Sunset
Below is a list of “goodbye’s” from our contributors as we “sunset” the site today. In the spirit of honoring the guru within and true to the spirit of Bay Shakti to equally uplift and empower all contributors as leaders, teachers and students alike, the below “signing off” statements are listed alphabetically by contributor. In other words, the below statements are not ordered by the importance of any one individual over another or even by perceived importance level of the contributors. We all have unique vantage points, which yield different, though potentially equally valid and nonetheless interesting perspectives. What an honor to help publish a diversity of voices along the way, and what a beautiful experience this has been, called Bay Shakti!
Blessings on the Path,
Founder and Editor-In-Chief, Ginger Coy
Certified Anusara Teacher and Contributor, Abby Tucker:
We in the Bay Area, and in the world-wide Anusara and yoga communities, were extremely blessed for the presence of Bay Shakti during the past several years. The beauty, and the legacy of Bay Shakti, is that is brought everyone to the conversation and everyone had a voice. From the beginning, the site sought out not only well-known teachers, but also students to make offerings to the community. No voice more important than next. No voice unworthy. I’m very honored to have contributed to this all-too-brief moment in time and send my highest hopes that our voices will continue to join together in the great conversation of yoga as they have done on Bay Shakti.
Anusara-Inspired Yoga Teacher and Contributor, Alice Evelyn Van Ness:
In the last three years I have taken an Anusara Immersion, Teacher Training, became an Anusara Inspired Teacher, spent a week doing yoga all day with John Friend and 200 other inspiring people in San Francisco, spent countless hours practicing and laughing with some great people, AND healed my hip / knee pain. Our journey together is not over, its just flowing in a different direction now. I will cherish these past few years forever. Thank you to Ginger for you amazing work and service.
Student and Contributor, Ariane Trélaün:
I was just reflecting, driving home from work, on how completely Anusara has disappeared from my life, this particular word that was in my vocabulary for so long, since 2005. How, in two months’ time, Anusara has basically vanished entirely for me. Part of that is that I’ve been injured and off my mat and away from the kula, except virtually mostly, since December, but the remove feels enormous. If you’d asked me a year ago, 6 months ago, if I thought this day would come — when I would no longer identify as an Anusara yogi, when Bay Shakti would cease to exist – I wouldn’t have believed it. I still feel the loss; even though I still have everyone, the kula, the practice, something ineffable was lost in all that ruckus, something sweet that won’t come again. It was a privilege, in so many ways, to be a part of that here in the Bay Area, to be a part of the Bay Shakti family, thanks to Ginger and Brad and Fredo. Thank you so much for holding center for us for three years, for being a gathering place, for giving me a place to write when I was still learning. Your seva to us all has been tremendous, and I am profoundly grateful.
Founder and Technical Director, Brad Coy:
When we launched Bay Shakti we had no idea really how it would grow. The concept of offering a site for yoga supporting many voices is more challenging than it seems. I would say that it took almost 2 years for it to become something that actually seemed sustainable. I’m very proud of the contributors and what they’ve shared with us here. This community has meant a lot to me. The connections, the lessons, the practice, I will take with me beyond and into the sunset. My heartfelt gratitude to all the contributors for sharing your best with us and to our readership for keeping our desire to share strong.
Tantra and Sanskrit Scholar, Christopher “Hareesh” Wallis:
Thank God for Bay Shakti. Really. Our touchstone for sanity this year. A deep bow to Brad and Ginger for their endless hours of unpaid work!
Yoga Teacher, 500 RYT and Contributor, Chris Arcucci:
Thank you Ginger & Bay Shakti for all that you have contributed to the Anusara Community especially in the last two months of incredible challenge and controversy. My truth has lead me to resign my license to teach Anusara Yoga. My commitment to Yoga & Community is unwavering. I intend to see and speak the truth, to make beauty, to explore the shadow, to courageously follow my heart, and to enjoy the journey of being human. The 11 years of study and teaching Anusara Yoga has been a healing journey for me. I am grateful for all the incredible teachings, revelations, connections, insights and even the heart break of the last few months. I will never be the same and I am happy that my heart has been cracked open. I hold great love for all the amazing teachers and students I have met along the path. Regardless of where teachers choose to stand in this…you are my peeps and i LOVE you!
