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

10.21.13

sweet poison

on E! news today they said that studies have shown that oreos are more addictive than crack.  which is also, coincidentally, how i feel about E! news.

so now you know two of my addictions....

10.20.13

butterfly season

10.19.13

getting my backbend back

"it must not be just your mind or even your body that is doing the asana.  you must be in it.  you must do the asana with your soul.  how can you do an asana with your soul?  we can only do it with the organ of the body that is closest to the soul - the heart.  so a virtuous asana is done from the heart and not from the head.  then you are not just doing it, but you are in it.  many people try to think their way into an asana, you must instead feel your way into it through love and devotion."

- bks iyengar

10.18.13

 

                                                                                     yogatimecore

i rolled out a new class i really like today.  for those who can read my scribbling there's a killer core workout in there.  here's the playlist:

- know the way (outro), visions, grimes
- rosa, geidi primes, grimes
- wandering star (ft. mike noyce) , give you the ghost, POLICA
- i'm a lady (diplo remix ft. amanda blank), top ranking, santogold
- run hide (ft. diplo & amanda blank), the trouble gang mixtape, trouble andrew
- chain my name, shulamith, POLICA
- i'm good, i'm gone, youth novels, lykke li
- let's get busy, a color map of the sun, pretty lights
- this head i hold, mondo, electric guest
- breezeblocks, an awesome wave, alt-j
- brutal hearts, light the horizon, bedouin soundclash
- cover my eyes (costra nostra edit), lazerproof, major lazor & la roux
- lay your cards out (alluxe remix), dark star remix, POLICA
- don't move, nightlife, phantogram
- tessellate, an awesome wave, alt-j
- a gentle dissolve, the cosmic game, thievery corporation

10.17.13

radical health challenge:  instead of carb-loading with refined wheat, or rice, or some pre-game sports mix; before your next workout eat some raw veggies instead.

raw red cabbage offers cardiovascular support, digestive track support, it's anti-inflammatory, it's chock full of anti-oxidants and it's a cancer preventative.  just add some olive oil, some apple cider vinegar, some salt and pepper and it's also delicious..... oh yeah, and it's pretty.

namaste bitches, xx

10.16.13

beach breakfast

10.15.13

 

                                                                                               back to yoga!!!

take a wide stance, turn your front foot forward, bend your front knee, ground your back foot at an angle, open your hips, sink down deeply - as deep as you can keeping you front knee over your ankle, lift out of your front hip, center your shoulders, roll them down your back, lift your arms, extend through your fingertips, don't lean forward - stay perfectly upright, find a spot to gaze beyond your front fingertips, lift your chin, breathe, feel your energy expand from your core into your legs, into your feet, into the earth, feel your energy expand from your heart through all your limbs and out your fingertips, all around you,  feel your energy expand from your crown, lift, settle, breathe.  

one arm reaches into the past, one arm reaches into the future.  you are in the middle, perfectly balanced in the present.  do not observe the pose happening to you.  embody this pose.  be a warrior.  not a warrior of aggression but a warrior poised to strike down obstacles.  identify your obstacles, recognize your tools, define your desire and purpose and breathe.   

how long can you stay here, in this present moment?

"..Sometimes he danced; sometimes he laughed aloud; sometimes he stood wrapt in meditation; sometimes he trampled upon the earth; sometimes he sang; sometimes he wept repeatedly: and he was endowed with the faculties of wisdom, dispassion, power, penance, truth, endurance, fortitude, dominion, and self-knowledge..."

- description of the warrior virabhada, the vishnu purana

10.14.13

back to school dayrosa, geidi prime, grimes

10.13.13

horrible 13th

happy ten months mi amor, i fucking love you so.

10.12.13

redemption

an actually delicious green juice recipe:

- little chunk of ginger
- three fistfuls of spinach
- three fistfuls of kale
- couple stalks of celery
- one granny smith apple
- two inch thick rounds of pineapple
- a cucumber

10.11.13

 

food is medicine

after laying over bolsters and icing my shoulder all day i decided to concoct my own home made v-8 type drink;  mostly because almost all the ingredients are anti-inflammatory foods and clearly, i am inflamed.  i was so excited about this, certain that it would be awesome and delicious and great to share with everyone.  in my mind it would be so good that on a day when i didn't need the anti-inflammatory properties - i could add vodka!  it would be like a healthy cocktail.  so i set to work;  i used a half a clove garlic, a sprig of basil, a slice of onion, a bowl of spinach, a few sticks of celery and most of a cucumber.  then i blended the resulting juice in a blender with a tomato.

it was disgusting.
i should have just made a salad.

however, about an hour and a half later - the inflammation, along with the pain, had gone down considerably.  so i still consider this a success story.  (the moral is, drink your veggies.)

