Emilee: How I came to learn the Art of Restorative Yoga.

My two and a half years in apprentice-ship as a yoga student with Lorilyn at Tahoe Rising.

It was December 2021 and my friend Muriel had invited me to check out “this new studio” in midtown South Lake Tahoe. Murle and I decided to meet outside the studio in the frosty air of this cold, winter morning. I arrived 10 minutes early and got cold waiting in my car.  I was also nervous about being late, so after a quick text to Muriel that I would meet her inside, I forged ahead into the studio.

After I walked through the janky mall, I was surprised to open the double door into a beautiful yoga studio that had nicest hardwood floor one could imagine. It was immaculately clean with a shelf full of props-- from blocks to bolsters of all kinds of sizes. Briefly, I noticed there were ropes on the wall. I was greeted by a lovely, albeit, spritely human in the corner of this small room, tinkering away on an iPad.

She welcomed me in as she continued to prep the space for our sojourn.  As a good yoga student, I introduced myself and told her I was waiting for a friend who would eventually join us -- which she did, only after shedding her massively heavy winter coat and overalls.

And truth be told, I don’t remember how we started class.

Now, I also don’t remember if we had specifically signed up for a “Ropes" class, but my first salient memory was looking across the way to Muriel-- the blood rushing to her smiling face-- and thinking, “We are totally upside down.” She was laughing; I was laughing. It was quite absurd, really. You know, being upside down can really shake you of whatever laurels you’re resting on.

It was exhilarating. Terrifying. I knew I wanted more.

And that, as it turns out, was a life changing moment. Not yet revealed.

Now, at the time, I was quite involved in a different studio: Stillwater Yoga with Shannon Liebel while I was also teaching at Hot Spot Yoga (what is now Grassroots) in Carson City.  Stillwater was my "Tahoe studio" because it was located on Nevada side of South Lake Tahoe, just a stone’s throw from where I grew up. That studio felt like the home I was building.

When I showed up at Tahoe Rising, I wasn’t anticipating “staying;” I was "just visiting" after all. I didn’t know that when I stepped through those doors, I had walked into the atmosphere of one of the greatest teachers I would ever meet.

And the universe continued to gift me. As fate would have it, I was the only attendee to an early afternoon yoga class on New Years Eve, 2021. On this day special day. Lorilyn and I spent over an hour and a half together. She taught me to “Ohm” in its three separate parts and the tradition of learning by verbal recitation from teacher to student.

In all honesty, when she asked me if I wanted to teach (for which I had to decline due scheduling issues), I remember being awestruck. As a curious response, she wasn't offended: instead she offered me the door code to get into the studio so I could “stay connected.” She told me I could come practice whenever I needed to. I could not believe her generosity. I remember remarking on the extraordinary offer to my partner.

What she didn’t know, and what I was soon to realize, is that her offer would be the single most generous gift that would forever alter my life.

Now, over the next few months, Lorilyn became my touchstone in all things Yoga. Although I did end up pursuing a 200 hour with the other yoga studio in the following months, I stayed in regular attendance with Lorilyn for her Sunday Morning Restorative Practice. I would stay after and help her clean up the props, and I relished any time I got with her as many students stayed late to speak with her.

As an avid Vinyasa-lover, I found her Restorative Class to be nothing short of mesmerizing. How could stillness be so enticing? In this class, we laid down and rested. What? In this class, we practiced our breath and we connected at a deeper level to our practice. It was the practice of stillness and "involution" I would learn as I trailed her studies of B.K.S. Iyengar's philosophy and guidance in the coming years.

And, if you’ve taken a class with Lorilyn,  you know she always brings a beautiful serving of prop usage and creativity that I had never before experienced. Under her knowledgeable eye, my yoga practice deepened to a degree that I now feel safe entering any yoga class… at any time. The foundations I learned about yoga from Lorilyn will protect me for all time and will sanctify my students from injury if I continue to practice her teaching. It’s a karmically blessed gift of abundance.

Now, for those of you who have attended my restorative yoga, you might recognize the elements of abundant rest and relaxation that leads you into the self. I learned this from her. Her classes were filled with guided imagery, and sprinkled with philosophy that felt like poetry as much physical instruction, Lorilyn expertly guided us through a physical experience-- and all while teaching us something profound. In the next two years, Lorilyn would become the pillar by which I anchored my study.

Now, what was also occurring and was NOT something I talked about openly was the abusive relationship I was in. I was not forthcoming about the violent fits, engendered from too much alcohol that would send me reeling from my house at ungodly hours of the night. For the first two years of this relationship, I did not have a healthy way of coping, limited by options and obligations. But her offer to use her space for my reprieve opened a brand new door. I remembered the feeling of relief when I realized, “You know, I would rather go to the yoga studio instead.”

So I did. I'd let myself in to the studio at unusual hours. I would practice, journal, and then tidy up the room, clean the floors and leave when I had reconnected with myself. The room saw many tears.

And a new pattern was born. because as the anger and outbursts of a life I had no control over would run over, I started to run away from the chaos and started running to the studio. I would retreat into the calm space to find the source point of my feelings instead of being caught in the storm of them. Whether I would dance, hang upside down, or move until the tears sprang forth, I would stay until it was safe for me to come home. I always returned to my house calm and grounded and would rise in the morning a better person.

I know now, her generosity changed everything.

My ability to access yoga as a safe point in this turbulence would come to teach me the importance of reaching for stability when you’re in the middle of a storm. My tendency, up until that point of my life, was to meet turbulence with more turbulence… or at best, to move through turbulence with distraction. But this new opportunity began to shape me into the kind of person that can build something constructive from the chaos. This process enabled me to build my own structure for an integrity that would depended on no one else but me and my mat.

As you all know, things have changed and moved. I no longer have to run to the yoga studio to escape the dark spaces in my life. But I am thankful to Tahoe Rising and Lorilyn for growing me, and equally grateful to share the light that was so generously shared with me, with you.

My light bows to each of yours. Not because I know better than you, but because I know just like you do how turbulent life can be, and I want to offer you a space to weather the storm. Because you just might find something at the source point that you can take with you, always.

Thank you for reading this and for being a part of my community.

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Check out her class RAD Release: Myofacial Release with Lorilyn from Tahoe Rising on Saturday November 8th. Hold your space here. https://momence.com/s/124688203