, as they say, is history.
My yoga practice fell off after Nymphaea died, but I still practiced my tai chi from time to time. Then, in the spring of '96, I left for a year to stay at Short Mountain. I probably could have just stayed at SMS, but there was something strong calling me back to SF. When I returned, I noticed that a lot of my friends were taking ashtanga classes at It's Yoga, and my friend Seth invited me to try it out one day. From that first class I was hooked. I loved the dynamic practice, the synching of breath and movement, and the good feeling afterwards. Soon I was going to class 3X/wk and then before too long I was going every day.
I was living at Marty’s again, and I would practice yoga in the back yard on warm days. Dolph, who was also living there at the time, kept bugging me to start up a yoga class at the house again. I hemmed and hawed, feeling that I didn't know that much myself. He convinced me that I knew more than anyone else there, and said I should just start by teaching what I knew, and so I did.
The yoga that we have been practicing there for more than ten years now is in the ashtanga vinyasa tradition. Over the years I have also studied yin or restorative yoga, chanting, autogenic training, and tai chi, so those ideas and practices also work their way into my teaching style, as do faerie traditions because mostly faeries attend, though everyone is welcome.
There is a sense of respect for ashtanga tradition, but our scene is unique in that the tradition is mingled with a love of the personal, the immediate, and the magical. For example, music plays an important role, before, during and after class. Just in the past year, I have taken to DJing after class. Also in the faerie tradition, our weekly yoga class is clothing optional, and no one is turned away for lack of funds.
It’s a welcoming place for people who might not feel comfortable at a studio or who can’t afford the high cost of classes in other places. Following Nymphaea’s tradition, we too have a veg. potluck after class, and this makes it possible for the yogis and their friends to form stronger community and to develop a camaraderie that is missing from most yoga studios where it's in and out and on to the next thing. For the first year of my teaching, the potluck dinner consisted mostly of popcorn with yeast and soy sauce. Over the years, however, the Monday night yoga potluck has steadily improved and is now widely considered to be the best meal of the week.
The vibrant SF faerie yoga scene has also given birth to a monthly full moon chanting circle that has been going on for some six years now. We meet in a different home each month to chant the Maha Mrtyunjaya Mantra one hundred and eight times, and to share a veg. potluck dinner. Usually twenty to forty people show up. Four years ago when I was in Portland, I introduced this chant to the faeries up there, and they have continued monthly ever since. Both full moon chanting scenes have always been and continue to be free. Recently we have also formed study circles in SF and in the east bay to chant the yoga sutras of Patanjali. There is also a weekly faerie yoga class now in Philly, taught by Tree.
In many ways, my enthusiasm for helping to create the faerie yoga scene came from my feelings of discontent in faerie heart circles. While I can appreciate heart circles sometimes, I personally tend towards something more dynamic & ecstatic. I still think heart circles are essentially valuable for promoting healing and building community, however they can sometimes degrade into tedious bitch and moan sessions. Then it winds up having more to do with the head than the heart on the whole. At faerie gatherings, heart circle is often considered the primary meeting ground, yet for many, including myself, this method doesn't always work as the primary modality.
Yoga is a very heart opening practice like heart circles, and yoga can also have a very calming effect on the mind. It is this union of heart and mind that I appreciate and strive to offer to the greater community. Our shared desire for a more holistic approach to healing ourselves and to building faerie community is what has kept the faerie yoga scene going all these years. The faerie yoga community is for many of us a powerful exercise in learning to love ourselves, connecting with others, and ultimately, being happy.
