Yay!

It is a new day!

For Real - Wow!

...its first chapter...

“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.” ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Happy New Year!

Start writing.

...the poetic baring of the soul...

My last ballet lesson of the year was on Tuesday of this week. The studio closes over the holidays. I will miss it and am already looking forward to the New Year to bring my first class of 2009. The class is the highpoint of each week as I feel the most alive and that I am expressing my most authentic self as I stand at that barre and feel the music as it moves my body.

Pure. Undeniable. Authentic.
I am in love.

Dance is the poetic baring of the soul through motion. ~ Scott Nilsson

yes it is.

For me...

Inspiration, beauty, grace, radiance, strength, movement, joy, peace, happiness, connection.

Learning to walk set you free. Learning to dance gives you the greatest freedom of all: to express with your whole self the person you are. ~ Melissa Hayde

Autumn Yoga

This morning started with rain drops. What a wonderful way to wake up. The rain let up. Little doggie girl dawned her harness and I, my rain coat. Opening up the front door to the beautiful colors of autumn, we stepped outside. We walked down the street with the scent of the fresh, wet, cool morning air. "I love autumn," I thought to myself. As we came upon the cedar bridge behind the house, a pheasant was walking towards us. He saw a person and a beagle, turned around, ran the other way and then took off making that sound that only pheasants make.

The wind was blowing just enough to coax the yellow, red and orange leaves into a beautiful shower of color. Little doggie girl's nose is to the ground, sniffing the trail of the last animal that walked in our foot steps. The smell of the cedar bridge is strong and so calming.

I was lost in the beauty of it all and it was delicious.

It has inspired me. I want this experience on my yoga mat. What poses will allow me to create this? I know it is possible. What a fun adventure it will be.

Why I Love My Life #31

Sweetpea vine in the snow.

I live in a place where are all four seasons are experienced and I celebrate each and every one of them.

"To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring." ~ George Santayana

I'm ready!

I feel like I'm going back to school tomorrow. Mind you, I haven't gone back to school in many, many years. My clock has always lined up with the school calendar. I remember my first year after college - the first summer I had a "real job". It was so difficult to be inside, sitting at a desk. I wondered everyday how people did this. Why don't we all have summer vacations as adults? In fact, now that I don't have a "real job", I do take it a little easier in the summertime.

Now, as summer draws to a close, I feel that urge to buy new clothes, new "school supplies", figure out what time I have to get up tomorrow to make it on time. This time of year is always very inspiring for me. It is not only the end of summer, it is the beginning of something new. It is the time when my mind and senses kick into high gear. I feel alive and ready to go. I want a new project, a new yoga class to teach, a new book to read. Let me have it all - open that gate, I'm ready!

Deeper Sorrow...More Joy

“The deeper that sorrow carves into your being the more joy you can contain. Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?” ~ Kahil Gibran

My Pup

To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring - it was peace. ~Milan Kundera

Dream Expansion Inspiration

STREAM OF LIFE

The Same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.

It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth in numberless blades of grass and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.

It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth and of death, in ebb and in flow.

I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life. And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment.

~ Rabindranath Tagore

I was introduced to this beautiful poem when I saw this video today. Wow, right? Toward the end of the video I realized that more than anything else, the music was moving me. This voice, while singing in a different language, was so beautiful and the music was so upbeat. What is this song and who is singing it? I so appreciate Google each day for answering so many of my questions! The song is called "Praan". It is the above poem put to music by Gary Schyman. The voice is that of Palbasha Siddique, an 18 year old woman originally from Bangladesh who now lives in Minneapolis. Here is a link for more information on the video and Palbasha.

As I watch this video and see all of the wonderful locations, all of the people, the music and the wonderful message and I can't help but think - who's dream was this? Did it start small and grow? What was the inspiration? How many people told him that it wasn't possible or that it was crazy. Look how big this dream became. How can I use this as inspiration for my own dreams?

What are your dreams? How big are they?

Use this video as inspiration and then I ask you, how can you expand your own dreams?

Mellow Yellow

Today: The Grand Start - Brittany

The best thing about July is Le Tour De France. For 21 days I am amazed and inspired by the cyclists pushing themselves to the limit around one of the most beautifully stunning countries in the world. I watch the Tour as much for the competition as for the beauty of the French countryside. As I watch, I imagine that I am there. I take the in beauty with my eyes, taste the foods, hear and feel the excitement. One day, I will experience it for real. For now, I am so grateful for the live coverage on TV!

