Categories
Beautiful Places Healthy Living

Pure Joy

President’s Day Monday, a Holiday …

We all need a holiday during our busy lives to just unleash the pent up energy we didn’t know we had and … simply dance with the waves and breathe.

Our playful canine friends teaches us so much.  We have much to learn.

Categories
Beautiful Deeds Beautiful People Beautiful Places Beautiful Things Healthy Living Yoga

Lovely Yoga Studio

   artwork hangs on the wall … curated yoga wear hangs on another wall … take a deep sigh … We’ve arrived … and it’s lovely … 

Sweet yogini friend took me to a welcoming yoga studio in a rustic barn, amidst the haystacks, bags of oranges and packets of seeds, past a little pastry & coffee hole in the wall, you will enter into this sight. There was this scenic drive to get us there which she took up with ease and all smiles despite the early Sunday morning start.  Crossing the Golden Gate bridge, beautiful seaside landscape of Marin, opened up right before our eyes, beyond the horizon was endless ocean …merging into the vast blue sky  … The stormy rain pounding the roofs the night before had cleared the air to gift us this most refreshing clean scent and ushered in bright sunny and azure skies.  Debris, dust the well known SF fog, mist and whatever impurities that clouds our senses were washed away with the relentless downpour – the stormy and dark night is no longer –  we were blessed with extra crisp and fresh air by this ocean town.  What pleasure to just breathe this cleansed purified air.  My lovely yogini friend wanted for both of us to attend a Meditative Yin class; then right after, Vinyasa Flow taught by none other than MC Yogi.  I was happy to accompany and oblige.

MC Yogi was first introduced to me by Tiffany who taught Kids & Family Yoga Teacher Training when I was initially interested in how kids yoga could fit into K-12 education in general.  Tiffany being a former school teacher was an excellent teacher where she introduced her Yoga DVD.  She mentioned to the trainees how happy she felt that MC Yogi had graciously given permission to feature his song called “Give Love” in her first video teaching attempt. In fact most and all kids and family yoga classes we taught pretty much started this theme song back then.  Kids would squeal scream and ran around and we had great fun rolling on the mats laughing !

Here it is:)  (I still have this DVD:) Then the tragic Earthquake/Tsunami of 2011 happened in Tohoku, Japan.  At that time there was an outpouring of support, one of which was Yoga Aid and this song, “Give Love” was also featured as a theme song.  So the timing is all mashed up now but with Tiffany, her husband, myself and my neighbor friend who later publishes a yoga book called “The Philosophy & Science of Yoga:  The Power of Self-Expression 5,000 years in the Making” (good read), we all went to his new CD release concert at Asian Art Museum, SF. – what a flashback – that’s now 8 years ago –  contributed towards was it Kickstart or some cloud funding and have seeen his music evolve where we mix them into our class playlist:)  And so you might say that our family has been a low key fan all along and could not be happier to see this humble yogi and his lovely yogini artist partner, continue to make beautiful music, art and create this lovely place to practice yoga for the locals (lucky!) and visitors (stay-cation go-to) alike.

One of my dear yoga teachers, who also was a musician once said, something to the effect that she believed there are broadly two kinds of people – broad brushstrokes for sure –  those who think creatively and in the colors, designs and the arts); Then there are those whether linear or binary, tending to be rules driven, perhaps constantly analyzing whether it be profit/loss or black/white rather than appreciating the shades of grey  – So it’s back to brain science of Right and Left Brain hemisphere dominance perhaps … Some yoga teachers tend to be more a technicians, and rather dogmatic in teaching and that suits them and their students well- there are clear rules and maybe something likened to flow charts and stick figures to prod the lesson plan ; however some, like him, seems like a natural – a fluid spontaneous teacher with a calling to cue skillfully with sense of fun and delight.  Sometimes, words that roll out of his mouth is … pure poetry, so lyrical and yet based on solid yoga philosophy.  And as expected, excellent playlist, it’s the yoga DJ, playing with words and spinning the tunes to bring us closer to … ourSelves.  Honoring the authentic and all styles of teachers all around us. I learn so much from other gifted teachers we are blessed with in this Bay Area.

Thank you to my friend who is such true yogi because if Yoga is about Connections, she was that – one who connects the dots seemingly unrelated sometimes but connecting over time; thank you for driving me there, driving almost 2 hours, to attend these two great classes, latter led by MC Yogi who made me realize that yoga need not be so serious but just … joyful. Back to the drawing board to have that “Beginner’s Mind” again.

Taught my own two classes back in the Peninsula – San Carlos and Redwood City are neighboring and easy pleasy – the second one unexpected subbing, just to be of service  – that evening – a rather subdued classes having been so inspired.

Bring yoga into your lives – it’s so enriching …you will feel the subtle changes off the mat.  Tuning into the subtleties and nuances that matter so much.

All Gratitude.

 

Categories
Anything Cute

Do you spell it Donut or Doughnut?

And does that even matter?

“Whether you take the doughnut hole as a blank space or as an entity unto itself is a purely metaphysical question and does not affect the taste of the doughnut one bit.”

― Murakami,Haruki, from A Wild Sheep Chase

Again, donut worry … it’s just prints, not real donuts dancing in your dreams:)

No, I am not getting paid by EHD – just thought to share this whimsical active wear … so that we not take what we do on the mat so seriously – it’s fun and that’s okay.

DONUT worry, be happy …

especially when we may have every reason to be unhappy or unsatisfied, don’t let excessive thinking sabotage the fun we could have if we give ourselves that permission.  Seek out that break in midst of our suffering, we can still yoga and feel better. Be open.  Seek help. Take a break, move and be moved … then find that source within, be led to that quiet contentment in the stillness by changing the perspective from me the center of Universe to me, a little speckle, a spark, that’s interconnected to the rest of all things we can see and cannot in this beautiful and mysterious Universe. The oscillation stills and the shift, the steady shift happens from the swirls (of sprinkles!) to that core place of ease and light.  It’s that hole …that let’s the light through … it’s that hole we can see through:)  The donut is yummy:)