happy halloween!!!

a halloween shout out for my hubby who i miss more and more each day!!! i am so grateful for your love and support-only 2 more weeks!

p.s. this is a basenji puppy- we are thinking about getting one :)

group 15 rocks!

i just want to say- i have grown quite fond of my posture clinic group. everyone cheers for one another and is sooo encouraging. we have really good group energy! we spend almost 4 hours a day together or sometimes more depending if there is lecture in the evening. these folks are from all over and i am so excited about continuing the relationships i have built with my new yogi friends and traveling to see them. i am already saving for budapest! ester here i come :) so in ode to my fellow yogis- i am posting some pics of our adventures together in week seven. although i won't miss posture clinic- i will miss our fun times together during yoga lockdown in a tiny hotel room :) love you guys!

camel catostrophy

only kidding- delivered camel tonight and it was my best posture yet! dialog- check-speed-check-flow-check! my ongoing challenge is the voice in the my throat issue...but that will come with time. i just need to get my voice from the belly more when i'm at the height of the pose. as they say in bikram speak...low, slow, flow.

trust

if we simply take what he sends and trust him for the blessings inside, we will learn the meaning of the secrets of his providence, even in times of darkness. 

a.b. simpson

sharks alive!

laid by the beach today- relaxed- did some dialog. saw a surf instructor and asked him if i could take his pic by the board and he took mine. he was selling me big time on lessons which i proceeded to tell him i already know how to surf mister. he talked his hourly rate down to 20 bucks. only because i felt like doing something that was freaking planned out ahead of time for me and i was alone on the beach i actually considered it. but then my rational side talked me down- after all i still have to make it 3 more weeks doing yoga twice a day 6 days awake without crashing and burning. it would so be an 'alli moment' to get hurt surfing and not actually doing the yoga. and plus the staff was saying something about shark season. i actually asked the guy what about sharks? he proceeded to tell me without missing a beat 'oh it only got me once but surfing is life' and pointed to his side where there was a huge shark bite scar!!!

saturday night's alright alright alright

saturday night's alright alright alright

i'll give someone blog bonus points if they know what song those lyrics are from

so saturday night kara and i decided to leave the yoga compound (aka the hotel - where we live, breathe, eat yoga 24-7) and it was the best decision! we went to the galleria mall. an interesting mall where you can actually smoke in the stores?! who wants to buy clothes with a side of ash? thought i said something else didn't you?! get your mind out of the gutter people. kidding. back to my enthralling story. okay so we got there around 6 in the evening and left at 10! the whole night was just what i needed. the minute we walked in we headed straight to starbucks for iced green tea- fabulous! i thought the little halloween chalk drawings were cute and a bit morbid on there beverage selection list/blackboard-but hey it's mexico. we did some shopping and decided to grab some dinner at none other than applebees. why in the world would we eat at applebees in mexico? it's the familiarity of a chain restaurant, you know sitting in the booth was oddly comforting. we got our fix of crap food and our friendly waitor named renee (yes a guy renee) even brought me a kids menu so i could color. listening to early 90's hits like 'rhythm is a dancer' and 'wannabe' by the spice girls while dining made me smile. kara and and i had a really good conversation about life and yoga (yes we can't get away!) that was really refreshing. just being away from the hotel and enjoying ourselves without having somewhere to be on a schedule was so nice. i feel like getting away - no matter how brief- allows for some perspective- which is what i needed for sure! we shopped a bit more and left in an great little volkswagon slugbug, that we both had to squeeze into the back to head back to the hotel. all in all - a wonderful time!