10.10.13

csa day

drink a bit more water,  eat a few more veggies, practice breathing deeply,  have alot of sex,  smile more in general, do some yoga obviously,  don't take life so seriously and chill the fuck out.  namaste biches! xx.

10.9.13

2 steps back day

this is just a reminder:
if you have a neck/shoulder injury, don't model for a thai massage workbook.

10.8.13

reverse namaste bitches, xx

injury has humbled me, forced me to slow my practice, turned me inwards; curling, protecting myself.  i have the feeling of taking steps backward, of being weakened and having to rebuild.  i have feelings of impatience as my body struggles with poses and positions once natural and easy.  

but i feel lucky also, as though the pain is bringing a new level of experience for me.  the caution with which i move, the awareness i experience through every movement brings a depth i didn't attain before.  with every bit of myself i am aware of my body.  "does this hurt?  is this ok?  does this feel right?"  i ask in every moment.  

i notice how often i have the urge to go further, push further into a posture before taking a moment to notice where i am.  

i am going to retrain my body.  i am going to relearn my placement, alignment, regain my strength, and i am going to do it with complete awareness and patience.  

"if we confront affliction through yoga, we awaken a new awareness of tolerance and endurance, as well as a true sympathy for others in their afflictions.  these qualities indicate the degree of development we have reached.  so why not take adversity positively?  certainly it is an alarm signal, but also contains the seed for its own resolution and transcendence."

-b.k.s. iyengar

10.7.13

happy belated birthday terra joy!

i love you little sprout.

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.)

10.5.13

 

                                                                                         vata

in the states it's fall now, snow has started falling in colorado.  leaves are turning and harvest season out west is in full swing.  this is the first time in the three years i've been traveling that i haven't been in the hills for fall.  no Southern Humboldt.  i'm free from free - a new kind of freedom.

i do miss the feeling of living out of bounds.  i miss the feeling of family, camaraderie, community, tomfoolery, of being in on the joke.

my time there has ended, but my time out in the world?  after all these years of wandering i finally feel that it's truly just begun.  so it was a means to a beginning after all - not an end..... but i do find myself missing this time of year in that particular place. 

so i had to laugh when i came across this mantra for staying grounded during fall:

"The mantra So Hum.  So Hum is the sound of the breath, translating to I Am. It is energetically grounding, guiding us out of the mind and into a place of connection.  So Hum is practiced by internally saying the mantra connected to the breath, So on the inhale, Hum on the exhale."

(i love you. xx)

10.4.13

happy belated birthday nik!

wow. what a year.  from california to costa rica to thailand and back.  there's no one i'd rather have as my international adventure buddy.  we've had some pretty great adventures together i have to say;  driving the panda through small rivers, epic meteor showers (double shooting star!), our own private surf break, tucans, army ants, monkeys, jungle quad adventures,  chaing mai scooter tours, the worst thai massage ever, near death experiences in breathtaking waterfalls, and miraculous turtle madness.  i am so honored to call you my friend.  i can't wait to see what the next year brings.

10.3.13

isla chora parte dos

adventurer's credo:
to accept unexpected opportunities and adventures whenever they arrive, even when the timing's inconvenient.  to maintain a positive attitude and remember to savor every moment.  to release undue attachments to plans or preparedness, but instead to dive headfirst into this life experience.


who's with me!?!

10.2.13

 

                                                                                              tortugas!

it's turtle nesting season presently in nicoya, something that used to happen here in samara but now takes place on more secluded (read protected) beaches.  it's hard to predict where and when they will come and often upon arrival you'll be lucky to see just a few.  we had no expectations but everyone had hope and so a unanimous decision was made to close the school for the afternoon, pile into vans and make our way north to ostional.  though only about 35 km away, the road quality to ostional is so bad it takes 1.5 bouncing, jolting, hours.  luckily we made it through every river crossing and found ourselves at the beach right before sunset.
as soon as we pulled up  'oh my god's and gasps were audible throughout the van; thousands of turtles, as far as the eye could see.

everyone sort of lost their minds, scattering, dazed, walking through the turtle field.  it was a time warp.  i don't know what happened to our group or where they went or what experience they had.  i went crazy with my camera, of course.  a tico guide came up to me and dug out a small pit in the sand behind one of the closest turtles.  he gestured, conveying that i should watch and as i did i could see the eggs drop from the mama into the hole.  i felt embarrassed, as if i was invading on her privacy, but at the same time i could not look away.  he told me she'd lay about 80, out of the 80, 50 would hatch, and out of the 50, 3 would live in the ocean.  i heard later that only 1 in 800 live to reproduce, making this spectacle all the more outstanding.

