365 Yogini

Yesterday was the completion of my second week, and my third weekend, of my 6 month 300 hour teacher training program with YogaWorks. I feel so blessed, and could not be more grateful, for my mentor, Kia Miller, and the wonderful group of yogis and yoginis I'm training with. It's been so nice to allow myself to dive deeply into this practice, philosophy, and pranayama; although I've had to let go of other activities and income generators in my life.

Yet, as you may know, sometimes you must say "no" to certain things in order to say "yes" to important opportunities. Right now I am saying "Yes! I am available to more good than previously thought, imagined, expressed, or manifested in my life." And in order to receive the goodness, you must be in the right place at the right time. So I am here, now...and loving it.

Often times I fill up my schedule with so much work and volunteering that I have no time to take care of myself, but now, I am my priority, and I like it. By putting myself before others, I can be of more service. Things are changing, but everything is moving in the right direction.

With that said, in the past two weeks I've taken classes with the following teachers at the corresponding studios:

Kia Miller (YogaWorks)
Lisa Walford (YogaWorks)
Jennifer Pastiloff (YogaCo)
Travis Eliot (SM Power Yoga)
Mia Togo (YogaWorks)
Andres (SM Power Yoga)
Govindas (Bhakti Yoga Shala)
Jeanne Heileman (YogaWorks)
Jasmine Lieb (YogaWorks)

Govindas...rock my world why don't ya. My Friday afternoon class at the Bhakti Yoga Shala was a truly awe inspiring experience that left me in a supreme physical and spiritual state. Together, we chanted phrases, including: "I am available to more good than previously thought, imagined, expressed or manifested in my life."

And then we visualized what "more good" would look like in our lives. My visualization was a fast forward through my world and included me walking home from the beach and into my home which was filled with my beloved friends. I was greeted with a kiss from my man and we picked fresh veggies from our garden to juice and cook together. People continued to come in and out of our Yoga Cottage as I hopped on and off planes in foreign lands dancing and laughing with unfamiliar faces filled with love. I practiced yoga and swam in unfamiliar waters. I was surrounded by circles of smiling children, hugging, laughing and doing yoga games with them and watching them grow...and ZOOM...back into the very spot I was sitting in; knowing that yoga and meditation are GOOD for me and that Life is FUNDAMENTALLY Good.

MORE...
dancing, singing, chanting, laughing, loving, juicing, biking, walking, running, hiking, swimming, stretching, listening, learning, reading, writing, painting, organizing, hugging, snuggling, meditating, smiling, shining, cooking, chewing, living and inspiring.

At 4pm on Friday December 18th, we at www.theStream.tv embarked on a 24 hour cycling fundraiser for the Pablove Foundation, a nonprofit fighting childhood cancer with love. The organization was named after a boy named Pablo Castelaz who lost his battle with cancer in June, just 6 days after his 6th birthday. His family's story is an inspiration to us all.

In October, Jeff Castelaz, Pablo's father, rode his bike 3,100 miles across the U.S. to mourn his son's death and to raise funds/awareness about pediatric cancer. We, at theStream.tv, rode a stationary bikes for 24 hours to support Pablove, and I rode for at least 6 of those hours...probably more.

Luckily, I was able to ride side by side with Jeff Castelaz and we had the chance to talk about life after Pablo's death, the importance of art in treatment, the Children's Hospital Los Angeles, and the potential band name, "Phone Tree."

» Read More

Saturday
YogaWorks Montana - Sonya
Fun flow. Lots of old men. She likes to sing her instructions.

YogaWorks Westwood - Thomas
Super cool guy. Interesting beginners class. Lots of strange balancing.

Sunday
YogaWorks Montana - Heather
Best YW class I've ever taken in L.A. Loved her energy and her sequence.

» Read More

Saturday
7:30 am Montana - Sonya
5:30 pm Westwood - Thomas

Sunday
4 pm Montana - Heather
5:30 pm Montana - Kia

Monday
7am Main - Malachi
2:30 or 7:30 pm Montana - John
5:30 pm - Chris

Tuesday
9am Montana - Annie
1pm (or Thurs) Montana - Jasmine

I had been considering doing a 300 hour teacher training that starts in January but I didn't learn until last night that in order to pick my mentor, I should take classes with each of these teachers before Thursday, December 4th.

Considering the Thanksgiving holiday and my schedule, this isn't going to be easy, but I'm going to do my best!
Wish me luck...
(*) = Taken
Annie Carpenter *
Carmen Fitzgibbon
Kia MIller *
Heather Seinger *
Jasmine Lieb
Sonya Cottle *
Chris Stein *
John Gaydos *
Malachi Melville *
Thomas Taubman *

When I saw Andres at the front of the studio at the beginning of Travis' class, my jaw dropped. I meant no offense, but I was really excited for Travis' class and was surprised to see a sub. But I had taken Andres' class before, so I wasn't worried. I knew it would be good.

I few things that struck me:

-The extended Kirtan chanting at the beginning of class. Delicious.

-Chanting OM with different movements including the transition from Utthita Hastasana to Uttasana.

-Lastly, something he said along these lines:

"We are clearing the dust from the mirrors of our hearts to reflect as much light as possible."

In the end, I didn't love the sequence but I loved the spirit behind it.

Tara's Birthday was coming up and she was considering sky diving. I was willing to go with her but when she started to change her mind, I suggested that we climb to the top of Half Dome in Yosemite, CA.

Luckily, she agreed to tackle Half Dome with me and this is what our experience looked like:

I woke up at 5am and the sun was starting to rise thanks to daylight savings. I went back to sleep until 6 and yet somehow I still arrived to Jerome's 7am class 5 minutes late. I took a spot towards the front of the class and as soon as we started moving, WOOSH, I was overwhelmed with a terrible smell of B.O.

It didn't smell like me, but I checked my armpits anyway. It wasn't me.

As we continued to move, the smell got worse. I tried to ignore it but I started to feel a little sick to my stomach. Don't people smell their own body odor? I debated moving my mat or even leaving class early. I decided that with all the work I had to do today, I'd just leave the class at 8am to escape this person's stench.

But as I got more into my practice, I noticed the terrible smell less and less. As it got closer to 8am we were finishing a looooong series on the right side and I didn't feel like leaving until both my sides were balanced. So I ended up staying and somehow managed to (somewhat) ignore the stink.

At the end of class, Jerome mentioned the documentary film that I had suggested to him called Surfwise. He had conveyed that the moral of the family's story was that "too much of a good thing can be a bad thing." Although I see where Jerome was coming from with respect to the film, I also feel that the Paskowitz Family's story is so powerful because even though the children didn't get standard education, they still became powerful contributing members of society because of to Doc's belief in the 5 Pillars of health which are diet, exercise, rest, recreation, and positive attitudes of mind.