p.s. we did deserve a steak indulgence but don't worry we didn't give into the menu suggestion :)

lecture

dr. divvy spoke last night about western medicine versus the mind/body medicine which is called pycho-neuro-immune-endocrinology. hopefully no one wikapedias that because i have no idea how to spell it. it was by far the most interesting lecture we had. we someone said 'it's already 11 o'clock' i surprised myself by actually wanting to hear more not caring that it would go into my sleep time. she touched on many interesting points about spirituality, illness, yoga and healing. i was quite inspired. she touched on negative emotions how to acknowledge them by not wallowing in them. you recognize your emotion talk about it and move on. what i call not turning to the 'dark side'. my summary of the lecture doesn't do her justice-she went a lot deeper than that- i need to go back to the 3 pages of notes i took...anyways she was pretty amazing. i was quite refreshed by her point of view. one of the reasons she said she is able to remain so positive is because she keeps her mind clean. she said one of the many decisions that she made to accomplish that was not watching tv. as taylor knows this has been my number one request/change for when i get home. no more tv!!! i have not watched or turned on the tv (minus the movie we have watched on the laptop on the weekends) in our room since we arrived. we actually unplugged it to use the fridge. i have been quite amazed at how much you can get done and how less worried i am not watching the news and the fear based crap on tv...and i won't even go into the majority of reality television. now by no means am i saying completely tune out the world and what is going on in it but you can also be your own judge of what you want to take in and how it affects you. 

ok sorry to go off on the tv rant. so my intention for today is to be present and try to be positive. even though it is the end of the week, even though we all never want to see chula vista food again, and even though home is calling my name louder and louder as each minute passes. yes i miss taylor, sleeping and actually being rested, and being able to decide for myself what i am going to do next versus our yoga scheduled out every minute of our life here. but i have to remember - this is a growing process. i am changing and learning each day. the more i embrace it and soak up every nugget of info they give us- the better the teacher i will be in the future. i don't think that was even proper english...but you follow me? just had to throw in that last bikramism. and eventually, in the future i will explain it more in detail :)

so basically after every class i throw my yoga clothes into the extra sink and put a little laundry detergent and let them soak. then later on - i rinse them out and put them on our little drying contraption on the balcony. 

so tonights' class was taught by rajashree. it was great and super hot. i usually sweat more in the evening but i noticed it felt like i had lotion all over my body- like an oily soft slickness. i don't wear lotion because of the yoga and besides my skin is already soft :) anyways - it wasn't till the floor series when i saw soap suds all over my legs that i realized i had not fully rinsed my shakti shorts out. whatever! oh the many silly and strange things that happen in that yoga room.....

over the hump

sleeping awake, earthquake, headaches....

this week has pretty much been exhausting. it's not that we have late nights or a lot of posture clinics or anything. my body just feels beat down and so over it. that is pretty much the consensus amongst the trainees. you feel stronger and then you feel weaker. you become more flexible and then you are tighter. class has been hard for me as far as flexibility goes. touching the toes has been a stretch- a new challenge to work through. in tonights' class the woman who taught said we are going through this pain in order to have compassion and empathy for our students in the future. if that is the case than i will be miss empathetic 08-09! i'm trying not to complain or dwell in it too much- because tomorrow will probably bring a new challenge or pain to work through. this whole experience has been much easier physically than i expected. now by no means am i saying it is easy but from all the horror stories people told me about training i really thought it would be hell and torture. some parts have been hell and a bit of torture but nothing major. so i guess what i am trying to say is that all in all it has truly been an amazing experience so far. 

delivered bow pose in posture clinic. my voice was calm- and more from the belly which was my homework from the last one so-great success! on to the next one!

magic

rajashree taught the morning class. in half moon she adjusted me (she was walking around the back of the room and my group was on row 10) on my right side (just for the record my left is 3 times better). and seriously this woman is magic. she is like a yoga fairy princess. when she came over she smelt like roses- i'm not even exaggerating for entertainments sake. her voice and presence are very magical. because she touched me and she is magic, i will probably morph into a unicorn during posture clinic. 

rajashree is here!