July 5, Stage 1 - Brest Plumelec 197.5 km

Thoughts that thrill...

I subscribe to the Abe Blog so every day I get lots of inspiring quotes showing up in my feed reader. This one is spectacular:

"Hold only thoughts that thrill you."

Just thinking about holding a thought that thrills me - thrills me!

What thought thrills you? Hold on to it!

Tree and Sun

This little tree is in the far corner of my garden. Each spring it produces these beautiful and very fragrant flowers. Many pictures were taken on this evening, just at the sunset. Can you see the light between the branches? It was stunning.

After spending the whole day outside - pruning, planting and watering - what a gift it was to have time to spend with this tree, smelling the sweetness, and watching the spectacular performance put on by the sun. After the show, I slept like a baby.

Today's Meditation...

I fight: Savasana

I like to think that I fight nothing. My last post really opened my eyes. It was written before my restorative yoga class on Wednesday night. After that experience, how would I write that line today?

i fight: a long Savasana

When I first started to practice yoga the reason I went back time and time again was because of Savasana. I found it amazing that someone (my yoga teacher) was inviting me to lay down (with a blanket!), close my eyes, in a quiet room, in the middle of the day and relax. Lovedeveryminuteofit! Now, not so much.

The first 5 minutes are good, however lots of adjusting, then the fight begins. I have a theory that maybe only a piece of what is going on. I am very flexible. My joints are very open. As I lay there and my muscles start to let go and surrender, I start to feel very unstable. Whispers of pains and aches get louder. There is a feeling of dislocation in one of my shoulders. My eyes do not relax but move around inside the closed lids. I often feel energy racing out of my hands and feet. No wonder!

I want a redo on that line - i fight: the feelings of instability in Savasana by accepting them and trusting that I will learn whatever they are here to teach me.

That feels much better.

Following My Heart

“You will recognize your own path when you come upon it, because you will suddenly have all the energy and imagination you will ever need.” - Jerry Gillies

These last few weeks have been amazing. My last post I wrote about my "180". It seems that what I thought I wanted and where I thought I was going are not really who I am but this "idea" of who I thought I was supposed to be and what was expected. I was not paying attention to who I am and where I am in my life right now.

Laura put together a wonderful blog post and meditation for following your heart. I was there when this was recorded. After I experienced this meditation - I experienced my 180. Coincidence? In my world, there is no such thing as coincidence.

When you quiet down, surrender and go into your heart, you are able to hear your authentic self. Try it - it brought me to my true path and I have felt immense amounts of energy and imagination ever since.

Day 7 - Flexibility and Strength

This is my year for strength. I am very flexible (actually you could call it hypermobile). I can get into just about any yoga pose. I can dislocate on request. To balance that out I need a lot more strength in my body. Strength to hold my joints together (I also have ligaments that are very stretched and do not hold my ball and sockets together very firm). Lots going on here! Tonight (while watching my new favorite TV show) I did yoga with some arm balances thrown in.

First I started out with my usual child's pose for surrender and moved on to neck stretches and shoulder rolls while in vajrasana. Next came down dog and plank back to down dog and then into Vasisthasana (without adding the top leg). That felt great! Next to Tittibasana since it has been a while and I really like this pose.

Then moving to seated baddha konasana and upavista konasana. I noticed a little tightness in my legs so I moved to Warrior II and here taking the time to work on my strength. I kept bending my knee slowly to get all the way into the pose. Next to Tadasana for quite some time and focused on Sunrise Earth - so beautiful!

Next came Siddhasana -wow. I was reading Light on Yoga (there are around 3 pages devoted to just this pose alone) and according to Iyengar, this pose purifies the 72,000 nadis, calming nervous energy . I was feeling a lot of wild energy last week so I decided to stay here for a while again focusing on Sunrise Earth. It is also one of the most relaxing of the asanas. I must have been feeling very calm and relaxed because I turned around and my little dog was laying right next to me on the floor, very calm and peaceful. She caught the peace!

Iyenger also writes that Siddha is and inspired sage, seer or prophet. So interesting that I picked this pose today because I have been very inspired all day.

I ended with a short savasana. I will do a restorative child's pose and longer savasana tonight before sleep.