they seemed to be in a sort of trance as they windmilled their flippers over and over, throwing sand and digging pits in which to lay their eggs.  sand was flying everywhere.  eventually russ and i made our way through the nesting madness to the shore where the waves were bringing in more turtles by the second.  their tracks covered the beach and turtle heads bobbed on the waves far to the horizon.  the turtle tico said that within the hour the beach would be completely covered with turtles, leaving no room to stand.  

we probably spent 30 - 45 minutes on the beach before the thunderstorm came, driving everyone back to the vans soaking wet and breathless.  the whole way home we were riding high on the thrill of seeing something so alien and so amazing.  i know i overuse that word - but this actually was AMAZING.

i have never on this blog posted more than one photo daily, but i'm going to now.  i cannot help it, this experience was so radical, magical, beautiful, i must share a few more photos of it.  click to view.

10.1.13

happy october babies!

there are many autumnal rituals and delights that we're missing out on in costa rica.  this time of seasonal change is just not the same in the tropics.  perhaps in response to this i've been craving root vegetables and rich colors.  so - this is the winning juice of the week!  everyone likes it best.

1 beet
1 granny smith apple
couple sticks of celery

that's it! happy october everyone. xx

9.30.13

isla chora

during part of this guided visualization the students are asked to go back in time to the moment when they decided to come to crsmt.  this epiphany took place for each of them in all different parts of the world under drastically different circumstances.  many different paths led to this island.  

i didn't even know about crsmt at the time but my epiphany came on the cliffs above shelter cove in northern california almost exactly a year ago.  i climbed up from the beach where everyone else was surfing; taking a narrow, steep, slippery route that led to a little makeshift gazebo.  i sat, staring at the sun sparkling on the water and decided that the trip to costa rica that nikki and i had been talking about needed to happen.  i wasn't sure why, or where it would lead but i knew in that moment that it was meant to happen.

i had no idea what i was in for.

9.29.13

 

                                                                                   om khagaaya namaha

lately i've been thinking alot about intention.  you hear the word thrown around alot, especially in yoga class.  hell i throw it around alot too. 'take a moment and set an intention for you practice,' or 'remember the intention you set at the beginning of your practice.' etc. etc.  intention has become a mental exercise.  you set your intention with your mind in the beginning, you come back to it in the end.  you visualize.  you focus your thoughts, this is how we've become accustomed to recognizing, willing and working with our intentions.  

intention in action is much much more than this.  intention is a visceral, physical push.  it is a willful act of mind and body working as one.  those who have pushed their practice to another level by manifesting their mental intentions in their physical bodies know what i'm talking about.  you can set as many intentions as you want to; if you don't feel your intention in every sweating, straining ounce of muscular will you aren't quite there yet.

as a society we've obviously widened the gap between our physical world and our day to day reality.  we've become removed from our food, our weather, our climate.  we seek to ease physical feelings of discomfort or chaos with pills, booze, food and whatnot, instead of examining what they mean to our overall organism.  and it's understandable.  physical reality can be a bitch.  i've lived many lives and the one lived close to the earth, off the grid and in sync with the daily cycles of sun, moon, tide, was by far the most rewarding and also the most inconvenient and physically challenging.  when i think of my time in the wild i think of marvelous beauty, breathtaking simplicity, elemental purity, and deep deep physical discomfort. 

the only way through this discomfort was to accept it as part of the intentional living i was taking part in.  

this extends to everything.  the only way to achieve your intention is to live it.  to physically manifest it and to accept the discomfort it may temporarily cause.  so on a grander scale; the intention is to live simply, with nature, off the grid.  the result of manifesting that intention is hard physical work, intense amounts of effort and time for very basic necessities and foregoing simple luxuries like daily showers or refrigeration.  on a smaller scale; the intention is to do a handstand.  the result is sweat, work, muscle fatigue as you build a strong upper body to support you, doubt and frustration as you fall on your face (over and over) and the glory of achievement when your mental intention, your will and your physical effort unite to bring you into that perfect balance of inverted energy.

experiment with this, it doesn't have to be as challenging as a handstand.  in your next practice set a small intention and then physically enact it every single time.  or if you're not into yoga, set an intention for your day and then walk the walk.  two ideas:  in yoga, set an intention to completely engage your feet, hands, toes and fingers in each and every pose.  focus on their placement, alignment, force, energy.  focus on placing them with efficiency, beauty and strength.  in life, set an intention to be more positive, even during a challenging day.  in every reasonable circumstance say yes instead of no.  and then take it further and say absolutely.  is that your umbrella?  absolutely.  do you want to volunteer for ______?  absolutely.  want cheese with that?  absolutely.

anyway these are just ideas playing around in my mind.  obviously your intention is your own.  but no matter what it is, show up on every level; follow through physically to manifest mental realities.  and when it gets uncomfortable?  accept it and don't give up.  don't let the temporary discomfort keep you from the glory.

namaste bitches, xx


work bitch (twerk remix), spitney brears

9.28.13

the boys get back day

it's been kind of nice to have the house to myself for the last week, but also kind of lonely.  i'm not sorry it's over.

