WTF Spring??????

I recent phone message from a friend is prompting me to write this post.
"What's up?" she asked.
...ok so here is a random list of what's up...

• My family is flowing and evolving with compassion, honesty, happiness, peace and fun. We are all enjoying creating an authentic home.  The walls of stress and anger and avoidance and chaos have been hacked away down and we are in a space of congruency.
• Anusara Immersion is great! A real challenge.  After the first weekend, we were all sent a 13 page "quiz".  At this point, I have completed nearly 1000 hours of teacher training. Never, have I been enrolled in a course which is at this level of integrity and accountability.  I love it.
• The spring semester at PSU has about 4 weeks left.  The Yoga I class this semester has been exceptional.  A wonderful group of young adults...I hope to see many of them in Yoga II and beyond. I adore the staff/faculty lunchtime class that I teach out there as well.  Let's keep the class going through the summer!
• Barefoot Yoga is growing slowly.  I do love the owner and the space and I feel good about being part of their potential.
• The growth in my private yoga classes has been awesome! Every month, a few more are dropping in for sessions.  I am really excited, as this is a positive direction.  In the future I intend on slowly evolving my therapeutic/energetic treatments into "muscular/energetic awakening". This means reiki/restorative/facilitated stretching/ayurvedic techniques....hahahaha..."Stay Tuned" :)
• JPY seems to be going through a turnover with members...of course there are those very special dedicated students who are living yoga and rarely miss a class.  Over the last few months there has been an awesome swell of new students balanced out by current that has taken some into another stream.  Until I REALLY understood what it means to live a life of flow, I used to take departures very personally.  Not anymore. I get it.
• And lastly, WTF spring!!!!!!!  hahahahaha....that lovely warm weekend last week had me digging my garden beds and planting my cold weather veggies.  Had to cover them all up last night !  I am ready to say goodbye to march and head deeper into spring, FOR REAL ♡

Ok, so there ya go, my friend....randomness!
Talk to you soon, my dear.
xxoo

Follow Your Heart

I am forever a student of yoga.  I love being in that place of not knowing very much.  

Also, I will confess to being a workshop/teacher training junkie :)

I believe there is more than one way of knowing. 

The kula has been slowly growing and I have asked myself, how do I maintain its quality and integrity?  I know there is more potential within this community for something big, for all of us.  I know there are many of us who hear, who feel this internal call.  Be fearful, be fearless...it does not matter!   I believe the bottom line is to honor the spirit in each other.  And to  consistently seek and feel the spirit all around. 

Through the 1000's of hours workshops/trainings/certifications I have completed, I have been involved in so many different communities.  Many of them have really great points and things to offer.  And as a result of studying within these communities I have grown and expanded and have cultivated a GREAT life! But being a "forever student" I crave ways to improve upon what I am doing. 

I strongly considered studying more deeply with my last teacher.  But when I got an email describing a class she was teaching with life animals in the room and there was a picture of her on the flyer in a bikini with snakes draped around her body, something within me instantly shifted.  To me, yoga is a celebration of the heart, an awaking to our personal power and beauty.  And then feeling empowered in expressing those qualities in our poses and ultimately off the mat as well as we shift from doing yoga to living/being/embodying yoga.  I just didn't feel that the image in that particular picture aligned with my personal "mission" (please see prior blog) as a yoga teacher. I will continue to study Prana Flow, however I am following another tributary within the stream of my heart.

I have been curious about Anusara yoga for quite sometime.  It is Iyengar based, which I love.  The majority of workshops and certainly teacher trainings I have done have been vinyasa flow with ashtanga roots.  My very first teacher was an Iyengar influenced teacher, this feels a bit like going back to "the source" for me.  Aunsara is not as strict as a traditional Iyengar practice. Difference and diversity is encouraged.  There is not a set asana sequence, classes are based on a themes (which I love) so there there is a lot of creative freedom. Anusara has its own methods of alignment which is strongly based on stability and awareness.  Anusara's roots are based in Tantra and there is in depth tantric studies.  Anusara means "to flow with grace", it is a heart opening practice with the fundamental principle that all of life is intrinsically good.

Teacher standards are HIGH.  

Teachers are highly trained.  

This will be the most intense, in depth studying I have done to date.  t took nearly 3 years to complete the Prana Flow Certification. It will also take me years to complete this certification...100's of hours of training, an exam that I am told takes 30 hours to complete, and a video critique.  I am particularly interested in diving into learning more about Tantric philosophy and refining the art of teaching yoga.  The Anusara community is tightly knit and from what I can see so far, incredibly fun-loving!  There is strong networking between teachers in helping each other grow and learn. To my knowledge there are no Anusara Certified teachers in the Harrisburg area. I am very excited about being able to share this work with our yoga community and perhaps beyond.  

You can learn A LOT more on the official: ANUSARA WEBSITE

Perhaps, after reading more about Anusara, you'll really get it....it seems like an obvious evolution for me ♡

This quote by William Arthur Ward was included in an email from a wonderful yoga studio that i like to visit near Philly, Stillpoint. I love this. I read this within an hour of turning a corner I have been trying to get around for the last two years.  I love it when "signs" like this affirm the path you are taking.

Risk Taking 

To laugh is to appear looking like a fool.

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.

To reach out for another is to risk involvement.

To expose feeling is to risk exposing your true self.

To place your ideas, your dreams before the crowd
is to risk their loss.

To love is to risk not being loved in return.

To live is to risk despair.

To try is to risk failure.

But the risk must be taken,
because the great hazard in life is to risk nothing.

The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, and is nothing.

She may avoid suffering and sorrow,
but she simply cannot learn, feel, change,
grow, love, live.

Changed by her certitude, she is a slave,
she has forfeited freedom.

Only a person who risks - is free.

Rasa Vinyasa 3-8-10 playlist

as requested....and as promised...this list is going to change and expand over the next few weeks, so keep coming back and hear/feel/see the transformation ♡♡♡♡

Pre-Class:
Que Sera, Sera - Doris Day
Crawl - Kings of Leon


Rama - Ratnabali
Humming - Deva Premal
Jeremiah - Ranga
Paradise Circle - Massive Attack
La Breeze - Simian
Shakti - Masaladosa
Give Love - MC Yogi
Seeds of Fire - Layne Redmond
Climbing up the Walls - Radiohead
Om Shantih Shantih Shantih
Mahakal - Shiva Bhajans
Vishudha - Parasme
There is a Light - Great Lake Swimmers
Flowing Ganga - Masood Ali Khan

Winter Rasa Vinyasa Playlist

We'll be enjoying this playlist on Monday nights for just a few more weeks and then it will change with the new spring flow! Thanks for the great chit-chat after class tonight everyone ♡

La Breeze - Simian
Give Love - MC Yogi
Humming - Deva Premal
Spiral - Carlos Torres
Stars - Carlos Torres
Sun is Shining - Bob Marley vs. Funkstar de Luxe Extended
Personal Dance - Carlos Torres
Lordes of Karma - Carlos Torres
Hush - Jensven
We Be Groovin (Tal M. Klein Remix) - Onur Engin
Universal Dub - J Boogie
Rama - Ratnabali
Om Shantih Shantih Shantih - Robert Musso
Guided by the Sea - Carlos Torres
Mahakal - Shiva Bhajans
Compassion - Manose
Vishuuha - Parasme