asanas and sidenotes...

i was reading the latest yoga journal and I came across an ad for aveda's chakra balancing body mists. they are more or less like body sprays that ignite particular chakras by the use of aromatherapy. i thought they were kinda neat so i went to their website to check them out and was stunned at the cost...$30 per bottle and they were only like 3.4 oz.

$120 for the entire set of 7. there's something very un-yogic about this.

sidenotes:

- work brings me to another joyous train ride down to chicago tomorrow. hopefully i'll have some interesting tidbits from the new stephen cope book i started a week or two ago and haven't had a chance to read since.

Get Your Yoga On

Kimberly Wilson

yesterday i was browsing around on napster for some new yoga music and i came across this little gem.

i'm not exactly sure who the target demographic is, but i think it's somewhere in the late teens to early twenties yoga fashionista. on the cover it says, "an all level practice for the hip tranquil chick." i don't know if i consider myself a "hip tranquil chick," but whatever. 

it looks ridiculous, but it's probably the best yoga instruction cd I've come across thus far. i'm incredibly picky about yoga dvd's and cd's. they can't be too new age, or too cheesy, or too old-people-ish, or their voices can't be annoying, etc.

as with any yoga cd or dvd, there's a learning curve where you have to get used to the narrarator's way of describing the poses, but i understood her relatively well on the first go-around and i'm looking forward to practicing with this cd again. i highly recommend it.

sidenotes:

- on friday, i'm going with Boyfriend and others to see the Police and Elvis Costello. should be rad.

i had this weird thought in yoga class the other day...it stems from overwhelming feelings of dissatisfaction with my job and the urge to change career paths.

if i actually do pursue teaching yoga, will i lose the feeling of refuge and serenity that i love so much about this practice? will the mat no longer be my alter? will i end up resenting it like any other job?

i'm afraid i'm going to lose what i love most about it.

on the flip side, i would love to be able to be the one who lights a fire under a beginner's ass that would encourage them to pursue a whole new way of looking at life, love and the world.

what to do...what to do.

i used the word undelightful because a girl in class did yesterday when speaking about her friend who had spontaneous leg twitches and wouldn't be able to join us in class this session. her condition was "undelightful."

so lately i've been all about this gym i just joined and spent sunday-tuesday there and haven't been on top of my yoga. so i was entirely thrilled that my yoga class was starting up again...that, and i was a little achy from the gym and was looking forward to stretching out some sore muscles.

the class was less than thrilling. i understand that it's a good idea to go over alignment and whatnot after a two week break, but i really wasn't interested in a refresher course where people are repeatedly asking obvious questions. i know that sounds bitchy and pretentious, but seriously, you probably shouldn't be in an intermediate class if you're not sure of the asanas that are involved in a sun salutation. you don't sign up for algebra if you're not sure how to add and subtract.

so we spent the first half hour of class going over each and every component to a sun salutation and i was bored. i've never been bored in class before. then we spent another half hour going over the positioning of three standing poses. that left us with 15 minutes for balancing, floor poses, inversions and savasana.

it was less than zen-like. ugh.

it was too early after i was done at the gym yesterday morning to go to joann fabrics, so i thought i'd waste a little time reading a new book while i enjoyed my grande non-fat caramel macchiato and a reduced fat cinnamon swirl coffee cake at starbuck's (both of which were delicious, by the way).

the new book is The Wisdom of Yoga: A Seeker's Guide to Extraordinary Living by (you guessed it) stephen cope. it's basically a teaching of the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali in a context that's far more digestable than the actually sutras. he takes each of the sutras and relates them to instances in his friends' lives so normal people can understand them. i'm already in love with the book.

i'm only on the first chapter...there was a very lengthy introduction and prologue. i've already learned something in relation to meditation...i frequently get frustrated with meditation because i get antsy and my brain is always going a million miles a minute but cope made it clear by page 25 that everyone has this problem. that made me feel better...i just thought i was a remedial meditator. it also motivates me to keep trying at it.

on page 18, he brings up the point that in order to be "found," you need to figure out to what degree you are lost and how you got there in the first place. in other words, in order to reach this enlightenment or liberation that so many yogis speak of, you have to dissect yourself, your past experiences and past emotions and through yoga and meditation, build it back up in such a way that those experiences no longer hinder the way you live your life. move on from the tethers of past experience and become solely aware of the now.

interesting concept. "lost" in the trappings of everyday greed, cynicism, material possessions, anger, etc. i  would say, that to a point, i am lost in those things at times. we all are, and i guess that's the problem. i do find myself, as my practice nears it's one year anniversary, that i do things differently...i'm trying to purge a lot of my material possessions and i find myself putting forth an air of gratitude and kindness to strangers as frequently as i can; smiling and saying hi to strangers on the street, in a store, at the gym.

