When you move across the country...again

On the first day of driving across the country...again

A giant love sign in Virginia:

A reunited family:

A crazy driving plan:

And another empty apartment: 

Starting a New Book

Starting a new book is so hard. You've just been immersed in the world of one book, feeling the ups and downs and sideways' of it's characters, and experiencing your own life through the eyes of that book. Then, suddenly, it's over (The End) and you're forced to try to immerse yourself in a new story, new woes, new friends. 

New narrative, new style. 

It's all a little jarring, in my opinion. 

It's important to ease into this process with a buffer of coffee. And do not for any reason pick up your phone to begin blogging about how hard it is to start a new book because then it's over. Then you have picked up the phone and at that point, why not check the instagrams, facebooks, and emails? If this should happen to you, promptly put the phone down as soon as the blog post is finished. Pick up the book and begin again.

A workshop.

Last week, Leilani, Kat and I road tripped to Camel City Yoga in Winston Salem for a workshop with Lisa Ingle. 

I had completely forgotten that we had gone down there; oh ya know, with my life being turned upside down lately and all...but then Josh from Camel City posted these photos and I remembered! 

It was a really great workshop. Lisa is a very passionate and charismatic instructor, and she has the knowledge to back it up. She gave us all sorts of little tricks and tips mostly having to do with strength, breath, and alignment. 

Of particular note, there was a great deal of usage of quarters. Quarters for the grip in Half Moon pose, quarters for the hands in Awkward pose, and quarters for under the chin in Standing Separate Leg Head to Knee pose. 

The knowledge filled our brains and the sweat left our bodies. Fun was had by all!

My last weekend in NC was not so much spent in NC

Instead, I met one of my besties at the New River Gorge in West Virginia for some camping, hiking, fire making, wine sipping, white water watching, and non stop laughing.

Beyonce and Jay Z On the Run Tour

Live, it was what Carrie and I referred to as "the Beyonce-pocolypse". A confoctation of a cluster-f*ck involving thousands of people, planes, trains, cabs, 40$ tank tops, and several near death experiences.  As a tiny ant packed into the top level of a 60,000 seat stadium, and all I got to see was this:

What? I don't know. Exactly.

So, you can understand why I would be more than excited that the full concert is airing on HBO tomorrow night. Seriously, ya'll. I can not wait to see:

This!

This too

And this

And definitely this!

Next time, save your money on concert tickets and use it to pay for your HBO subscription with DVR. Lesson learned.

Knowing when

I can remember one of my professors in grad school once saying:

 "You have to know when to stand tall like mountain, and when to flow like river".

I've always liked this idea.  It is a nice natural image to tie to the notion that it is important to be both rigid and flexible, strong and weak, firm and malleable. It is an homage to the opposites that make us whole beings. I've been thinking a lot about this lately.

In addition to relating to the idea of the yin/yang within all of us, it reminds me of the serenity prayer:

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change

The courage to change the things I can

And the wisdom to know the difference

This is yet another thought that I have always liked. This prayer is typically associated with AA and those in recovery.  Though I've never been in recovery or needed the prayer to get myself through the day or anything, it is something to which I often return. Again, referring to the idea that sometimes we must be brave and sometimes we must be accepting, it is a powerful concept.

The "knowing when" is the interesting question. It is a question that I believe to not have an answer, because the knowing is always shifting. What one would stand tall like mountain for, might not be the same to another or even the same to that same person at a different time in life. Even the idea of knowing when to stand tall like mountain and when to flow like river itself is governed by its inherent respect for the opposites. Though it is a strong idea (like mountain), it is a shifting knowledge (like river) of it that must be employed.

Just like a mountain or a river, I think that is beautiful.

Teacher Training Anniversary

Today is the official 1 year anniversary of the first day of my Bikram Yoga Teacher Training.  I lived, studied, and practiced in the LAX Radisson (which, hilariously, is now closed down!) with 315 crazy Bikram yogis (pictured below) for 9 weeks:

315 "would be Bikram Yoga teachers", as they called us

I can't believe it's been a year. I've taught 188 classes since November 20 when I taught my first. I've learned so much! The 9 week stay at teacher training was only the beginning. The life of an actual teaching teacher is the true training. Working with so many amazing teachers and students is the true training. Maintaining and growing in my practice is the true training. The training is a lifelong training, wherein we are all constantly learning and growing. We "continuously keep kicking".

Thank you, Bikram. You might be a nut, but you are a yoga genius too. Thank you.

"You are not proving how good you are. You are giving them something. You have to be compassionate. Then, you put nails in their ass" -Bikram (9/17/13)

Coming Back

After a very long hiatus and a very crazy summer, I am attempting to get my blog up and running again. I've actually had some inspirational thoughts and experiences that some might consider "blog-worthy", but feared the return to blogging because it had been so long (113 days to be precise).  But enough with the fear, here I go!

There's no possible way to recount the events of the past three and a half months without writing a novella. So to spare you and myself, I will say this:

-Emotionally and spiritually trying
-Moving and more moving
-360s and 180s
-Leaving jobs, taking new jobs, leaving new jobs, finding other jobs, leaving those
-Reflections on self, love, trust, faith, ego, homes, friendship, and happiness
-Deep thought about true meaning of Santosha (contentment)
-Growth

“We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past, present, and future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in the present. We are made up of layers, cells, constellations.” -Anais Nin