Testimonials

I was talking to my friend the other day and she was praising Devon after taking one of her classes at People’s.  I told her I agreed how great she is and that I hear her voice now in my head almost daily telling me to where to let go and where to draw strength from.  Her advice comes from extensive knowledge, but more than that, she has true compassion for the people and their body’s whom she teaches.  Hearing her voice in my head is hearing a voice of love.I took her workshops last winter at a time when I felt pain in most of my body.  She taught me to first be compassionate and patient with myself, and that pain is actually just a indication of poor distribution of resources.  Her lessons extended even outside of the body and into the bigger world around us.

I am a massage therapist.  I practice Thai bodywork.  Devon’s classes are like physical therapy for me.  She has the explanations for good alignment, distribution of strength, and body awareness nailed!  Every time I work I think of my weight-bearing poses and remember her words.  I am stronger, more aligned, and now know how to prolong my career.  She’s so good, I thought, “she needs to teach a class to bodyworkers on how to hold our bodies to avoid overuse injuries and to help prolong our strength.” Would it be correct to say she is a yoga instructor?  I don’t think so.  She is a wise teacher who uses yoga as a means to teach us how to love, live in and move our bodies in a world full of distractions.

– Mary

Practice with Devon

I

Reaching for what is, not what “should” be

Eyes, ears, body focused on particularity

What is here (my outer foot, a pinch in my groin, a familiar face)

What is now (breath, im/balance, laughter)

What is mysterious (the space behind my lungs, the difference between reaching and gripping)

Inner connection

Without attachment

With compassion

Shared space

A river of moments, poses, curiosity, breath, hands on wall, practicing death, stuckness, knee drops, confusion, adaptation

An embodied guide

A persistent questioner

A learned and always learning teacher

II

I have practiced with Devon for five years. I have learned to practice with Devon. I have learned to listen, to feel, to trust my body. To adapt poses to the reality of my body, of my changing moments. I have gone inside my self, to my felt sense, my energy, and away from a visual, distanced judgment in my practice. I have found places in myself I didn’t know were there, and I have wandered in frustration, gentling when I am reminded that indeed this is the practice.

This practice is with me on my mat, and in all of the other moments I move through the world.

– Holly