From Redheads to Red Balloons

Again, my day started with a moving meditation; this time, "A Sunrise Walk in the Full Presence of Life" with Lorna Francis. Come with us. You'll find us in the La Quinta palm grove, with springy grass beneath our feet and a brilliant blue sky above us. Among the towering palm trunks, gray and gnarly at the base and smooth higher up, we fan out, looking and listening, and coming together again when Lorna calls us, ringing her wind chime like a cowbell. Can we really see the forms around us; can we see the space around those forms? Can we hear the sounds—the birds, the engine over there somewhere, the plane, the murmur of our own breath? Can we hear the silence in which sounds arise? A walk in the park? Just so. And yet to truly live this way takes a lifetime of practice; this much I know.

I joined the social breakfast and talked with Anelisa from California, who was thinking about tomorrow's closing session—“Laughing Yoga” —and remembering what it did for her last year. "It was great. It helped me find my transverse abdominus. That took me 2 years. But once you've got it, it's not going away—you've got it all day! My breathing's been totally different since that class." Her friend grinned and said, "She talked about it for months."

Three other attendees who've stayed with me are Toni, who teaches yoga to 70-, 80- and 90-year-olds; Al, an American now living in Peru and learning the language so he can cue yoga in Spanish as well as English—Al has come to Inner IDEA each year, and one year Lorna Francis really helped him focus on how he wanted to live; an idea was seeded, and from there the shift came that took him to Peru; and Jeff, my "new friend" from Pam Peeke's address yesterday (Jeff and I are on hugging terms).

It was another full morning of sessions. In "Wellness, Health and Self-Sabotage," Ray Gin addressed the crucial question of our deep-seated conditioning and the power of the subconscious mind. "For most people, there is no re-record and no delete button," he said. But thankfully there are ways for us to grow beyond our conditioning—meditation is one way, biofeedback is another, and there are many others. In "Mat Pilates With Flexcushion," Katherine and Kimberly Corp—young, redheaded twins with ponytails down to their waists—enjoyed the best of both worlds, transitioning seamlessly as they traded places demonstrating and cuing. (The Flexcushion is a wedge-shaped piece of equipment that is firm on the flat side and somewhat spongy on the angled side.) And in "Meditation 101: Creating Sacred Space," veteran presenter Michele Hebert gently introduced attendees to meditation practice and the principles of feng shui, while her yogi husband, Mehrad Nazari, kept attendees moving and smiling in "Spirited Vinyasa—Practices and Philosophy." Both are gracious and accessible human beings who look you warmly in the eye as they speak with you.

Another veteran—of the mind-body world and of Inner IDEA—is Kathy Corey, whose morning session focused on "Pilates for Scoliosis." Six million Americans have scoliosis. Kathy herself had a 30-degree curve in her spine when she was younger. Today, as she celebrates 30 years as a Pilates instructor, the curve in Kathy's spine is 15 degrees. "The doctor said there's something wrong here. It's not possible for this to change." Had the X-rays been mixed up, perhaps? But Kathy thought, "What? It's possible for it to change from 30 to 45 [as often happens after menopause], but it's not possible for it to change from 30 to 15? Says who?"

Jumping ahead to lunch, I sat with Rosalind Davis, who writes for Inner IDEA and whom I've worked with—as her editor—for several years. We hadn't met before this conference, but it felt like we'd been friends for ages. We listened as Deborah Szekely, founder of the Golden Door and Rancho La Puerta spas, called on us to awake to the “avalanche of change”—the huge demographic shift—that lies ahead. Don’t be surprised by it, she said. In 20 years, 1 in every 4 Americans will be over 65. They will need guides to assist them in living functional and fulfilled lives. They'll need the power of wellness. To all of us, she urged, look forward as you enter the “third third of life.” Be prepared to take the “big step,” to leave the “safe cocoon” of the familiar, to “repot” yourselves if you are root bound and no longer thriving. At 87, Deborah practices Pilates, exercises with a personal trainer and eats a fresh, organic diet. She is working hard on a new initiative to teach fifth graders practical "living skills" that will help them live healthier lives. Each morning she wakes up with “delight and joy,” lets the puppies out, gives thanks for the day that was and looks forward to the day to come.

It’s getting late, and it’s time for me to wind this up. I spent the afternoon helping my co-worker Mike Bannan with a photo shoot. We were shooting Eric Franklin and Laura Hames demonstrating moves with red balloons and pelvic bones and dozens of other props and toys. We had fun. At the end, Laura snapped us all—maybe her pictures will show up on Facebook in the next few days. Many thanks to our Visionary Sponsors, without whom this conference would not have been possible. Now I’m going to join the Moonlight Meditation on the grass, and then Scott and I will head across the mountains for home. It’s been lovely. My “list of gratitudes” is long—I’ll whisper it to the night sky as we drive.