E-RYT 500-RYT-500 Yoga Instructor and Contributor, Daniella Cotreau:
I offer deep gratitude to Bay Shakti for being such a wonderful place for inspiring people to share in the realm of Anusara yoga. It was an incredible hub and resource for our beautiful community and I am very grateful to Ginger and Brad for their contribution and labor of love. May we see this shift and each and every shift moving forward, individually and collectively, all as opportunities to live our yoga. To know ourselves ever more deeply. To clarify more and more, our Truth. And most of all, to walk it.
with great love and blessings to all,
Daniella Cotreau~
Certified Anusara Teacher and Contributor, Darcy Lyon:
As I think about a blogosphere without Bay Shakti I am saddened. Since its inception Bay Shakti has been a rare forum where practitioners from the same lineage, could have open dialogue about many layers of our practice. I am not a big partaker of blogs– my computer time is taken up by other things. Still, Bay Shakti was an exception. It supported community gatherings like our 12 Bay Area Eye of the Tiger’s practices this year. As a writer it was a site I could share my thoughts on diverse topics from Desire, to Trauma. As a reader it was a forum where I could glean the rich perspectives of many other peers and students alike. It was this aspect, being a site for conversation among both teachers and students alike, which made it so special. Bay Shakti expanded the dialogue and world of Anusara yoga through its contributions to the conversation. I am grateful to Ginger, Brad, more recently Fredo and all the other writers and supporters who contributed to this nexus. The conversation may continue- in living rooms and yoga studio lobbies, but with its ‘sunset’ we are again reminded of this powerful place of transition we are in as a community. What has been before is largely dissolved, what is to re-form is yet to come, we stand in the liminal space, between departing and arriving. The ground is uncertain, the air smells new. Thank you Bay Shakti!!!
Managing Editor, Fredo Guastella:
I will always be grateful for the amazing virtual community that formed, centered around Bay Shakti. I am inspired by how the exploration of our practice can become such a profound source of deepening one’s sadhana and delighting in community. Gratitude and love to all of the writers I had the honor of working with during my tenure as Managing Editor, and gratitude and love to the site’s founders, Ginger and Brad Coy.
Student and Contributor, Jack Van Wyk:
Gratitude to Ginger, Fredo and everyone else who made Bay Shakti such a powerful tool in our community. As the sun sets on Bay Shakti and the storm clouds hang over what is left of Anusara, we will remember that whether it is day or night, cloudy or not, the sun always shines.
Yoga Teacher, 500 RYT and Contributor, Jana Kilgore:
Bay Shakti has been an invaluable resource for our community both locally and globally over the last three years. It has been an honor to contribute to it’s richness and offerings to the greater Anusara community. Seeds have been planted, there has been incredible growth for us all…Now, it is time for us all to cultivate our individual and collective visions of this powerful yoga we have been growing together. Thank you to Ginger, Brad and Alfredo especially for your seva. With love, Jana
Student and Contributor, Jeannie Page:
It is to Ginger Coy and Bay Shakti that I owe a debt of gratitude for helping me to become the writer I am today. Ginger was the first person who encouraged me to write about my journey of healing with yoga, which was published on Bay Shakti as “My Journey Into Grace.” The writing of that first blog opened up a creative flood gate and allowed for so much more magic to flow on my path as a writer. I am grateful for the support and the community developed around Bay Shakti and for all that they have done for the San Francisco Anusara community, and the Anusara community at large.
Yoga Teacher, RYT and Contributor, Jessica Archer:
I’m so grateful for the platform that BayShakti has been for the Anusara yoga community, and I’m hopeful that it can continue to be a source of wisdom and inspiration for the greater yoga community stepping forward. As a yoga teacher who has resigned my license with Anusara, I know I will always have my roots in the teachings I received while studying this method. Now, I am feeling a great freedom to step outside of this container…to embrace what resonates most deeply, and explore the expansion of its boundaries. I come to the mat and practice yoga without the solid lines my mind may draw, but with the soft boundaries of my physical form and how it wants to move through this moment in time. Hope to see you all somewhere along the path.
