Saturday, October 29, 2011

Friday, October 28, 2011

October Photo Challenge Days 22 - 28

Day 22: Hands

Day 23: Sunflare

Day 24: Animal

Day 25: Something pink

Day 26: Close-up

Day 27: From a distance

Day 28: Flowers

Sunday, October 23, 2011

May All Beings Everywhere Be Happy & Free

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu

May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my own life contribute in some way to that happiness and to that freedom for all.


Friday, October 21, 2011

October Photo Challenge Days 16-21

Day 16: Long Exposure

Day 17:  Technology


Day 18:  Your shoes

Day 19:  Something orange

Day 20:  Bokeh (not true Bokeh but the best I could get)

Day 21:  Faceless self-portrait
Photo thanks to Sondra at Sweet Tea & Sanskrit

Saturday, October 15, 2011

October Photo Challenge Days 10-15

Day 10: Childhood Memory
Day 11: Something Blue
Day 12: Sunset
Day 13: Yourself with 13 Things
Macbook, yoga mat, Sonic unsweet tea, ipad, iPhone,
Eagles jersey, Yoga Book Club current selection,
Mardi Gras beads, rock from the beach in California,
cowboy boots, Obama girl hat,
Kindle, yoga bolser
Day 14: Eyes
Day 15: Silhouette

Sunday, October 9, 2011

October Photo Challenge Day 8 & 9

Day 8: A bad habit

I decided to place the bag of sugar in the shot so everyone was clear exactly what white powdery substance was my bad habit.

Day 9: Someone you love

November 2005
October 2011








Saturday, October 8, 2011

A Little Bit of Woo Woo in my Yoga

The end of day 3's yoga teacher training.

I'm exhausted, my brain is fried and I have hit the point where I am sitting in class staring blankly, maybe some drool escaping down my chin and all I can think is WTF are we talking about?

But I've been through this enough times now I know that tomorrow, day 4 and our final day (for now), it will all come together.

Three days of subtle energy work, chakra assessments, pendulum practice, pranyama and mudras.

Sometimes when I'm teaching my classes and I begin to cue less anatomy and more energy or feeling actions,  I'll say, "now just stay with me here, this may sound a little woo woo but here me out." My class knows woo woo is a term for 'ok, Jennifer's going all tree-hugging yogi on us.'

Well this weekend has had some real woo woo moments. But some very cool woo woo moments.

As a very left brain and linear thinker, I keep referencing Ayurvedic principles in our studies this weekend. Finally, the instructor pointed out to me that Ayurveda is the science and medical side to yoga where subtle energy is the non-medical side. Ohhhh.

Not only do they complement each other but they also prove each other. So I guess by me constantly bringing up what I've learned through Ayurveda it is my way of proving what we were learning about. Of course, there are TONS of scientific studies cited that also give credibility to subtle body work, but this was my way of processing it all.

So even a logical thinker like me can understand and embrace the woo woo.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

30 Day Photography Challenge

Confession time. I really should be doing my yoga teacher training homework right now.

Instead I decided to take a mental break and read some of my favorite blogs.

My friend Thais at Living in the (k)Now is participating in the October 30 Day Photography Challenge that she found at the Moxie And Marmalade Blog. Thais always has great pictures on her blog and I'm also loving what I see on Moxie and Marmalade.

Although I don't shoot much anymore, my minor in college was photography and I still have a bit of a passion for it.

I told Thais if we weren't already 6 days in to the challenge I'd participate too (and I'm really supposed to be doing homework right now). No problem! she said. Just jump in today. My future personal stylist Bee from @beeyondyoga is also joining in on the challenge. She said it's ok to pull some pics from my files to use and start taking new pics tomorrow.

Ok, I'm in!

Did I mention the past 30 minutes I spent trying to find old pics I should have been doing my homework?

First, here is the challenge:


And now, the photos:

Day 1: Self Portrait

Day 2: What you wore today
Yoga Clothes - pretty much my standard outfit most days
Day 3: Clouds
Rosarita, Mexico February 2006
Day 4: Something green

Day 5: From a high angle


Day 6: From a low angle

And now I really need to get to my homework!

Monday, October 3, 2011

Reminder to Myself

I've spent the past few weeks lamenting how busy and over scheduled I am. Admittedly this is a pattern I find myself repeating all too frequently.

After last weeks mini-breakdown over socks on the living room floor I decided enough - I physically, mentally and emotionally can't keep up this schedule. Well actually I could keep up the pace but I can't afford the staff I'd need to hire to do it!

So, like my dear friend Jilda at Transformation Information says, I put on my big girl panties and began paring down my schedule. I must say, it was actually nice to make dinner a couple nights this past week, watch the kids soccer game and not feel beat up by the time the day is over.

But, as is my pattern, I began to doubt my decision to slow down. My mind became clouded with "what if..." and "how will I pay for..." and "will I ever be able to...." type thoughts.

Then today, totally unexpectedly, someone handed me a candid picture they had snapped of me and kid #5. I barely remember this picture being taken. I had just finished telling the party host we couldn't stay for the whole party because we had three other parties to get to that day. I heard someone call my name, I turned  around, a flash went off, and I went right back to my rush, rush attitude.


I'm framing this picture and hanging it somewhere I'll see it everyday. It will be my reminder that yes, this is part of the reason why I work so hard. But it's also a bigger part of the reason I need to slow down.

Work in a way that does not create more stress.
-- Judith Hanson Lasater