Telluride, Colorado is one of the most incredible towns you’ll ever explore. Mountains and the mesmerizing leaves of Aspen trees are everywhere you look. Playful pups splashing in cool, trickling streams along walking and bike trails are a pleasure to watch.
Waterfalls, meadows, and lakes are hidden like treasured gems along hiking paths. Clear nights filled with stars brighten the sky. Bright lights illuminate main street highlighting restaurants, apothecaries, people, and fun. Something special connects everything here.
If you’ve never been, you don’t know. How could you? How could you “really” know?
I didn’t.
One sunny day in July 2017, Yvonne Mosser’s Kaiut Yoga Class was highly recommended by the owner of a local yoga studio. He said, “You have to check this class out. Yvonne teaches 10 classes a week and they are all full.” As a recent yoga teacher graduate, I had to find out what she was doing so I could fill my own classes! Sure enough, the class was full. There must have been 40 people in class from 16 to 70 years old. What I found was not what I expected.
The first thing Yvonne said was, “Lay down on your mat, put the bolster behind your head, soles of your feet on the mat, and knees toward the ceiling.” I thought, “Wow! This is nice. We get to rest!” Within the next few poses, Yvonne said, “Keep the bolster under your hands, reach your arms toward the back wall, and straighten your elbows.” Now, there were MANY thoughts going through my head, “What?!, Why can’t I do this!, Why aren’t my elbows straight? Why don’t my arms touch the floor? This is why I can’t reach my arms toward the ceiling in a yoga class!, Why don’t we do this pose in yoga?” My initial thoughts turned toward a different theme as the minutes in this pose increased. I started FEELING the pose. My thoughts stopped without effort. I was feeling and experiencing my body in a new way. All within a nervous system that was calm, unhurried, and quiet.
As a former springboard diver, this pose is very important to me. Well executed dives are judged equally for aesthetics and technical completion. Clean alignment from the tips of the toes to clasped hands upon entry score the best points. A few things became clear to me in this pose, “I have either lost or never had full mobility for a perfect “splashless” dive. I don’t currently have the range of motion in my shoulders to stand in a “flow” yoga class with my hands over my head.” And, finally, “There is hope.” I can actually feel my shoulders release as gravity and a calm nervous system access a very different part of me. The intelligence of my own system.
I expected to find entertainment, exhaustion, and fun in Yvonne’s class. Instead, I found my own reality, a place beyond my personality, and hope. Something special connects every part of me. That “thing” knows what I need to heal, increase mobility, and to reach my potential.
And so it is, if you have never been to visit Telluride, or the intelligence behind your personality, you will never know that both are worthy of spending some time. I’ve been practicing The Kaiut Method regularly for about 7 months. I can now feel my elbows straighten behind me and after a few minutes in the pose my arms find the floor. Working within a calm nervous system is an incredible way to address mobility, health, healing, and trauma. It makes sense and I have never seen it addressed in this way.
It’s one of those feelings, that when felt, will nag you for more.