my life has changed dramatically in the last year and i credit it to yoga. i think i'll go into that on a different day though. so would i consider myself on that path to being "found" now? have i practiced enough to be on that journey? how long does this dissection/re-building process take? am i behind? i guess there's really no way to know and i'll just have to see what happens.

sidenotes:

- i just joined this awesome gym and i've been totally obsessed with it. it's quaint and friendly and there aren't any crazy fitness junkies running around on steroids. it's a 24 hr gym which is nice, not that i'd go in the middle of the night anyway, but Boyfriend might be joining as well and it would work out well for him sometimes. my new found interest in health is rubbing off on Boyfriend, which is a good thing.

on the train to chicago last thursday, i finally finished "Yoga and the Quest for the True Self."

there were some interesting thoughts that you're left with at the end of the book. one of the basic ideas of yoga is letting go...that's stated very simply, but in reality, there's a huge explanation involved there, but for the sake of keeping this post a reasonable length, i'll skip it for now.

pf 323 - "The fundamental goal of yoga practice is introversion, which requires the retracing of those steps that led spirit to become entangled in the material world in the first place."

so that made me think...what am i letting go of with my yoga practice? i made a list.

- control, responsibilty*, tension, anxiety, self-consciousness, material things but not sentimental things**

pg 301 - "...in the yogic view, the great problem of life is desire - clinging, craving, greed, holding on."

while i'm sure this is incomplete and i'll come up with additional things later, it's a start. i've never really written down what i want from yoga before.

sidenotes:

* i'm not suggesting that i let go of responsibility as a whole...but just during the time i practice.

** i've been on this kick lately of purging all useless things out of my life...which i understand is a very yogic point of view, but there are just some silly little things i have to hold on to. no matter what.

i re-arranged the whole apartment yesterday. i hadn't changed the living room since i moved there almost three years ago. i don't know...it seemed as though it was time for a different perspective...literally and figuratively*.

i had an awesome day yesterday just doing "me" things. i rearranged the apartment in the morning, watched a silly movie on lifetime. went for a 45 minute walk. came back, watched another silly movie on lifetime, then i practiced my yoga. it was an awesome practice. i think i might've actually understood what people meant when they say that you need to be present during practice. i've heard that and read that every where, but i wasn't necessarily sure what people were talking about. i think i might've learned.

as i was holding poses, i'd go through each of my senses. make a note of what i was seeing, smelling, hearing, etc. i would just run through the list. it really seemed to help me keep my mind on the task at hand instead of running away on tangents that have nothing to do with yoga. occassionally though, i'd catch myself thinking of next spring. we're going to cancun and i'm dying to practice in the early morning on the beach. i'd occassionally imagine myself there, which in and of itself was pretty relaxing.

sidenotes:

* Boyfriend and i are trying to make this small apartment work. we were going to move, but it just doesn't make any sense. it was fine when it was just me, but now there's all this stuff. he never mentioned this to me so i don't know if he feels like this, but i've felt like over the last year, that it was still "my old apartment" instead of "our apartment." so i rearranged. it was that, and i'm on a different chapter of my life (both personally and relationship-wise) and at times i'd remember sitting on the couch but an ex was sitting next to me. i want different memories of the couch.

- the first edition of The YOGAzette (that's what i decided to name it :) is almost done and ready to be sent out! (see a few posts before this) i'm nervous! hopefully it won't flop! (and, i guess, so what if it does!)

- my yoga class starts back up next week wednesday...it feels like it's been forever.

so since we haven't had any torrential downpours/floods/tornadoes in the last few days, i've taken up walking around the neighborhood after work.

it all started on saturday. the charming weather lured me outside and now i'm a junkie. i've been walking every day since then except for sunday...i had a chill restorative-style yoga sunday instead. walking's nice...i never thought of myself as a walker and certainly not a jogger...but i strap my mp3 player on my arm, grab a grape flavored propel water beverage from the fridge and am in my own little world for 45 minutes.

i think i'm going to save yoga for when i'm home alone so i can practice in the living room, at least during walking weather season. it's cramped in the bedroom...that and i always hear whatever Boyfriend's messing with in the living room, whether it's a guitar, a computer, yelling out the answers to jeopardy, opening a can of soda, etc...i'm always distracted and it never seems like my practices in the bedroom are beneficial on a mental level.

so tonight will be a yoga night. my class is on a two week hiatus because we're between sessions and i would normally have class tonight. coincidentally, Boyfriend has band practice, so i can still get my yoga on tonight.

