A note about the second half of the year, 2021.

Dear Yogis, Students, and Friends,

I am writing to let you know that I will be taking a leave of absence from VBY for the remainder of 2021. This week, my family learned that my father has terminal cancer and a limited amount of time left earthside. Though he has been sick for a while now, this week brings a new urgency to the inevitable. It feels imperative to be present in this process as it unfolds, and to make this my primary practice for the time we have left. Vira Bhava isn’t going anywhere, but we will be putting our trainings on pause, moving at the rhythm of what is unfolding for the next 6 months, and we will begin again in January 2022.

We will continue to take registrations for our 2022 programs. You can learn more about these programs by registering for our free mini-courses. And, VBY program coordinator, Kelsey Burke will be offering monthly online and in person workshops for those of you who desire to continue to learn with us during our training sabbatical. In addition, we have been hard at work the last few months creating a Tantric Meditation Training, which we will share with you soon. This will be an at your own pace training that provides the foundations and tools for practicing and teaching Tantric Meditation in your community. For now, I am committed to continuing the monthly Yoga of Resilience classes and the quarterly calls, as I desire to stay connected to you all through this intense experience. I am a tantrika afterall, and my life is my practice.

We will also continue to share our thoughts and viewpoints on a semi-regular basis, as I am sure that the process of supporting my father’s transition will be ripe with inquiry, challenge, and the opportunities to practice my Yoga. As a writer and Yogi, I will continue to use the platform of language to process through it all, and if and when it feels appropriate, I will share my difficulties, insights and discoveries with you via our blog, emails, and social media platforms.

Thankfully, I am in the final stages of a book on resilience, which I will be sending off to the publisher in the coming weeks. We will keep you updated on the anticipated release date as well as the accompanying programming. It’s no great surprise that supporting my father’s final transition feels like the ultimate initiation into resilience, and my hope is that this experience, along with the time away from leading trainings will allow that program to come through fully so that I may share it with you next year.

For now, it feels as if I have been called to the highest heights of practice, and I am deeply grateful to all of you for your understanding and the space needed for me to do what I need to do. My time and full attention need to be dedicated to my family and my practice, and I am committed to putting the foundation of 26 years of learning and study on the path of Tantra into direct application.

I am overwhelmingly grateful to Kelsey Burke, and I encourage you to seek out her classes, workshops, and teaching whenever and wherever possible. She is alive with this material, and she is a fantastic teacher, as well as an excelsior representative of the mission and passion of Vira Bhava Yoga. Finally, please check out our awesome VBY Ambassador’s classes (links are forthcoming on the website). There are dozens of amazing VBY teachers out there sharing their gifts and making an impact, take this time to check them out!

And to you, the students and lovers of VBY, I am so grateful that I can communicate with you in this way. No smoke and mirrors, no strings attached. I love you. I honor you. I am thankful for you. I will show up in this hardship fully because of the love and respect you give me, and I vow to practice what I teach. We can do hard stuff, and knowing that you are with me helps to make that possible. Life is a solo journey, but we can’t do it alone.

In love and gratitude,
Kelly

Dear Yoga Community