Interfusion Festival 2020: Saturday

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My second full day at the Interfusion Festival was just as fun as the day before!

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I started my day at a meditation workshop with Yonah Levy. I took a similar class with him last year and really enjoyed it. He is a wonderful instructor, and his deep voice is very peaceful and serene. The workshop only lasted for 40 minutes when it should have been an hour, but I find it hard to even meditate for five minutes, so maybe that was okay. It was certainly hard to meditate with laughing yoga happening next door!

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Then my friend Courtney and I partnered up for "Vedic Thai Yoga Bodywork: Part I." This was a 90-minute Thai massage class, so it was wonderful to already have a trusted partner to work with. Dr. Debmalya Nandy was a great instructor: he gave clear, simple directions, and he had a quiet friendliness about him. I really like how Thai massage focuses on stretching with "traction," and I was so relaxed. Sometimes the pressure is a little too much for me in massage, but as the receiver, we could let the giver know how much pressure to use.

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After a quick lunch, I took a yoga class with Alena Interrupted. I took a yoga class with her last year and remembered how calming her voice was. The class was good, but probably better for beginners (I thought the yoga practice itself was pretty easy). One of her techniques is to go through flows super-slowly, which is a little different than my usual yoga practices.

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And of course I signed up for another class with Monique Darling and Peter Petersen! This one was called "Conscious Sexuality: Understanding Energetic Connection." We started with some seated qi gong, and then we used those "energy bubbles" to share different energies with partners around the room. We even pretended to use "energy ropes" to tie up a partner (I had never done that before; I didn't feel anything when I was being "tied," but it was fun to do it to the other person!). At the end we had to dance for a partner in different ways (it was almost a little too much dancing). I love to dance and think of myself as a very good dancer, so I'm never nervous for this kind of thing; I usually assume my partner will love my dance, and I will smile but inwardly cringe as my partner dances awkwardly for me. BUT my partner could really dance! I was so impressed! He said he felt like he could let out his "inner diva," which I could totally see. What a pleasant surprise!

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I didn't know what to expect from my next workshop, but "A Sense of Dance: An Exploration in Sensuosity," was quite interesting! Now I'm not sure "sensuosity" is a real word, but the first half of the class was exploring the differences between our ideas of sensuosity and sexuality (we all agreed they aren't the same thing). Marc Brewer was the main instructor, and I appreciated how well-spoken he was and how well he presented information and prompts to the group. After we discussed, we moved around the room, changing our speeds, directions, where our eyes were looking, all the while trying not to run into each other. And once we partnered up, we danced in a way that is very similar to contact improv (he never used that term, but that's really what it was). It was a fun way to move!

I was going to take a dance class afterward, but I was so tired that I just headed home. I needed to shower and paint my nails anyway. Sometimes you need a night of alone time after touching so many strangers during Interfusion!