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Last summer I had one of the most powerful nights of my life — the night of the #BelieveInCLE Yoga & Music Event at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame!
I wrote about the experience here. I had originally stated that 1100 yogis were practicing together, but come to find out it was 1400!! FOURTEEN HUNDRED! Incredible!!
A second Believe in CLE event was announced near the end of December and I knew I was not going to miss it.
Cleveland Yoga from the East Side (the studio I began with 7 years ago!) and Inner Bliss Yoga from the West Side hosted the event this past Saturday at the Cleveland Museum of Art‘s (fairly new) Atrium.
Note :: All of the professional pictures in this post have been borrowed
from the ever-so-talented Candy Kolsen of New Image Photography,
courtesy of the Believe in CLE Facebook page!
It was my first time in the CMA since the atrium was added on. I’d heard wonderful things about it and couldn’t agree more! What’s even better is that the atrium had its “Living Breathing Collection” which was a collection of plants/grasses/live growing things!
Denise Dufala from 19 Action News started the night by talking about her amazing yoga transformation from one-year ago. People who don’t practice yoga think us yogis with all our ‘transformation’ talk is nonsense. But I assure you, that given an open mind, an open heart, and a little time with a yoga practice, and everyone has a ‘transformation’ story of sorts. Whether it be physical, emotional, mental or all of the above, yoga is life-changing!
A DJ and Tammy Lyons from Inner Bliss got the vinyasa practice started.
It was a little chilly at first, but the power and energy in the room heated it up! And it was definitely a power practice! The sequences were both thoughtful and challenging! As always, modifications were encouraged to make it an all-levels class.
But it was HARD y’all! In a good way. But hard, nonetheless.
About halfway through the 90-ish-minute practice, Tami Schneider from Cleveland Yoga took over and led the 800-yogi class through some fairly tough core work. (Boat pose is my friend, right?? Right. Well, that’s what I kept telling myself as I counted back from 50!).
Oh and the assists!! I nearly forgot about the assists! There were about 40 yoga teachers from various studios across northeast Ohio who were assisting the 800 practicing students. It was so nice to get a little ‘love’ in a spinal twist and triangle pose!
The savasana came at a perfect time (doesn’t it always??). I never imagined that a room filled with 800 people could be completely silent, but it was. It was awe-inspiring silence. Knowing that I was surrounded by all of these people who I loved — these people who I didn’t even know but that I ‘knew’ from this 90-minute practice — THAT was incredible.
The only interruption to the silence was an a capella solo from Annie Yoder. It was beautiful. And it brought me to savasana tears — which are the best, most therapeutic tears in all the land!
At the end of the practice I was WIPED OUT in the best way ever. I can’t wait until the next #BelieveInCLE event! I’m excited to hear about a new venue and excited to share yet another vinyasa practice with a thousand people I don’t know but love anyways. <3
In the meantime I’m going to be riding this post-yoga high for a while… and spreading my love for CLE + Northeast Ohio everywhere! Love my home!!
That…sounds amazing. I was seeing tons of photos in my instagram feed. What an amazing event! I wish I knew about it – I wouldve been there in a heart beat.
There’s going to be another event on March 28th!! 🙂