Moving. For Real.

Guys I wrote this week's posts last week - and as I'm writing this post all my stuff is being taken away. I'm literally sitting on a bare wooden floor in a mostly empty house. It's just me and the computer. Everything else is packed up and loaded in moving trucks. Yes, we got a house and we're moving in today (6/25)! However, we don't have internet set up yet at the new house, and I can't necessarily predict when it will be started. SOOO... I don't know when my next post will be. Hopefully within a week or 2. Wish me luck being internet-less.... and don't forget about me. oh and do Yoga!

photo source: fuckyeahyoga

Obsessed!

Yoga should be done 6 days or so a week. Do it regularly. It's a whole lifestyle to be adopted really. An outlook and a plan. I've talked about Tapas before... this is it.

The Sun is Always Shining

"...one of the simplest yet most beautiful teachings of tantra, of yoga and of my own teacher John Friend is that the sun is always shining, even when it's night, even when there's a storm, even when you can't see it. The light is always present: even when we are having a bad day, when we wake up tired, when we are in a bad mood, when we feel lost, scared, angry. The sun is always shining. The light is always radiant."

- BLOG.MARIACRISTINAYOGI.COM (Certified Anusara Teacher)
excerpt from her recent blog post 'different universes'

The 5 Most Common Alignment Mistakes in Meditation - (Video)

I meditate all the time. I've been taught meditation by many teachers and I've taught meditation to lots of people. I've always been able to explain to people how to sit - but not real great at explaining why, so I'm glad that I found this video a couple days ago. In this video Amy Ippoliti (amazing Anusara teacher extraordinaire) explains the 5 most common alignment mistakes in meditation, why they hurt, and how to fix them. If you experience discomfort during meditation then this video may help you out because it's the best explanation of this topic I've ever heard.

 

Readers via email - Click Here for the Video

Do You Teach Hot Yoga?

In moving, my husband and I keep meeting people that are so excited to hear that I teach yoga. What is the first question they all ask? Do you teach HOT YOGA!? Um... no.

I don't have anything against hot yoga - I've done it... it's fine. I was supposed to teach it once, but that didn't happen. It's still such a weird question to me. Is that the most popular yoga in Boise? Is it just the only style they have heard of? I don't know, but whenever we mention that my favorite style is Anusara we get blank glazed stares. There are Anusara-Inspired teachers in the area - I'm a little weirded out to keep meeting people that have never heard of it.

I'm so used to my little world where its All Anusara - All the Time... it's like I've forgotten that it's not as widespread and well known as I feel like it is. Hrmph. Guess I'll just have to get out there and tell them about it.

Be Skeptical

 “Be skeptical of your own thoughts, question what you know, and don’t believe everything your mind says.” - Hareesh Wallis

My left hand is on my ankle - you just can't see it.

PS: I don't know what's up with Blogger... but I can't comment on my own freakin' blog! So just know that I'm not actually ignoring you guys... it's just freakin' broken.

Rodney Yee on the Heart Chakra - (Video)

For those of you that are not such yoga geeks as I - Rodney Yee mainly teaches Iyengar Yoga, but tends to follow his own practice these days. The very first yoga DVD I ever bought was a Rodney Yee DVD, and while I may have wandered into other things I very much respect his knowledge as a teacher. He certainly knows his subtle body anatomy better than I do. I need to study up more on these things.

Rodney Yee "The Heart Chakra" from Omega Institute on Vimeo.

Update For Now

It's been a while since I mentioned the move - and even a while since my last post. Today is a great day for an update.

Everything I said in my last post about moving - has changed. Everything except the fact that we're moving. We're still moving, but since my moving post on June 6th - a lot has happened so I'll give a super short summary. Adam got an offer from Bodybuilding.com, for a lot more money, so we decided to go with that one - and now we're moving to Boise, ID. He actually starts his new job today, so send lots of good thoughts and positivity his way.

That's right - he starts his new job today and we haven't moved yet. We're still looking for a place to live in the Meridian/Boise, ID area. In the meantime I'm still living in Oregon and Adam is staying in Idaho during the weeks. We have a place kind of lined up on July 15th (assuming it works out), but we're hoping to get into something else before then so we don't have to live apart for a full month. Not only is that sucky, but it's also really expensive.

For now I can totally devote the majority of my days to yoga and writing posts... so the posts will get back on track for a while.

An Altar You Love

I'm still in the process of moving, but I figured it was about time for a real post. Today I wanted to talk about altars. I love altars. They make me feel all warm and fuzzy. I love seeing my altar... I love my altar and every piece of it.

I came across this one minute video recently on How to Create an Altar from YogaG33k. It's quick and to the point but fun, so give it shot.

My altar is a little different, so I thought I'd talk about mine a bit. You may have seen my altar in the background of my pics here and there. I know I took some pics of it for this post's exact purpose, but I can't find them... and my altar has already been packed up or I'd just take some new ones. It's built primarily of things that "are special to me" and a few fun pieces to keep things light.

