Yoga Day at The White Elephant

Yoga day at The White Elephant was a huge success in my opinion. I got there at about 9:15 and sat outside the hallway to the upstairs Studio. Listening to the soothing sounds of mantra music and the shuffle of bodies as they shifted from pose to pose I began to meditate and to feel the energy of the building itself.
From what I have heard the building was originally built as a Congregational Church, then became a Masonic Temple, and is now a place for Yoga. So it seems that it has always been a spiritual place. I did not go in for the First Yoga class taught by Brandy Lefsyk and Pat Roix, but from the murmurs of 'great class' as it ended it sounds like it went very well.
The origin of the term white elephant as per a few sources on the web is this - It was a great gift and a great burden to receive a white elephant. The great gift was that you had received a lifelong honor from the monarch if he chose to give you a rare white elephant, the burden was that now you had to feed it! If you google white elephant you will find many sources and stories for this term.
The photo in the upper left shows the break between the first class and the next. The studio is bright and spacious. The next event was chanting. Connie led the chant and was joined by Mary Canning and myself. The chanting was profound and powerful. Then Connie led a silent meditation. During the silent meditation Connie spoke of the light in each of us. As she spoke the sun shined through the room filling it with a gracious luminosity. I lay back in what I call my 'surrender' pose and gave myself up to the moment. Next Mary Canning brought the room through a series of breathing exercises - Pranayama. Then there was a Kripalu Yoga Flow class taught by Mary and assisted by Pat. The class was punctuated by poems as we danced into the poses. It was a glorious day!