Happiness

I was quite taken by the Julie & Julia project and this got me thinking about what I might be able to undertake. If I was going to take on a little project of my own it would have to be something personally meaningful, possibly boasting my happiness factor up a notch or two. It would also have to fit into my already overloaded. over obligated, over scheduled life. As I have mentioned before my goal within my yoga practice is spending more time on the mat at home and becoming less dependant on outside classes. With this in mind I have chosen my project for the year. The Namaste Experience is a ten month project compromised of doing and reviewing 75 yoga DVD's, cooking one meal a week from Cooking the Whole Foods Way by Christina Pirello and juice fasting one day a week. In the end I'll compare the beginning of September 2007 with the end of June 2008 and we'll see how much bliss I've attained! First DVD is Yoga Shakti with Shiva Rea, first recipe ( the easiest one I could find in the cookbook) first fast, pure hell I'm sure.

Wish me luck!

Friday's Feast

Appetizer
Who is the easiest person for you to talk to?
My best friend, my sister and my dog about anything. My girlfriends about all things in life. The man is very easy to talk with on many subjects, and of course its very easy to talk to my kids, it goes something like this, " What the... put that down before you poke somebody's eye out!" or "OOOHHH my little sweety nutter butter peanut butter cup, that's very good!"

Soup
If you could live in any ancient city during the height of the quality of its society and culture, which one would you choose?
Atlantis, if it existed it must have been something to live there.

Salad
What is the most exciting event you’ve ever witnessed?
although indescribable to the emotional extent of its effect,and I hope never to witness anything like it again, 9-11-2001.

Main Course
If you were a celebrity, what would you do for a publicity stunt?
I really don't have it in me to make a scene out of myself, but I thought Richard Greer introducing the Dali lama in Central Park was a fantastic stunt. ( If you can call that a stunt)

Dessert
What do you consider the ideal age to have a first child?
I consider the ideal time to bring a child into your life is when you have created the emotional, physical and financial space to share a life with someone who will be totally dependant on you. This is individual for everyone. This can happen at anytime, or not at all.

Entangled in Thought

Cisco is feeling a bit jumbled and tied down emotionally. I know my dog he's defiantly a little off today. I won't get into the details as he hates it when I make his business public. Were going to do a little yoga together in hopes he'll unwind. He'll do a few stretches, sacrum rocks back and fourth and some gentle lateral movement in supine with the legs in flextion (good for the hips) . The rest of the time he will lay there watching me completely uninterested and bored. Some just aren't into it, what can I say. Then we will try for another walk and see how it goes.

Happy downward facing dogs all!

Swami Sri Kripalvananda

My beloved child, break your heart no longer.

Each time you judge yourself, you break your own

heart.

You stop feeding on the love which is the

wellspring of your vitality.

The time has come. Your time.

To live

To celebrate

And to see the goodness that you are.

You, my child, are Divine.

You are pure.

You are sublimely free.

You are God in disguise.

And you are always perfectly safe.

Do not fight the dark.

Just turn on the light.

Let go and breath into the Goodness that you are.

Bapuj

Digging Max

At Seventy Five, All The Way Live! Max is the highest The outest the Largest, the greatest The fastest, the hippest, The all the way past which There cannot be
When we say MAX, that’s what We mean, hip alwaysClean. That’s our word For Artist, Djali, Nzuri Ngoma, Senor Congero, Leader, Mwalimu, Scientist of Sound, Sonic Designer, Trappist Definer, Composer, Revolutionary Democrat, Bird’s Black InjunEngine, Brownie’s Other Half, Abbey’s Djeli-
But ask anybody conscious, who Max Roach be. Miles certainly knew And Coltrane too. All the cats who know the science of Drum, know where our Last dispensation come from. That’s why we call him, MAX, the ultimate, The Furthest Star. The eternalinternal, the visible invisible, the message From afar.
All Hail, MAX, from On to Dignatariato Serious and even beyond! He is the mighty SCARAB, Roach the SCARAB, immortal asour music, world without end. Great artist Universal Teacher, and for any Digger One of our deepest friends! Hey MAX! MAX! MAX!
AMIRI BARAKA

Max, I heard the news today. We love you, God Bless You Man,
and thank you..............

Mantra Girl

Mantra Girl has a DVD which is an introduction to Kundalini yoga and chanting. I thought, "Yeah this seams really good. A gentle yoga session with lots of chanting and breath, perfect for a vacation at the beach." Well true to word Mantra girl did a lot of breath work. She had us doing breath of fire through at least half the session. The rest of the time was spent with repetitions of asanas I have never done before. I'm not implying there not yoga poses I've just never encountered the majority of what she had us doing in any of my classes, but then again Kundalini is new to me. I found a nice quote from Mantra Girl describing the basis of this yoga, " Kundalini Yoga is different than other forms of yoga in that it uses the chakra system of the body. Other yoga styles often focus only on stretching. Kundalini uses chanting meditation and long deep breathing to awaken the energy of the body. The goal Kamler says, “Is to move the energy from lower more primal points of the energy body to the higher chakra points which awakens the consciousness." Ok so there you go.... A lot of what was presented were exercises to clear out the aura and create a healthier field of attraction. I have never done any work to clean out this area and perhaps that 's why I had such a hard time with this yoga session. Although I'm fairly active and physical it was difficult keeping up and I found I needed to stop and rest at times. Mantra Girl does not give verbal words of encouragement to keep you going but she does emit a peacefulness and with the music and chanting you really don't want her speaking anyway. She has a beautiful voice, I can't wait to use her work in my own classes. This DVD is not a one shot deal I think you have to do it several times to get something out of it. I'm going to do a trial run for the next week and will report back with my findings.

peace out!!!!

Beach Time

(fineartamerica.com)

The man and I are off this weekend. Back by Monday. I am packing my swimsuit and a couple of yoga DVDs. I'm savoring the last days of summer vacation right down to the last tasty bite! Good yoga class today. I really am fortunate to have some dynamic teachers. I'm excited to say I signed up for a Yin Yoga workshop with Paul Grilley. This will be a gentle and auspicious way to start the year. My instructors in my yoga teacher training were huge advocates of his work and its very exciting to be attending this workshop. I'm also excited about a DVD I will be checking out this weekend. Kundalini yoga with Mantra Girl. I am so impressed by her chanting that I ordered her CD and I am going to play her music in my classes! Well that's about it for now. I've got to pack, so see you soon!

Sunny, Sunny, Beachy, Sandy Happy,Happy Everyone!