So what was it like for a yoga student who is not a sailor to practice aboard a vessel? Hilary Hayes, a Yoga Mandala regular, wrote afterwards: “Often times spiritual endeavors such as yoga and meditation are practiced in sterile studios or in a still, quiet corner of our own home. However, these practices were developed to help people deal with life on a daily basis, to integrate the sounds of the mind with the movements of the body and practice on a unsteady platform will simply provide an alternative set of challenges to your practice.”

“Being on the Pegasus brought me into a deeper awareness of my body, which was first a bit unsettling but proved to be and experience both exhilarating and powerful. “

Concludes Hillary, “Yoga practice in the outdoors is considered a more advanced type of practice, because there are more sensory experiences to integrate into the practice, but for this same reason, it becomes a fuller practice, and the practitioner is that much more transformed.”

This year, Sumanasa Daren (who grew up sailing a schooner in Canada) is donating her time to teach yoga aboard Pegasus in a 2010 voyage. Places on the voyage (limited to six) are being auctioned individually to help raise funds for Pegasus which takes school students and youth-at-risk on the Bay throughout the year (www.pegasusproject.org). In addition to yoga, students will get to go on a voyage from Berkeley across the Bay and back, itself a spiritual experience.

If you would like to bid on a place, please visit their on-line auction at http://www.pegasusproject.org/celebration.html which will take you to the www.biddingforgood.com website where the auction is being held. If the voyage is over-subscribed, Pegasus will schedule a 2nd voyage with instructor Katie Culver. Students are also welcome to attend the Pegasus Celebration Dinner on November 21.

Dr. Peter Hayes, Director, The Nautilus Institute for Security & Sustainability, Center for the Pacific Rim