Style: Yin
Teacher: Melanie Richards
Studio: Happy Tree

Aboard the night bus on the frozen highway, Montreal is disappearing behind me. In the dim light putting pen to paper, I'm feeling quiet and introspective. Finishing an amazing weekend with a restorative Yin class can have that effect.

Happy Tree came highly recommended by friends in Montreal, so I made my way out into the night and onto the metro, heading west across the city. The studio itself is beautiful with a modern design. No two Yin instructors are alike. Melanie led the class through a hip-intensive sequence, sprinkling interesting information in with the instruction. In final savasana she played a gong, sending my consciousness on a psychedelic trip.

Listening to the gentle hum of the bus with heavy eyelids, my mind wanders through blissful residual memories of the last few days. I've been dividing my time between yoga, friends, celebration and the love of my life. The experiment is spiraling me deeper and deeper within, anchoring me to the ground while at the same time sending me out past our atmosphere. Gazing sleepily out the window at the passing moonlit silhouettes of skeletal trees, I feel my mind start to shift its focus. Now looking forward at my upcoming week, some of the warm fuzzy bliss gives way for a creeping anxiety. I have a week so full it's bursting at the seams. My hours will mostly go toward earning money at a job I don't love. Again Yin has opened me up and hit me with the big questions. What is it all about? Where is it all leading? And what is it that I want?

I know I want out of Zombie Incorporated, surrounded by the living dead sleep-walking through daily routine. I need something else, something more. I have no answers at the moment, only an intuition that is persuading me to live fully and authentically. I'm not sure how yet, but I know I have to chase something profound and meaningful, and follow it wherever it may lead.