sweet.

sidenotes:

- i have the unfortunate responsibility of taking a train down to chicago tomorrow morning to meet with some clients. the unfortunate part is i'm going with the 60 year old VP of sales and marketing and his 45 year old administrative assistant. it'll be like going with my mom and grandfather...conversation should be titillating.

hopefully i'll get some reading accomplished on the hour long ride and have something intelligent to post about from that. *crosses fingers* i'm still reading the stephen cope book.

so with a little writing inspiration from my neighbor amber, i've been thinking about starting a little bi-monthly or quarterly yoga newsletter. i think i'm a pretty decent writer...so my plan is simply to photocopy it and mail it out to all the yoga studios, natural food stores, massage clinics and gyms in the area...nothing too major. through my job, however, i do have a lot of printing connections if i ever want to get crazy with it.

but here are my thoughts on it so far:

1. design is key...i went to school for almost two years for graphic design, so i have some concept of it.

2. i'd like to purchase a new yoga product for every edition and review it...whether it's apparel, a new mat, a mat cleaner, a CD...whatever.

3. i'd also like to review a yoga book in every edition...added benefit: it would get me to read more frequently.

4. i'd like to have an article on yoga in entertainment...while i sometimes think it's ridiculous, a lot of people get into celebrities and their yoga so i can't leave them out.

5. i'd like to try to get an interview with a local yoga studio instructor...this one might be a little more difficult than i think. if i can't get an interview with an insturctor, maybe i can talk to other people in my class and get a more in depth interview on why their taking yoga an how it's influenced their life.

6. i'd want to have a listing of yoga resources...websites, books, etc.

7. any other articles about yoga in the news.

8. i'd want to have my e-mail address, my blog address and my myspace page all listed so anyone who reads it can contact me with suggestions, comments on improvement, so on and so forth...

- now i just need to come up with a name for it...hmm...suggestions? i'd like to keep it local...so something that has to do with milwaukee...brew city yoga gazette? i don't think i should incorporate beer into the name...that's not healthy.

- maybe once it's up and running, i can contact the local publishers in the area...i was just out to dinner on saturday and ran into a local wellness magazine they had in the doorway. a place like that might publish me? that's pretty far off into the future though.

...these are all just thoughts and ideas i wanted to get down...this may not go anywhere at all...who knows! it's pretty exciting to think about it though.

it doesn't look like i'll be able to fork over the $3000 i need for yoga teacher training anytime soon without putting it on a credit card, which i don't want to do, but this is another way i thought i could share my yoga excitement with others inexpensively.

- there's no guarantee these studios will distribute my newsletter amongst their students, but maybe i can offer some free advertising or something...that's a whole different issue to deal with.

ahh...so many things to think about on a monday morning...

sidenotes:

- yesterday was the 3 month anniversary of the day i quit smoking. yea me!

we've had some pretty intense weather here lately...friday there was a tornado warning and same with saturday. there has never been consecutive tornado warnings in milwaukee county, at least not that the weatherman was aware of. west of us, near madison and just south of madison, there have been tornados that have torn roofs off of people's houses and damaged a ton of property, and we've had floods that have taken houses down that are near rivers and lakes that have flooded over and damaged tons of business and homes. some roads and freeways have been closed because of standing water. luckily, being near lake michigan, we're at a little higher elevation than people west of us, so we haven't seen any of that, but the southeastern portion of wisconsin has been repeatedly beaten down over the last four days or so.

we occassionally get tornadoes and storms in wisconsin this time of year, but not like this. this isn't kansas, toto. 

so...how does this relate to yoga? i had the house to myself sunday afternoon...i put in my piano yoga cd, lit some nag champa and started a really relaxing restorative sequence that i had in an old yoga journal. in the middle of my practice, the whole apartment turned dark and the wind started whipping around. the rain pelted the tin awning. another band of severe thunderstorms were here. i was hoping it wasn't going to distract my practice, when in reality, i think it made me more present and more aware that i was simply a small part of the whole. it made me aware that life is fragile and i think that sometimes people, particularly people in my age group, think that they are invincable and it was a good reminder of how mortal we really are.

sidenotes:

- i wanted to run out in the rain so bad this weekend. just stand outside and let it hit my face and my shoulders. i wanted it to wash away the funk i've been in lately. however, with the amount of lightening and the tornado sirens, i thought it might be a bad idea...although undeniably fun.

- does anyone else find it bizarre that the news is obsessing over the "fist bump" between barack and michelle obama? seriously, guys. stop making news where there isn't any. they're just hip older people. let it go.