This spot is intimidating. You can't even really see what it is at this point.
May 31, 2014
May 30, 2014
5.17.14
New home number 32 needs a bit of work. Luckily that's never scared me. I can see the potential underneath the neglect. This is the first in a long line of progress photos.
May 21, 2014
May 20, 2014
May 15, 2014
5.7.14
One year ago today Russ and I pulled over at a gas station outside of Moab, UT and sketched out the plans for a new classroom on a scrap of paper. Now I'm sitting in it watching people learn, share and change their lives. Whatever else has happened; that has.
May 14, 2014
5.6.14
Resorative yoga is something everyone can enjoy. Here the students are relaxing in "legs up the wall". Try it!
- Unroll your yoga matt against the wall (or use cushions as the students did here).
- Get your bum as close to the wall as possible and extend your legs.
- Place a bolster under your sacrum, allowing for a slight elevation. It should feel as if your sacrum is lifted and supported - not as if you are sliding off the bolster.
- You may want a blanket or bolster under your neck.
- Extend your arms to the side, or if you are on a cushion, into cactus arms.
- Close your eyes, breathing deeply and focusing only on your breath for 10 minutes.
- Very, very, slowly come out of it by bending your knees, rolling onto your side and pressing yourself up to seated.
- Unroll your yoga matt against the wall (or use cushions as the students did here).
- Get your bum as close to the wall as possible and extend your legs.
- Place a bolster under your sacrum, allowing for a slight elevation. It should feel as if your sacrum is lifted and supported - not as if you are sliding off the bolster.
- You may want a blanket or bolster under your neck.
- Extend your arms to the side, or if you are on a cushion, into cactus arms.
- Close your eyes, breathing deeply and focusing only on your breath for 10 minutes.
- Very, very, slowly come out of it by bending your knees, rolling onto your side and pressing yourself up to seated.
5.3.14
"... The 'shoulds' of expectations. These are the prisons of life. Trying to change how we actually feel by ordering ourselves to do so is a strategy that goes nowhere, fast. Open awareness is about accepting what is and not being swept up by those judging activities.... Our effort to combat our actual experience creates internal tension, a kind of self-inflicted distress. But rather than march into our inner world and say 'No - don't do that!' we can embrace what is and notice what happens. Amazingly, time after time people discover that letting things be also allows them to change. We can approach our inner world with openness ad acceptance rather than with judgments and preconceptions."
~ Daniel J. Siegel, Mindsight
~ Daniel J. Siegel, Mindsight
May 13, 2014
5.2.14
In the spirit of being truly holistic, one of the components of a Holistic Expeditions retreat is a volunteer opportunity. For this retreat we teamed up with CREAR - a local non-profit - to put on a day of service in the local mountain top village of Santo Domingo. The students were picked up in the morning and taken, along with Thai mats, up to the village. We set up in the community center and slowly the locals trickled in. The students were able to use what they had learned in week one and offer Thai Yoga Massage to the villagers; hard-working people, many of whom had never experienced massage before.
At first the villagers were somewhat shy and reluctant to get on the mats. After their massages however, they quickly went to get their friend, their husband, their daughter to bring them in and share in the experience. We quickly had to limit the massages to 20 - 30 minutes due to the high volume of waiting "clients". I think the majority of the 100 person village ended up in the community center receiving a massage. Even the children eventually got into the experience.
After several hours and many, many, massages we shared our lunch with the people of Santo Domingo and they in turn taught us to make tamales. These tamales are sold at the soccer field and the money goes to the church. They were so pleased with their massages they insisted we sample them as well and the day ended in tamales and coffee and a tropical downpour.
As we headed home I think everyone was riding high on the day of communicating mostly through touch. It was one of those experiences that is way too hard to put into words. So I will just say, it was magical, and deeply moving and post many photos. click below to view more.
At first the villagers were somewhat shy and reluctant to get on the mats. After their massages however, they quickly went to get their friend, their husband, their daughter to bring them in and share in the experience. We quickly had to limit the massages to 20 - 30 minutes due to the high volume of waiting "clients". I think the majority of the 100 person village ended up in the community center receiving a massage. Even the children eventually got into the experience.
