In 2012, Chantal Russell and Saskia Tait were both new to Bowen Island. Russell was a relatively new mom (her son was one) and Saskia would soon become a mother. They were both dedicated yoga teachers and practitioners, and they happened to be neighbours. It didn’t take long for the two to become friends and start making plans. In June 2013, the two launched Bowen Island Yoga at Artisan Square.
“We wanted to create more than just a yoga studio,” says Russell. “We wanted to create a gathering space where people could have meaningful conversations, where people could connect and find sanctuary.” The studio now hosts over 5 different styles of weekly yoga classes, workshops by local and guest teachers, immersions and training programs, and monthly Kirtans, a devotional kind of sing along. “We really had no idea how well this would be received, so it is really exciting to be growing, and moving into the space I had always envisioned for the studio.”
That space is currently known as the Gallery at Artisan Square, which will be moving upon the completion of the Cove Commons project (the addition to the Bowen Island Library). Bowen Island Yoga also plans to take on a new name: The Well. Inspired to evoke a gathering place where people come to be nourished and tap into their depths, The Well is also an acronym for what it means to be well.
“The Well stands for what we believe to be the facets of a healthy life; wild, embodied, liberated living. Wild is to align with nature; to live in harmony with the seasons and the planet. Embodied is to love and care for our physical selves through yoga and good nutrition. Liberated, means to remember our “non” physical spiritual self through meditation and creativity, and our innate freedom to create the world we want to see. Living, refers to our relationships and community; how we bring our spiritual practice out into the world through the way we parent, show up in relationship, and find purpose through our work. To experience well being, we must nourish all of these life areas. It’s not just about drinking green juice and getting into fancy yoga poses.” shares Russell.
For Russell, the growth of this business has also coincided with her own healing journey: while giving birth to her son in 2012, a lump appeared above her collar bone. Two weeks later, she was diagnosed with Hodgkins-lymphoma. The year that followed forced her on a quest to discover the true meaning of health and happiness.
At Saturday evening’s open house and goodbye to the old yoga studio, Russell also informally launched the book that tells her story through and beyond cancer. Wildfire Within is available for purchase at Phoenix Books, Bowen Island Yoga, and on Amazon. As local yogis say goodbye to Bowen Island Yoga in its current form, they look forward to gathering at The Well, set to open in mid January 2018.
An excerpt from The Wildfire Within:
The tantric yogis understood that there is a great pulsation at the heart of the Universe that creates the rhythm of life. This sacred throb or holy vibration is found throughout all of creation. In Sanskrit, they call it spanda, the recognition that everything in the Universe is vibrating and always pulsing between expansion and contraction. Through allurement, stars contract energy into their centre, then expand with light. The moon appears to wax and wane, ocean waves rise and fall with the ever-ebbing and flowing tides. Our heart beats, our lungs expand and contract with every breath; orgasms and childbirth are full of spanda. Everything is pulsating with this eternal breath of creation, the living heartbeat of the Universe.
As a culture, we tend to favour the expansion part. We love the moreness of life, and are always seeking to grow. But we forget that we cannot experience expansion without seasons of contraction. We don’t value the necessary release process that must come before any further expansion. In fact, we put a lot of effort into avoiding contractions, or times of apparent loss and simplification. But if we are willing to really ride the wave, embrace the fullness of being human, and allow the necessary contractions of life to occur, then we open ourselves to the greater expansion that always, inevitably follows. If we resist the contractions, labour becomes painful and development is arrested as we fight against our own growth. We “fail to progress.”
The more we can align with nature’s wild yet wise rhythms and waves of pulsing energy, the more we can harness the inherent power of the current, live with more ease and ow, and experience deeper wellbeing. For it is only in the descent, in the moving through the dark and deep mysterious phases of our soul’s journey, that we can truly rise up and come to know who we really are. It is only by giving way to the contractions, that we can truly expand. The full moon can only be made new again, by turning toward the dark.
The Wildfire Within is available at Bowen Island Yoga, Pheonix on Bowen and Amazon.