9.27.13

stalker

this is just a reminder:  
if you don't want the animal to return, you must stop feeding it.

9.26.13

put some hummus on it

i love me a wrap.  they are easy.  they are light.  they roll up.  this one has a bit of a mediterranean vibe.  for the recipe.... 

blend:
 2 spoonfuls of dijon mustard
2 spoonfuls of balsamic vinegar
4 spoonfuls of olive oil
1 clove garlic (minced finely or food-process everything)
couple shakes of cumin,
salt and pepper to taste

shake:
in a freezer bag with chopped eggplant (and bellpeppers and onions if you'd like)

roast: 
for about 20 minutes (or until they are soft) at 425.  use a metal baking sheet. glass makes them soggy.

spread:
some fucking hummus on a tortilla or wrap.

add:
chopped red onions
tomatoes (sun-dried or regular)
kalmata olives
spinach
roasted eggplant

drizzle:
with olive oil and balsamic if that's your thing.

eat!

9.25.13

 

                                                                                  student feast day

radical gratitude challenge:

as you sit down to your next meal, take a moment, close your eyes and express gratitude for your food.  take it to the next level and have those you're eating with do the same.  it can be a silent expression, a verbal thanks, you can pray if you want or don't if that freaks you out.  but a little gratitude?  never hurt anyone.

namaste bitches, xx 

9.24.13

inappropriate yogini

since starting my photo project in december of 2008 alot of changes have occurred; as they do in 5 years of life.  i turned the photo project - at least one photo everyday - into a blog and an obsession, an obsession that completely turned my life around.  what started as a tool to help me with my sobriety, my one day at a time mentality, became a visual journal of my life and motivated me to make my life more interesting in order to have more interesting photos.  i quickly realized that far, far too much of my time was spent in an office and i decided to change that.  this caused me to start hiking alot, adventuring alot, getting out into the world in order to find my one photo of the day.  eventually i quit my job, got rid of my things and became a wanderer, in search of adventure and of course - the photo.  

in it's time this blog has been the photo journal of a photographer, a vagabond, a gypsy, a traveler, a pirate, a farmer, a dreamer and a doer.  now it's the journal of a yoga instructor.  it's seen me sober and un-sober, sick and healthy, poor, rich, poor again, rich again, single, coupled, single again and completely in love.  it's inspired me, annoyed me, comforted me, guilt-tripped me, and delighted me.  it's recorded my many homes; tents, tree-houses, cabins, mansions in cities and mountains and beaches around the world.  it's reconnected me with people i thought i'd lost, kept me connected with family who had no idea if i was even alive and it's been a way for my friends to know my life even when i'd seemingly dropped off the face of the earth.  this blog is a real documentation of my life.  however, lately i've felt a disconnect, perhaps because once again i've evolved and my blog format hasn't quite caught up.  there is a huge part of my life that isn't being properly represented.  as cliche as it sounds (and i know that it does) 

yoga has changed my life.

this new chapter i'm living, this holistic chapter, i'm living to the fullest and yet my blog is still the journal of a traveling photographer.  the thing that excites me most during the day is teaching and practicing and....... fucking making hummus and the photo i post is.......... the beach.  i don't know....

anyway i'm going to attempt to evolve my blog a little here.  it may not happen all at once and it may prove really annoying to blog followers.  but whatever, i'm gonna get yogasmic and see where it goes. 

namaste bitches, xx.

9.23.13

 

                                                                                                busy living

today was a "busy" day for me.  here is a sample of my schedule and what i mean by that:

- get up early (breakfast and coffee)
- spanish school (this photo is shot in the front of the school.  where i take my breaks)
- personal yoga practice (i'm on day 23 of my 30 day yoga challenge!)
- late lunch (vegetarian, i.e. quinoa)
- receive student massage (they have an odd number of people so i've been donating my body to science)
- beach time with zephyr (when it's not raining)
- teach yoga to the students (best part of the day)
- dinner (more quinoa)
- homework (nerd)
- done