Come Visit the New WarriorFlow.com

We've launched an exciting new web site for Warrior Flow. The new site is very visual and social in nature, and gives you a real feeling for the rich variety of yoga and meditation classes, workshops, events and retreats Warrior Flow offers in Miami and around the world -- and the feeling of community at the heart of the brand. Please come check out the new WarriorFlow.com. While you're there, don't miss the latest blog posts on working with difficult emotions like grief and resentment.

With the new site live, we'll soon be phasing out this Blogger site, so be sure to come check out and follow the new Warrior Flow.

Warrior Flow on Lincoln Road

  It’s part of Warrior Flow’s mission to create positive and nurturing connection to the community. Warrior Flow provides a space for participants to connect to each other and the practice of yoga in beautiful scenarios. Watch founder Adrian Molina and the amazing Miami Beach community of yogis practicing at one of Miami’s landmarks, Lincoln Road. If you are in Miami, join Adrian every Sunday at 10am. Class is free. You just need to bring your mat.

Warrior Flow Community Members: Meet Chris DeSalvo

Warrior Flow is happy to welcome Chris DeSalvo to our community of yogis. We asked Chris a few questions about his background. This is the first in a series of profiles of our community members.

1- How did you find out about the community yoga class?
I saw the Warrior Flow event on the WeWork rooftop and it sounded like an amazing venue for yoga. It was one of the best classes I've ever attended!

2- How long have you been taking Warrior Flow classes?
I've been taking Warrior Flow classes for several weeks now.

3- How long have you been practicing yoga?
I've practiced on and off for several years but only on a weekly basis. I used to play sitar professionally and found yoga through my music. I've been going almost daily now living in South Beach. It's a great experience being able to do yoga everyday outdoors!

4- Tell us about yourself
I'm a self-employed app developer living in Miami Beach. My company is called Pomegranate Apps and I've been developing apps for iPhone and iPad since the App Store launched in 2008. I have an arts background studying Jazz guitar and sitar before learning programming. I really enjoy all the technical and creative aspects of app development and I'm always looking for new opportunities.

5- Favorite yoga pose?
Full wheel bridge pose.

Changes and Transitions

It is with a heavy heart that I say goodbye today to Equinox, my home of 13 years. I had hoped for a different outcome, but this decision was not entirely in my hands.

Very few people know this, but in my days before yoga, when I was new to the country, I worked for a bakery, behind the counter, selling bread and pastries. After a few years I became a manager. While working for this bakery my passion for yoga was ignited, and I decided to take a yoga teacher training. Through the grace of miracles or coincidences I was given a chance to teach at Crunch in Miami. The manager who hired me has since passed away. I have fond memories of teaching at Crunch and I made wonderful friendships there.

Then a new company came to town, Equinox. Many of my friends went from Crunch to Equinox, excited about this new company that had mouth wash and clean towels and beautiful aesthetics and flower arrangements. I couldn’t teach at Equinox in South Beach because it was a conflict of interest (I had to learn and be reminded over the years what that meant, exactly) when they first opened because I worked for Crunch. But when Equinox Coral Gables opened, someone gave me a chance and I took it. My classes began to grow in numbers, and when the amount of classes I was teaching were bringing in about the same income as the bakery, I let go of the bakery.

I remember the fear mixed with excitement I felt that day. Things took off from there. Much of my career as a yoga teacher has developed in Equinox classes in Miami and New York. I have been back and forth between these two cities, and I remain humbled from the love I have received from my Equinox family all through these 13 years, in both states.

At one point in NYC, I was teaching more than 30 classes per week for Equinox (if you’re a teacher, you’ll understand how thinly stretched I was by that). But it was through really devoting myself to my students at Equinox that I earned a space in their hearts, and certain clubs became like my second home. My Sunday morning class at 74th Street became affectionately known as “Yoga Church,” and would often pack in more than 80 people, mats one inch apart, in a sweaty, joyful flow.

Equinox has opened doors for me that I didn’t know existed. I used to sell croissants and baguettes, and now — fast forward a few years — I am a full time teacher who leads international retreats, workshops, teacher trainings. I’m even taking baby steps into a more therapeutic approach to yoga and working to bring the benefits of yoga to communities in need by building new partnerships.

Through Equinox I learned discipline, how to get things done through hard work, and I would not give up that experience for anything. In my classes I have been exposed to a variety of people and characters and friends that I could never have imagined. I am eternally grateful to the many people in Equinox who gave me opportunities, and helped me along the way. I am not mentioning anyone. There are so many names that deserve to be called out in appreciation that I choose not to mention anyone and remember everyone — the ones who are still present, and those who unexpectedly left this world too soon.

After a rocky 2017, the death of my mom, and so many other events that have occurred, life is encouraging me to make some changes. And like previous times in my life, with change comes some fear, sadness, and anxiety. But I can’t ignore the calling that I feel, and I have made a commitment to myself that I won’t make decisions based on fear.