After several hours and many, many, massages we shared our lunch with the people of Santo Domingo and they in turn taught us to make tamales. These tamales are sold at the soccer field and the money goes to the church. They were so pleased with their massages they insisted we sample them as well and the day ended in tamales and coffee and a tropical downpour.
As we headed home I think everyone was riding high on the day of communicating mostly through touch. It was one of those experiences that is way too hard to put into words. So I will just say, it was magical, and deeply moving and post many photos. click below to view more.
4.30.14
morning ritual
today's schedule:
5:30 - yoga and meditation
6:30 - breakfast
7:30 - kayak to isla chora, snorkel, eat pineapples, kayak back
10:00 - thai yoga massage class
12:00 - lunch
1:00 - thai yoga massage class
4:00 - free for the rest of the day
4.29.14
A little over a year ago, Nikki and I were laying on the beach under the palm trees, about 1 minute from this classroom (which didn't exist then) talking about how we needed to manifest a retreat adventure that we could lead together. It's happening now! Everything about it is even better than I could have possibly imagined.
May 12, 2014
May 11, 2014
4.27.14
May 10, 2014
4.26.14
tara and wil get married
4.25.14
my cousin wil and his fiance tara are taking the leap! people have started arriving from all over the world to help celebrate these two lovelies. #tarapluswil
4.23.14
my mama has come for a visit and for the upcoming family wedding. i'm so happy, from head to toes.
4.21.14
i used to hate cauliflower. then i discovered roasting it and now i eat it about twice a week.
cut the florets
coat them with olive oil, salt and pepper
roast at 400 degrees mixing occasionally for about 30 - 40 minutes
eat as desired!
great in salads, mixed with chickpeas and parsley, dipped in aoili, snuck into burritos, the list goes on...
cut the florets
coat them with olive oil, salt and pepper
roast at 400 degrees mixing occasionally for about 30 - 40 minutes
eat as desired!
great in salads, mixed with chickpeas and parsley, dipped in aoili, snuck into burritos, the list goes on...
4.20.14
silly holiday day
to celebrate easter: beaten by birch branches
to celebrate 420: pancakes for lunch
4.19.14
garudasana
i'm sort of slacking on the yoga-ness of the blog lately. i am still, in my life, practicing yoga. but we've moved back to the states, i haven't been teaching and i'm feeling uninspirational. i'm learning a lesson lately, having nothing to do with asana and having everything to do with acceptance.i'm learning about accepting life's unexpected trials, accepting another imperfect person's imperfections, accepting my own. i'm learning about not struggling to change what i can't change. i'm learning about allowing. these are hard for me. as a perfectionist and a control-freak i subconsciously (or consciously) feel like my actions can dictate outcomes. but sometimes, especially when it comes to other people and their behaviors, they can't. sometimes it's best to just realize that control is a complete illusion.
it's liberating, also scary, this acceptance trip. it requires courage, trust, love and faith even as it tests those virtues. when you're a fighter and a survivor the instinct to struggle and overcome is as vital as oxygen. but to evolve you have to lay aside these instincts - rooted as they are in fear and restriction - and you have to allow. so that's what i've been working on lately; allowing. accepting. and loving.
but here's a yoga pose anyway, for good measure. namaste bitches, xx.
"To find ease and a feeling of freedom in the pose, it might help to think about the myths behind Garudasana's name. Garuda, though often translated as "eagle," is actually a mythical bird in the Hindu and Buddhist traditions. As the vehicle of the god Vishnu, Garuda is said to be the king of birds. In Tibetan traditions, the garudas are considered a magical species; they are often described as "outrageous" because of their extraordinary ability to fly and fly and fly... and never land. They never have to land because they never get tired. And they never get tired because they ride the wind.
In Garudasana your body might feel awkward and constricted, but you can still ride the wind like an eagle. "Riding the wind" means riding the flow or energy of any situation or any challenging pose. Not to be confused with going with the flow or getting bowled over by circumstances, riding the energy of a situation means remaining open to what is occurring and finding a way to become stable, spacious, and steady within that situation, without resistance. When you resist, you're more likely to get tired and give up. In Garudasana, resistance will likely cause you to tense up and lose your balance. But when you stay open to possibilities, even when faced with obstacles, you may find that your energy renews itself endlessly."
-yoga journal
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