In addition to my Health in Balance experience part of my custom health package was a private yoga session with Dava Schatz at Ritual Yoga Arts Studio in Laguna Beach. Just a few blocks away from The Retreat In Laguna, this yoga studio is an easy walk. The studio itself is also an art gallery with each space featuring paintings and sculptures.
Dava and I practiced in a private room he likes to call ‘The Cave’. The walls featured multiple 3D paintings and the dark hardwood floors were extremely inviting.
As someone who is very new to Yoga I was nervous that my skill level wouldn’t be up to par with people Dava has worked with in the past. My concerns were completely abolished as we began our session. Dava was extremely encouraging and thoughtful in his approach to my session. He described the movements and how each effect various muscles/bones in your body. With my inability to balance for long on my left leg my discouragement was acknowledged and he quickly explained that it’s not ‘terrible or bad, it’s a sign that my body is telling me it needs to practice more not that I have no balance’. ‘If you’re hungry you don’t famish yourself, you go get food. If you’re unbalanced, you practice until you are able to.’
He provided a calming and peaceful environment and made it very easy for me to understand postures that I’d never done before. I couldn’t wait to practice again and was able to take in another one of his group sessions before I left.
At the end of each session I felt incredible, like a new person. I’m encouraged and motivated now to continue the practice of yoga once I return to Canada and it’s all because of Dava.
