"As you become more struggle-free, you'll be able to take in the beauty of your surroundings. I don't mean fashion magazine beauty. I mean the beauty that's all around us that we forget to take in." -- Ana Forrest, a few hours ago

I'd never seen a photo of Ana Forrest, and the only thing I knew about her yoga was that it was very neck-conscious. But somehow I didn't expect a fiery power-house in brown and orange tie-dye with a horse-tail-long braid and black fingerless gloves that she and her five (well-trained) assistants were wearing.

This class, "Struggle-Free" yoga was about hanging out with intensity without "thrashing around," as she says, either internally or externally. It's not the intensity that kills us, it's the thrashing in response to it that gets us into trouble. It's not news in yoga to breathe and be with intensity, but something about the way she teaches--as someone who has clearly done her share of thrashing (as she was happy to admit)--really gets that through.

Just past the middle of class she had us think of the hardest thing we're dealing with in our life--work, spouse, addiction, etc. And then to take a block (an assistant fashioned one for me out of my water bottle and scarf), and go into Locust and squeeze the hell out of the block with our ankles.

It's been ages since anything out of the ordinary has happened to me in yoga class, but my legs immediately started shaking. She told us to squeeze harder. My legs shook harder and harder until I thought I might be getting ready for lift-off. I was mouthing "holy #$%!" and heard assistants whispering. One came over and said "Stay with it, stay with it." Which I didn't seem to have a choice about. It was like my legs were set to vibrate. Crazy. Scary. Cool. After a minute or so, it subsided. I felt like something ragged and large had left me.

Ana said this method is a great way to get rid of extra energy that we're holding around something (whatever your hot issue is) that is in fact sapping a huge amount of our energy. She said it was OK to have some tears, to expect that this might bring up feelings.

That's what's so nifty about conferences (and I don't mean to sound like an ad here)--a buffet of experiences come to you. A slightly different way of doing a pose that can actually dramatically shift your life. This class certainly left me feeling shifted for the moment and with a new tool to keep on with it. Thanks, Ana.

Have you done this kind of pose before, with the squeezing and squeezing while thinking of your hardest thing? What happened?

And to see Ana in action at a different YJ conference: