STYLL

It's not always easy being human. Loneliness, feelings of inadequacy and lingering trauma are just a few of the things that greet us in the early mornings. In that time before we pick up the phone to distract ourselves, before we step into our work day where we pour everything into something else to prove that we're alright.

STYLL is a place to come when you need to break back into the present, and I mean the real present, not the "present" where you are obsessed with the mistakes you made yesterday or thirty years ago, not the “present” where you are worried about the meeting you have tomorrow or whether or not you will use that diploma you spent all that money on.

Nope, it is a place to check back in with yourself right exactly where you are. I seek to use the Asana and Pranayama practice of yoga to give you a safe place to be you. And don't worry it won't always be serious because sometimes we will fall and that's fine, and sometimes we will dance, because often when words fail us, movement is the only place to find our voice.

I am all about taking back ownership of ourselves in a world where too often we are the product.

With instagram, twitter, and facebook, our lives are on display in tiny little increments, sometimes we forget to play the whole song, as if our story should be made up of sound bites instead of the full messy flow that it is.

The name STYLL evolved from the Maya Angelou poem, Still I Rise. The words have rolled on repeat through my head on the days when I have felt like giving up. Though I have never been a slave and I could never begin to understand what is to rise from such, as a woman and as writer there is a pride that lifts my heart when I hear those words. In each stanza she speaks the truth of who she was outside of the preconceived notions of others, outside of the sociological placement of her people. She speaks out against the lies of those who sought to keep her silent, to define her as something other than who she truly was— those who mocked or were bewildered by her strength as she did not lie down and become molded by someone else's estimation of her worth,

In this I feel myself echo

And Still I Rise.

As an artist there is nothing like having that moment where you write something so powerfully true about yourself that it becomes immortal, where you become accountable to it, because it so honest, that it becomes your anthem, your war cry.

You have one, a mantra waiting to be born to help you out from under that which seeks to define you. How do you rise up out of it? Through poetry, through dance, through being kind to others?

STYLL is a place to learn your strength. I will try and be honest with you as I build flows that can help you not only physically but mentally come to a place of better knowing yourself so that you can go into the world and rise up.

When I could not get the word STILL out of my head I thought …..what does the world Styll with a Y mean?

The first definition that popped up was, Styll means "I agree or it's true". So that's it, an affirming word to come alongside you as you learn to live your truth.

Om Shanti

Chris Mancari