Hi there, my name is Vivinne (but no one can pronounce it properly.) So you can call me Kala– rhymes with Hallah as in bread!
I enjoy sharing meditation, yoga, massage and other healthful modalities: with anyone really- but especially those who really appreciate how good they feel afterwards. Perhaps it’s nagging symptoms like chronic insomnia, worry, anxiety or even a health issue like low energy, high blood pressure, or reproductive issues, that’s making you pause and say “I’ve gotta do something.” Meditation is awesomely helpful and free to practice.
My Story:
I was 14. Growing up in the Bronx, in a working class family, I happened upon the word “yoga” in TV Guide. Always curious I wanted to know what it meant. Thus started my yoga journey, practicing with Lilias Folan’s TV show on PBS (she was a yoga pioneer.) Well- it didn’t last long.
Soon after, my Jamaican mother caught me on my bed, sitting in lotus pose, eyes closed, legs crossed apparently doing nothing. When asked what I was doing– I enunciated with teenage pride—“I’m med–it-taaayy-ting.” This made no sense to her- she thought I’d lost my mind. Thus ended the practice.
Fast forward to my late 20’s I took my first actual yoga class, and fell in love with the practice. I had gone back to school- yoga helped me through a rigorous college program at Mt. Holyoke College. As a product of inner city public schools and the first in family to attend college, this was an intense challenge & change of environment.
Now years later, yoga helped me through some very stressful years working in academia; it enabled me to ride the waves. I left my job as an art professor (after getting tenure.) Dealing with anxiety and depression, the yoga practices & meditation were crucial to get back on my feet. They provided a steady, inflow of peace. By sticking with it, I finally have been able to fully engage with life again.
If you’d like to read my published and rather funny story (about my experiences) which included this city girl:
- Coping for a week alone in a cabin with no electricity, no phone or running water during a so-called “once in a lifetime ice-storm,” then see link below.
- Living in another “cabin” 10 x 14, could I call it a “cabinette,” a few feet away from a small herd of llamas. This prompted me to come up with the moneymaking idea of T-shirts that say “Llamas for Obama” and “Mama Llamas for Obama.” 😉
I learned that self-love & self-care are the KEY. It’s the “put the oxygen mask on yourself first” theory.”
We cannot fill anyone else up unless we lovingly care for ourselves. Or at least you can’t sustainably care for anyone else…I should say. My training and practice in Kripalu, Ashtanga and Kundalini yoga’s and my ongoing intensive meditation practice have given me many tools to share with you.
I’ve sat up to six weeks at a time of silent Insight (Vipassana) meditation retreats with some of the leading Western & Burmese teachers. We can find ways to incorporate mindfulness into your day. I’m also a graduate of Spirit Rock’s Mindfulness Yoga & Meditation training.
For those who want to know credentials, linear, left-brain style see below– Detailed Bio/Training. Or click links @ My Story– two short published essays about my thunderbolt experiences, see the bottom of this page.
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