8.15.15

boulder reservoirAnd then we got kicked off the beach cause there was a lightening storm.  #coloradoproblems

3.12.15

dolphin day

1.13.14

13 months 13th

taught a sunrise yoga class on the beach this morning.  wish you were there.

1.12.14

love hue

1.11.14

double victory

1.10.14

nicoya coastline

1.9.14

utthita hasta padangustasana

1.7.14

devin in buena vista

"the earth is a very small stage, in a vast cosmic arena." 
~ carl sagan

12.21.13

graduation day

i am so impressed with this class.  they always made their health a priority, focusing on yoga, studying, eating well, and exercise over the party scene that can be all too easy to fall into in samara.  i loved all the time i got to spend with this smart, fun, friendly, beautiful group of women.
congratulations mariposa class!  you're all going places.

12.20.13

 

                                                                                          student luncheon day

12.17.13

                                              rightside up

"we are all just the main characters in the story we tell ourselves.  if we cast ourselves as the victim we will continue to be victimized.  if we say that we are fine and nothing is wrong, we will continue to accept wrongness.  only when we're able to perceive what's happening without any narration or casting, only when we have true perception, will we change our story.  this is the place that objective decisions come from.  where nothing is done because that's what the story necessitates and everything is done because it's right and good." from my journal

obviously i've been thinking alot lately about perception. 

12.8.13

pool day

"... a year ago i left the states; flying out o f san francisco and traveling to costa rica.  when i think of that period of time, those first couple weeks in pavones, it feels like a period of awakening.  after the isolation, tedium, drama of the hill; the community and cold of impending winter in town, the car shuffle as i drove to arizona and flew back the next day - i finally emerged in the warm, lush tropics.  everything was sunshine and freshness and bigtime adventure.  i had no idea at that time just how much that trip would change my life.  
it was a transitional period with no expectations or solid plans.  i'd unknowingly left one life but hadn't yet met the next.  i hadn't found where i was meant to go.  all i had was a house with a view, my yoga mat, my new friends, a quad that sometimes worked, and a property full of fruit trees.  i had the ocean, the jungle, adventure, fireflies, tucans, sunrise, anticipation and wonder.   i awoke there, from my hills cacoon, into pura vida.  i will always think of that time so fondly, full of flowers and colors and life..."

12.6.13

chibelo in barigona

costa rica

Inbox

Marin McCallen	Dec 7 (2 days ago)
to John

yesterday after teaching yoga and going to spanish school for my friday exam day, russ and chibelo, a local tico rasta dude, picked me up and we went off adventuring.  first we went to barigona, "the mel gibson beach" as russ calls it.  it is a few playas up the coast, REALLY hard to get to.  i was amazed and quite concerned at some of the treacherous points we rallied up.  but it was so pretty and magical.  it was worth it.  chibelo kept having us stop so he could forage various trees.

we now have a pile of limes and limon dulces on our counter : )

after barigona we went to a little roadside soda and hungout (i.e. drinking pilsen and telling snake stories) for a few hours.  i'm starting to really understand spanish!  que bueno! then we went on another less treacherous drive to another beautiful nearly vacant playa full of agates and polished quartz.

on the way home the car overheated and we had to scavenge water from some locales.  we got as far as the river, where we stopped and filled the radiator with jungle river water while in the darkness the lightning bugs put on a spectacular show.

it is very green here right now and the drive was so beautiful,  i was noticing lots of orchids in trees.  it made me think of you and wish you were here.
love you.

11.25.13

evidence

11.23.13

parsva bakasana

i went to a yoga class at intercultera, my spanish school, a few weeks ago.  i wasn't sure what to expect.  when i arrived i had to confirm that i was in the right place.  there didn't seem to be anywhere to practice.  it was an open air patio, fairly large, full of young (teenage) germans (mostly) lounging around in hammocks and on benches reading or on smart phones. when i asked though, 'yes' they told me, 'this is where the yoga class is'. 

i almost left.  i'd had the crappiest day.  that morning i taught my first really bad yoga class.  or at least in my mind it was really bad.  i'd been beating myself up all day about what a failure i was as a teacher and how certainly everyone had noticed that i hadn't really had a plan and winging it had sort of failed.  the last thing i wanted to do was cram into this incredibly public, humid patio with a bunch of aloof germans unabashedly watching and sweat it out for an hour.  but i'd promised my friend shinez that i would meet her there and bring her shorts to borrow, so i had to stay.

the teacher showed up, an american, sweet and sort of spacey and friendly in that yoga teachery way.  i liked her; i stayed.  a surprisingly large amount of the youth rolled out mats in an incredibly small space at the center of the patio.  it started pouring rain.  there we were; flanked on one side by picnic tables full of mostly dudes, on one side by hammocks with frowning teenage girls, and on one side by a sheet of water spraying off the roof into the end of my mat.  just me and shinez and several rows of german chicks wearing civilian clothing.

10.23.13

terrible day day

some people let a bad day ruin a good sunset.  but not you.

10.22.13

esperar

"This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body."

 

~ W W

10.6.13

our bodies change our minds, our minds change our behaviors, our behaviors change our outcomes

if you were wondering why we do victory arms so much it's because we're winning.

(for a great life hack; click the link below and go conquer the world.)

9.11.13

paraiso

6.13.13

  

happy surprise 13th!

  "this morning russ woke me by wishing me a happy six month anniversary.  we chose "surprise" as our theme today.  he surprised me, not with a puppy or 'a thing but an experience,' by giving me a 30 minute gyrocopter ride over the coast and jungles of the nicoya.  my stomach was still a bit upset and i was nervous but it turned out to be a most excellent and amazing adventure.

    the gyrocopter is not like a plane or a regular helicopter.  for one thing it's open air and it's tiny.  once the propellers gained momentum they seemed to hold it even once he cut the engine and we slowly sank towards the ground.  
    at times we were high above it all seeing the coast stretch out for miles and miles in either direction; seeing the storms over the ocean and the mist rising off the jungle.  at other times we were so low over the waves it felt like a pelican's view as they hover and skim across the sea.   it was the best surprise and the best present and the best six months of my life.
    i've ridden gyrocopters, surfboards, motorcycles, quads, cars, beach cruisers, boats, scooters, tiny planes, big jets, city trains, tuk tuks and taxis.  i've been on both sides of the world in temples and jungles and ruins and metropolises.  i've had beer on beaches and cocktails in skybars.  i've dined with diplomats and pop stars and poor tico farmers.  i've gambled in vegas and hiked through deserts.  i've gone snorkeling and yogaing and jungling and watting and flying.  i've seen dolphins and puma and tapir and monkeys.  i've eaten mangos and papayas fresh from the trees and pineapple from the ground.  i've learned to machete open a coconut and drive doubled up on a scooter and surf and teach yoga and speak sanskrit and lean into the curves.
    i have fallen in love.
    i have laughed and cried and learned and felt more than i ever imagined.
    it has been an epic six months.  i can't wait for six months more."