Yoga Teacher and Contributor, Katrina Ariel:
To me, one of the most potent things I got from Anusara yoga was the invitation to not only align with beauty, but to fully express myself creatively. BayShakti has been an open canvas and each person’s voice has added color and depth. I feel my life has been enriched by the ideas, words, and relationships woven together both online and offline, and send everyone blessings as we each continue to evolve in yoga and beyond.
Yoga Teacher and Contributor, Kelly Murdoch-Kitt:
Spring sunshine warms the moist soil. Sensing the change, previously dormant bulbs beneath the surface begin to emit tentative roots, then nudge their leaves upward, toward the light. One season has given way to the next, and it is time for new life to flourish, though it is not always easy or automatic. Day by day, through alternating chilly rains and welcoming solar rays, this fresh life requires hard work and persistence, but ultimately offers glorious and colorful reward.
During the season of Bay Shakti, it was an honor to participate in its growth and to see it flourish. I am grateful to Ginger and Brad Coy and Alfredo Guastella for their tireless service and leadership in bringing this beautiful offering to our yoga community, and to everyone who contributed to its success. However, as with the transformation of seasons, this change also holds promise. I see this not as an ending, but the beginning of another phase—a new season—for all of us. I am excited to see what will blossom in the future.
Certified Anusara Teacher and Contributor, KK Ledford:
Astrologically, this year will continue to be ripe with change and intensity. I’ve been talking about it for quite some time, and its
what I constantly refer back to, and what I feel is one of the most important factors for this year of the Water Dragon -
Uranus in Aries. The radical and rebellious planet that demands freedom at any cost in the fiery, feisty sign of Aries will continue to bring upheaval and instability personally and universally. My advice is what it has always been: embrace the chaos, merge with the mystery. And while staying steadfast and serious about your sadhana, please please retain a sense of humor.
Blessed be.
Student and Contributor, Michelle Indianer:
I will always feel gratitude to Ginger for inviting me to write for Bay Shakti about the current controversy with John Friend. Because I know Ginger to be classy, intelligent and warm, I decided to bring these qualities to my writing. With her and Alfredo’s wonderful editing support, and knowing that Brad would have my back when the comments got heated, I was able to reach deep within to write articles I could feel proud of and that I hope were helpful to readers of this blog. I think that Bay Shakti has set a high standard for civil discourse in the blogosphere, and as such it will be sorely missed!
Vinyasa and Anusara-Inspired Yoga Teacher and Contributor, Rebecca Snowball:
Thank You Bay Shakti, Ginger, and Support Team! You really enhanced the bright light of Anusara yoga in the Bay Area Community. Because of your blog, I found my voice as an Anusara-Inspired teacher on the path to certification! I felt a deep sense of belonging to our greater Anusara yoga community thanks to Bay Shakti! You will be missed!
Certified Anusara Teacher and Contributor Stacey Rosenberg:
Bay Shakti has been a great source for Anusara Yoga in the Bay Area and beyond for 3 years. Thanks to Ginger, Brad and more recently Fredo for putting together such a rich website full of resources for our community as well as being a place for all of our voices to be heard. It was truly a unique offering and will be missed.
Anusara-Inspired Yoga Teacher and Contributor, Tony Giannetti:
I’ll be sorry to see Bay Shakti go and hope that in the future there will be a forum where those aligned with a more Tantric perspective on life can share and interact. It’s beautiful how this sort of ‘underground’ philosophy from the East found some refuge in Western culture with our free speech laws and proclivity towards communications technology. The web has the power to give Tantra a full-voice in humanity’s conversation, and I hope your early work with this forum and the community it was dedicated to can be part of a ground zero for a larger expansion of forums where people can have a discussion where the intellect and heart are skillfully blended by seekers who are in search of refinement in how they seek and experience.
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