#64: Chelsey Forbes
Chelsey (@goodcheech) teaches yoga in New York and beyond, with a Katonah-informed practice prioritizing restoration, philosophy, and play.
Those in NYC can catch her at Live the Process this September, where she’ll be leading three classes centered around Channeling the Current (more on that below). She’s also co-hosting a retreat in Azenhas do Mar, Portugal next week — and if you’ll be in the area, there are still a few spots left. “Retreat is ideal for everyone but also if you’ve just gone through a break up and need to get over something,” she says. “Or just yourself.”
Health Gossip with Chelsey
Libra/Gemini/Gemini
📍 Tristate Area
What does health, or being healthy, mean to you?
So the thing is, we are all aging. Like right now. What is healthy for me today may not necessarily have applied to last week and will most likely change by 77. For most of my younger years (I’m very young, but in some ways, pre-historic), I felt like my body was just constantly working against me. Some of that was on me and some of it is just the circumstances given in this life and human body. Being healthy means constantly refining, honing in, setting up the conditions for yourself, and having the prescience to know what’s coming.
How would you describe your current lifestyle?
Everything, everywhere, all at once.
How do you start and end your days?
I‘ll give you the good day version, albeit that I’m not teaching at dawn.
I wake up around 6 and lay face to face with my animal. The undisturbed eye contact is crucial. Her breath after the fifth stress yawn is my alarm clock and then she basically goes ape shit until I get up to feed her.
The white noise goes off. I rip off the mouth tape, the eye mask, the toe spacers (if they’ve lasted through the night), the ear plugs come out. I eliminate and splash my face with cold water. I put the kettle on. I wait in total silence. Hot water with lemon and obviously 8,000 other things. I’m really into Shilajit and this Korean Bamboo Salt my acupuncturist just put me onto.
I’m not gatekeeping, by the way — it’s just a lot.
I fill a bowl of water for my altar, I light my candles and incense, I sit and begin my Sadhana practice which combines Vedic meditation, japa mantra, kriya, and pranayama curated (mostly) every 40 days by one of my absolute favorite spiritual teachers, the one and only Tony Lupinacci.
This is pretty extensive, so if my child has not yet risen again and I’m lucky enough to really land in trance mode, I’ll sit outside on my tar beach (roof) for a bit. If it’s walking time, then it is what it is and we transition to a strong pour-over with collagen, coconut, or cow’s milk depending on what’s available. Then we go park mode. I love talking to my neighbors in the dog park.
The rest of the day typically consists of walking, reading, writing, teaching, practicing, cooking, studying, cleaning, sifting, ruminating, calling everyone I know, romanticizing, dinner-ing, praying. If it’s summer and I’m home we are beaching every Monday and sometimes then some. I do not own a full length mirror.