Through a serendipitous encounter, Jocelyn Rose entered into our market & studio and has been an amazing inspiration in my life.  Jocelyn Rose, one of our instructors here at The Space Market & Studio who teaches Lotus Hour and Lotus Flow I shares her journey from a once competitive, driven and difficult life to one of freedom and authenticity when she let go and learned the art of Lotus Flow Yoga…

I have always followed my passions, always followed my heart’s desires.  So much so, that the practical grounding aspects of life were not considered important… Actually not really considered at all.  Most of my life I have chased my dream of being an opera singer with such vigor, nothing else even existed in my heart of hearts.  Every breath, every sound I spoke/sang/sighed was geared towards the health and support of my vocal cords.  The goal of achieving a life of an opera singer became less a truth and more something I felt I needed to prove, both to myself and to the world.  This need to prove myself caused much heartache and internal judgement.  While there were amazing moments and  feelings of bliss, most days felt like a struggle to stay afloat covered by a constant state of anxiety.

While I was able to perform in a few leading roles, the real reward came from the process itself, not the results.  However, I was so focused on the end-goal that I missed the amazing strength I had built up within. I have since learned that the art of practicing every day for so many years truly was a gift in many ways.  It built my discipline beyond what words can describe.  Through this discipline, I know I can achieve so much.

One year ago I decided to take some time off from the life I had been chasing for so long.  Charles, my life partner, was hired by the New York Philharmonic for a one-year position as a percussionist.  I decided to leave my voice teaching job, my performance opportunities, my voice teacher and lessons and my part-time massage therapy business - my life as I knew it here in Atlanta and moved to NYC with him for the year.  Instead, of continuing down the untrue path I had traveled, I listened to that inner voice deep within that knew I did not want to live that life anymore.

Freedom!  I felt as if I had been reborn/liberated!  Even simple things like waking up and speaking, rather than spending my first half hour in the mornings humming and warming up my vocal cords gently.  I started drinking coffee (something that I never did prior, since it dries out your vocal cords).   Everything felt new and open.

This freedom and openness to the possibilities led me back to Yoga which had been a constant passion as well as my singing, though it always took the back burner.  Throughout my life I was always drawn to Yoga and eastern spiritual practices.  In my spare time I read about yoga philosophy, eastern spiritualities, quantum physics, and ways to live your inner truth.  After receiving my Masters in Opera, I traveled to India where I spent 3 weeks at a yoga ashram and a week of travel.

After doing some research on yoga teacher training programs, I found one that completely resonated with me.  Laughing Lotus Yoga.   A vinyasa studio filled with breath, spirit, sweat, dance, colors, music, and your own Divine love coming alive.   Teacher training was an intense 200-hour program from February 2009 - May 2009.  I loved every second of the experience.  The friendships, the practice, the strength, the flow, the inner truth.  I am so grateful to have been able to spend this time with such an amazing community of yogis.

After our year in the city, Charles, I and Hazel (our chocolate lab) returned by way of a 7,000 mile cross country adventure back to our home in Atlanta.  Upon returning, I had no job and no clue how to even begin the process of looking for “work”.  So many more hours were available during the course of each day and yet the seeds of activity had not even been planted yet.  I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel I was working towards something, how was I going to feel a sense of accomplishment and productivity?

While I wasn’t sure how this was all going to work.  As I slowly put myself out there and planted the seeds, things began to happen.  I feel through letting go, a whole new world of Allowing has opened up. I aim to be fully present in every moment not holding on to an expectation or attaching to an outcome and I think this has led to all aspects of my life flourishing from the initial seeds I’ve planted.  I am not sure what these gifts will appear as, but I am open to the possibilities!

Teaching yoga allows me the space to feel renewed before, during, and after each class.  I learn so much from my own personal preparation as well as from the amazing students who allow me to share and receive wisdom with them.  My classes are a mixture of movement and spirit.  Ultimately, the reason yoga has a ‘limb’ called Asana is to be able to attain a meditative experience without our bodies and minds aching in the process.   What a beautiful and freeing way to approach our yoga practice - and a lovely reminder to let go, and allow what is already within us: Life.

You can meet and experience Jocelyn’s playful and soothing style of Yoga around Atlanta.  She is beginning to incorporate her gifted voice through singing chants at the end of some of her Yoga classes and Kirtan (an ancient participatory music experience.  Without the work of mentally quieting the mind, kirtan can carry us effortlessly to a place of quiet, to stillness. One of the oldest sacred music traditions of the world, the kirtan call-and-response chanting genre comes to us from India. Using ancient Sanskrit mantras, the kirtan calls upon sacred energies which serve to quiet the mind, remove obstacles, and bring us back to the center of our being)

Jocelyn teaches Vinyasa Yoga at The Space Market and Studio, Nirvana Yoga and Brookhaven Fitness Studio, as well as privately.  She offers massage therapy services at her home office in Edgewood as well as Midtown Life Chiropractic Studio