FLOATING IN A TUBE DOWN THE ESOPHUS RIVER

I had the blessing of floating in a tube down a river with my beloved teacher, Shiva Rea, on Friday, August 20 before making our way to the Omega Being Yoga Conference.

We rented from Town Tinker Tube, a well established outfit in Phoenicia, NY. We rode in a bus with 20 or so teenagers and their chaperones up the Esopus River to the put-in point.

The bus ride began with an update on the water levels (low) and some instructions from the driver who was wearing a bandana much like a famous male yoga teacher, aviator sunglasses, and a fu-manchu mustache. The only thing missing was a 70s classic rock soundtrack blaring from speakers.

With water levels being on the low side, our ride began slowly but we experienced about half a dozen dynamic sections on the river. At one point, the rapids nearly tossed me off my tube. Shiva described me later to Coral and Debbie with my legs pointing directly upwards. I thought for sure that I would flip but I was able to right myself.

During the slow and flat portions of the ride, I stared up at the blue sky with puffs of cloud recognizing the tranquility of the moment especially after having just picked up Shiva the JFK Airport in New York City. Shiva and I had a rambling conversation whenever we drifted close to each other. At one point, she shared with me that teaching of the river - how we can't control our direction or speed and our task is only to relax especially during the dynamic journey through rapids.

I highly recommend taking an afternoon off and floating down a river. So many lessons and opportunities to unplug from the river of life back in the city.