My Altar is composed of:

• Purple Wrap - Gift from my longest kept best friend of 21 years.
• Ganesha picture in bright colors - just my style.
• Yellow Ribbon Lei - (draped over Ganesha pic) from my trip to Hawaii
• Large Om Painting - I painted it from scratch. Included to increase creativity.
• Photos of some of my teachers - to remind me to honor them.
• Buddha postcard because it's pretty.
• Wooden Weeping Buddha - had it for ages and it's wooden.
• Incense holder - for burning Nag Champa that smells like the yoga studio where I did my teacher training
• Ting sha bells - for meditation, classes, etc.
• Tiny prayer flags - colorful, cute, no idea where I got them
• Ganesha figure - the whole thing is built around him - The Lord of Obstacles.
• A Love Note to Myself - written at a Sianna Sherman workshop on a heart shaped piece of cardstock and it makes me feel happy
• Bits of Nature - giant pinecone, sea urchin shell, rocks, a few nut shells, small piece of meteor, feathers, occasionally sticks, and sometimes fresh flowers.
• Candles sometimes.
• Malas sometimes.

That sounds like a lot of stuff. I'm surprised and amused. Especially since I'd like to add an offering bowl and I'm sure I'll swap some stuff out later that I haven't thought of yet. Lots of altars are much smaller than mine, some of them are larger - you can't go wrong. Just make it beautiful and special to you.

Birthday Pup

"Plant the seeds of Love in your hearts. Let them grow into trees of Service and shower the sweet fruit of Ananda. Share the Ananda with all. That is the proper way to celebrate the Birthday." - Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Today is my dog's birthday. Devereux is 9 years old today and healthy and happy! Yay!

More Important Than My Ego

"If there's anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now."

- Douglas Adams



Aparigraha in Action

I mentioned yesterday that we're moving... quickly... and far away. This being the case, dragging our full household of stuff would be inconvenient and expensive. We've decided to sell/donate at least 80% of our stuff. The bed, couch, loveseat, giant chair and matching ottoman, fancy red chair, TV, washer, dryer, end tables, dining room table/chairs, etc.... It's all going away. That's just the big stuff. We're also shedding tons of boxes of smaller items like weights. Almost all the small stuff is just being donated and we're exchanging the big stuff for money. I think it's all honorably priced, and it is moving quickly. I just listed the big stuff today and almost all of it is being picked up tomorrow by happy people matched up with great furniture.

I don't know the last time you were face to face with an honest appraisal of how much "stuff" you own (or maybe it owns you), but it was probably too much. That's usually the case anyway. Humans have some pack rat tendencies. We tend to hold onto things for sentimental reasons, obligation, or for no reason at all. Sometimes we even keep things out of guilt. But when was the last time you actually USED any of that stuff? I've been having to ask myself some tough questions about things. Do I really need/want/use/like this item? Why do I have it? Does it serve my purpose on this path? Usually the answer is no... so it belongs in the sell list or the donate pile. It doesn't always get put there. Sometimes it's packed in a box to travel with me, but we all have our weaknesses. For me it's art supplies - for you maybe it's something else.

I've written about aparigraha (greedlessness, non-attachment) before, and you can read more about its practice here.

Photo Source: Tineye found nothing. Don't know. I'm lazy at midnight, so I'm not going to try harder than that.

Packing Up

Good News! Adam got a job! in Austin, TX. So we're moving... and pretty quickly. It's a rush job and we're going halfway across the country (just shy of 1,800 miles) so I'm going to be pretty busy in the next couple weeks. Trying to fit in some yoga will be challenging... it might be just my simple morning practice + meditation for a while. I'll try to keep the blog updating on schedule, but don't be surprised if I miss a couple days between now and July 1st.

Photo Source: Dunno. A quick Tineye search yielded 0 results.

What is Already Yours

"Our desires presage the capacities within us; they are harbingers of what we shall be able to accomplish. What we can do and want to do is projected in our imagination, quite outside ourselves, and into the future. We are attracted to what is already ours in secret. Thus passionate anticipation transforms what is indeed possible into dreamt-for reality." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

You may recall Adam had not really been practicing until he got laid off from his job in March. With a little coaching he's made it a long way in only a couple of months. He always learns things so fast that it can inspire jealousy, but as his teacher and wife I'm super proud.

The Story of Yoga (Video)

What was the catalyst for yoga to leave the caves and come to the people? To women even! If you absolutely must know - watch this video to learn all about it.



Readers via Email click here for the video.

Home Practice - All By Myself

Adam is out of town for a couple days for a job interview in Texas, so I'm left to see how much yoga I can really do. Since I declared last week that I was taking some time to rest and then a slow progression into my real practice again - I've only done one full practice. It wasn't a pre-designed sequence and it wasn't very long or difficult. The real challenge was making sure not to overdo it. I will definitely be doing some full practices while I'm home alone. I do my best work all by myself. Today I'll do a sequence I put together specifically for sore backs, so hopefully it will feel great. By the way, my back feels 99% fine now. I'm just being cautious so I can keep it that way.

This pic was taken a couple weeks ago. I like the morning darkness to it.