I am eternally grateful to the many faces who have filled my Equinox classes over the years. You have no idea how much your devotion to your practice has meant to me. I am also thankful to all the employees and managers behind the scenes who made my experience in this company truly remarkable on this 13-year ride. My doors and my heart will always remain open to you.

Most of all, I will miss my students at Equinox. I really wish that it didn’t have to be this way. But I am sure that our yoga paths will continue to cross in the future, in other ways. I am excited about the wonderful projects taking shape in 2018. I am looking at life with excitement, and I am open and ready for what’s next.

With love to you all,
Adrian

SRF Annual Convocation - 2017

I spent last week immersed in meditation. I came to Los Angeles for the week-long annual convocation of Self Realization Fellowship. SRF is the non profit organization founded by Paramahansa Yogananda (Autobiography of a Yogi) for the continuation of all his teachings.

Thousands of devotees from all over the world gather together in chanting, meditation, and communion, to deepen our practice, to express gratitude for the teachings. Then we go back to our daily lives uplifted and inspired to awaken the qualities of our guru in ourselves and in everyone who crosses our paths.

It is very difficult to find the words to express the many feelings and realizations that come from a week of meditation and silence. Not to mention putting the phone away and taking a break from email and social media. It was kind of astonishing to check the phone at night and notice that I still had 80% battery left.

I would like to share with you some of the realizations of my week, with the hope that some of my aha moments might inspire you.

-Meditation: I noticed that as the days went by my natural resistance to being still faded away. I started looking forward to meditation. I noticed the effects that meditation has on my mind, the pace of my thoughts, even in my skin, but most importantly in my heart. 

Many times throughout the week I experienced moments of silence where my heart spoke loudly and clearly. I renewed my vows of meditation, not necessarily as a tool for slowing down but as a tool to stay connected to a quality of devotion and appreciation for the sacredness of life in general. 

-Relationships: One after another, I came up against the psychological maneuvers (many of them unconscious) that I use to avoid conflict, pain, and sadness in my relationships. I got to understand the why's of certain feelings and most importantly I got to free myself and the other person involved from the heavy weights of judgement and resentment. I realized how many of my closest relationships were being held captive to my resistance and disapproval. I freed some emotional patterns and made peace with myself. I couldn't have done that alone. Not on my mat. Not with a therapist. Not with a friend. I needed this time in meditation and silence to arrange the puzzle pieces inside myself.

-Love: I know that I am surrounded by it. But certain life situations create a wall between that pure feeling of love and the world. I came to this week’s convocation knowing that some of my life experiences in the past year have hardened my heart. The busyness of life, projects and demands didn't allow me to press pause and reflect. 

I understood this week once again that love is the main essence that we are made of. Love is the main language of communication. It is the only reason that we are here, and the only hope to live our lives fully. 

I gave myself time to ask, reflect, and meditate on all this matters and so many more. None of this could have happened if I hadn't taken the time to ask and listen, if I hadn't made my spiritual questions a priority amidst the rush of obligations in my daily life.

I hope whoever you are, reading this, that it gives you food for thought. And that you make some time for yourself to really listen. And trust that an answer is always given.

I’m A Yoga Teacher And I Was Depressed

I stood staring at the tiny white pill in my hand.

I was supposed to believe that this pill would alleviate my pain, my fears, my inability to function, my sadness and disconnection from the things I loved, my extreme and disturbing thoughts about life and death. 

It took me a few minutes to swallow my pride before I could swallow the pill. I knew I was moving into unknown territory. 

On paper, it didn’t make any sense for me to be experiencing a “major depressive episode,” as the psychiatrist had called it. People like me aren’t supposed to go through depression. Are we?

For over a dozen years I’ve been a successful yoga teacher, devoted to holistic health, to meditation, and to spirituality. I’m thriving in my job, with hundreds of beloved students in New York and Miami, working for a great company, taking people on retreats to beautiful places around the world, leading yoga teacher trainings and workshops, married to the love of my life, with a beautiful apartment and two loving cats, living in my favorite city surrounded by beaches and sunshine.

But there I was: struggling with the most basic decisions, like brushing my teeth, drinking water, taking a shower, getting out of bed. And nonetheless, I kept going, day after day.

Your Presence

By Adrian Molina


Last weekend in NYC flew by so quickly. But I still wanted to share something that stayed with me… 

Many students come to me to share amazing stories of success, triumphs, accomplishments. I love giving high fives to their success stories. But there are also the other ones. The stories about heartbreak or illness or difficulties in life… 

A student came to talk to me at the beginning of one of our workshops. It was the kind of story that, after less than a minute, had me in tears.

There were no words of solace good enough. 

There was no scripted line that I could respond with...

There was nothing to be said. Because no words could possibly diminish the pain.

I hugged my student for the longest time. It’s not always your job to provide answers.