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Winter 1999

NAMASTE,

Several of the Unity Woods faculty, as well as Suzie and I, are off to India this December to participate in the celebrations surrounding the 80th birthday of Yogacharya Sri B.K.S. Iyengar. Some Unity Woods students are also making the trip. As most of you know, Mr. Iyengar is the source of and inspiration for much of what is taught at Unity Woods. The primary reason for our going is to honor Mr. Iyengar for all he has done for and given to us, directly or indirectly.

Another reason to go is to participate in the celebration of community that will also take place. Hundreds and hundreds of people (perhaps as many as two thousand) from all over the world are expected to attend. The practitioners of Iyengar yoga constitute a large and far-flung community that shares a deep love of and profound respect for yoga and Mr. Iyengar. In spite of our diverse cultural and personal backgrounds, this common ground unites us. So even though, for most of us, the visits are infrequent, the feeling of warmth and camaraderie is deep and uplifting. I look forward to the chance to rekindle old friendships and make new ones.

Unity Woods is also a community, albeit on a smaller scale. Each of us brings our particular reason for practicing and our own way, but that we come to Unity Woods means we are connected to yoga and to one another. Some come to class and go home, and that’s the extent of it. Others come to workshops. Still others attend the extracurricular events, such as the discussion groups, the picnic or the holiday party. Some folks make pleasant acquaintances; some establish deep and long-lasting friendships; some have met their spouses here. Like any community, the connections and the levels of participation are varied and unique to each individual. One of the joys for me as the founder and director has been to watch how the sense of community has grown over the years.

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Of course, the community itself has grown, too. We currently have close to nineteen hundred students attending nearly seventy classes. With the tremendous expansion of the number of students, we have been hard-pressed to handle the influx administratively. To help deal with students more fairly and effectively, we need to adjust several of our policies. One adjustment is that the re-enrollment deadline for students to register to save their spot in the class in which they are currently enrolled will be strictly observed. Although the re-enrollment policy has been in place for some time, in the past we have been loose in enforcing the deadline. We simply can no longer afford to accommodate late enrollments, as it is already extremely time-consuming to assemble the class rosters and notify students about their classes. If you are going to be out of town or otherwise engaged, please plan to take care of your re-enrollment in advance, especially if you are in a full class. Registrations received after the deadline will go to the bottom of the wait list for that class. Some of these lists are extensive.

Management of the wait lists will also change. An unequivocal first-come, first-served policy of selecting students from the wait list will be followed.

In addition, with so much demand for classes and with the bookkeeping and registration difficulties in tracking tuition and maintaining class lists, we will no longer be discounting tuition for people taking more than one class a week. Those who wish to take two or more classes a week will pay full tuition for each. The drop-in fee for folks already enrolled in one class a week will be $13. We will maintain the senior discount.

If you have any questions or comments about these policy changes or any existing policies or procedures, please don’t hesitate to contact the office. We’re available to discuss and consider your particular circumstances with you personally and personably. I know we’ve gotten really big, but the sense of community I’ve been writing about is still very important to us.

A community is a living organism, and like any organism, it grows, it shrinks; it has times of health and prosperity and times of disruption and decline. It changes. As the various communities of which we are a part change, we must also adapt and change, consciously or unconsciously. Sometimes these adjustments are clear and easy, sometimes they are difficult and painful.

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One change in the Unity Woods community that is, for me, tinged with sorrow is Stan’s decision to no longer teach at Unity Woods. I understand his decision very well. Stan is the director of two successful yoga centers, the Greater Baltimore Yoga Center and the Annapolis Yoga Center. Just administering such an enterprise is a full-time endeavor in and of itself. And, of course, Stan also teaches classes at his Timonium center as well as maintaining a substantial practice of private students who benefit from his combination of skills as physical therapist and experienced yoga practitioner. In addition to his very busy professional life, Stan has a delightful family that includes his wife, Paula, a teacher in her own right and co-director of GBYC, and their two children, Peter and Jayna. The hour and a half drive from north of Baltimore to Bethesda and back and the extra night away from home and business has become too much.

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Stan began studying with me sixteen years ago. He brought an intense desire to learn and a natural ability to his practice. In 1986, he started teaching at Unity Woods, joining a teaching staff that consisted of only Liz and me. His skills and his good-natured, even temperament have been one of the pillars on which Unity Woods has been built. I’m sad to see him leave, although I’m sure we’ll get together to go to an O’s game every now and then, as we’ve enjoyed doing in the past. And I know his students will miss him very much. My and their consolation is that Mary will be teaching on Monday nights beginning in January. She will also add a Monday Level II/III class so there will be more opportunity for experienced students to take a class in Bethesda. To allow Mary to make the shift, Joe will teach in the Friday night time slot, and Colleen will teach the 8:00 pm Thursday class. Another consolation for us all is that Stan will continue to offer periodic workshops at Unity Woods as he has in the past. Keep your eye on the calendar in the newsletter for these. I wish Stan continued success and happiness.

So the Unity Woods community continues to shift and grow and change, like every community, like every organism. You and I, being living organisms, also shift and grow and change. Through our practice of yoga, we work to make each and every cell of our being as fully conscious as possible, so that as we change, we do so in ways that move us toward realizing our utmost potential. And through our practice, we also realize that we are conscious cells of larger organisms, of greater communities – our families, our neighborhoods, our nations, our humanity, our Mother Earth, the Great Cosmic Ooze – complete in ourselves and at the same time, essential pieces of the ultimate community, the vast jigsaw puzzle of Being. It’s all quite grand, isn’t it?

I hope the holiday season finds you in a community of dear friends and loved ones. Best wishes for the holidays and a happy New Year.

       

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