A week at Nancy’s shala
Hi all,
I just uploaded images from a two week trip to Hawaii and there are a few of the YiY gang that went to practice with Nancy Gilgoff here; as well as a bunch of images of the local area, particularly of peaceofmaui.com, where we shared a great little cottage, and the route from there to the shala here.
Here’s a relevant excerpt from a blog posting I wrote on 4/4 while there:
i am really digging this maui thing. i think L was feeling the same way. she said this morning: this is a healing place. and i’d have to agree.
it’s beautiful here. people smile at you and say hi on the street. there are a lot of glow-y people walking around. the pace of life seems several times slower than in the silicon valley. and there’s just this sense of people enjoying life. not being so ambitious and tunnel-vision-focused like we can be in the bay area.
i can definitely imagine fanagling working and practicing with nancy here for 1-6 months sometime.
i love the shala here. green industrial carpet. revealed rafters. a triangle – almost church like window – up above. all sorts of weathered knickknacks from india and other places, and black and white photos of yogi/nis who have passed through, giving the space history, character, a sense of well-loved-ness.
when we practice, we can HEAR the rain. or the wind. the cocks crowing. birds chirping.
to find the place, you enter at the “organic tomato” sign. 🙂 that’s the directions. 😉 and if you ask any local, they can direct you to that sign.
the organic tomatoes, when ‘in stock’, are sold on an honor system. they sit in cardboard boxes and there’s a little metal box for you to put money in. and a scale for you to weigh them on.
i just love it!
—
I now know that Nancy has several houses with rooms to rent out and, if you contact her enough in advance, you can arrange to rent a room for a longer period of time, e.g. by month. Quite a few folks practicing in the shala were doing that. There’s also a local car rental company, Word of Mouth, that has been quite helpful to yogi/nis, renting cars at about 150/week.
It was a valuable, if brief, window of time to practice with her, and I’ll look forward to the opportunity to study more with her in future. She mentioned some things I’d never heard before, and pointed out something I’d never noticed before in my practice. She feels really approachable, and it was interesting to listen in on a conversation she had with L about putting students on 2nd series – at least the first few poses – earlier rather than later, among other things.
Best,
Antonia