all i can say is thank you lord! rajashree has arrived and the moment she enters the room you automatically feel more at ease. she is a light and a breath of fresh air and you feel taken care of in her presence. another reason to celebrate- no posture clinic today!!! i am smiling so much it hurts :) :) :) 

words of wisdom

felt like i needed some encouragement for the week to come

experience is not what happens to you; it is what you do with what happens to you

aldous huxley

a champion is someone who gets up, even when knocked down

jack dempsey

the question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me

ayn rand

sat and sunday fun!

so yes i love taking photographs but from looking at these i need to take more of people- less scenery. still hope you enjoy them! heres to making many more memories here and surviving and thriving in week 6!

casa de canoli

we went to this italian place tonight- can't remember the name- let's just call it casa de canoli. 

the highlight of the evening was when i was taking pics of these adorable little girls and i showed them how to do half moon (kind of ) and they actually all had their 'arms over their head sideways' minus the interlocked fingers but it was a step in the right direction. so cute! it made my night-

i will post more pics later

night

week 5!

here are some pics from week cinco adventures here at training...can't believe we have made it this far!

hit me

hit me please someone hit me. i probably wouldn't feel it because i feel completely run over. kara and i got 7 hours of sleep (an all time high for the week) and i woke up feeling wiped out. class was difficult - i've been trying to set my intention for each class to go further (we are at the halfway point so i feel like i owe it to myself and my practice). i just hurt as in all over hurt. it's not that i'm complaining - i had a great day yesterday and had really good energy. today i just feel the yoga beat down. at least it's friday...couple of classes to go. ugghhh i feel like a stiff, tired, rusty, degenerated yoga robot. i need some fine tuning.

it's official

it's official- we are into week 5.

i haven't shaved my legs in several days

this is the third day i've skipped breakfast/lunch to do dialog in the room

i haven't been in the pool for a whole week

and i'm beginning to speak like i am saying dialog

upper body back at the end!

wind removing woes

no this isn't a post about farting. i could write a book about that after this training...but i'm a lady and won't even go there. i am talking about wind removing posture people! 

so tonight in class we found out we are not having lecture and instead we have posture clinic! and oh crap- that means another posture- wind removing. that is 3 in one day!!! so i basically have to learn it tonight before dinner. this is when i actually lay on my bed with wet hair/just showered /shoveled dinner down and actually do the posture while i'm saying the dialog to understand it. 

as johnny cash said best

'i'm stuck in folsom prison, and time keeps draggin on'

but here at teacher training -it's stuck in posture clinic and the postures keep coming on :)

the highlight of my day-when they played bon jovis' living on a prayer song-awesome! i was so happy i was almost crying and laughing at the same time. everyone started singing at the top of their lungs- it is quite an amazing accomplishment that we are halfway there and i think that sheer joy(along with bon jovis' awesomeness :) is quite contagious. for that i am grateful.

halfway mark

so we have arrived...at least to the halfway point. i feel like here when you just think you have the dialog or class figured out (at least for me it's feeling prepared) you get smacked down. so far only minimal smack downs. but i am learning to not live with any expectations. for me that is huge. to just be, take each moment as it comes, because here and in our life daily we never know what will be thrown our way. so instead of getting completely wigged out about the next posture i have to learn in under 24 hours, i just say one line and move onto the next. wake up early, put in the time, and do the work. it is difficult making your brain work on little sleep and your body function while being exhausted BUT it could be worse. staying positive and remaining grateful has preserved my mental state here. the minute i go to the 'dark side' (insert darth vader breathing here) it's over. so yes- thinking positive- no matter what your present situation works. it's amazing.

week 5

he made me into a polished arrow 

isaiah 49:2

what are you but the masters' tools forming a work divine?

we are in the throws of week 5. besides being tired, sore, and my rib issue all is well. i feel like i have learned so much in this first month. at the same time i feel i have a long way to go. we are at the half way point so it can only go up from here- right?! :) at least that is what i am hoping for. our non trainee neighbor woke kara and i up with his bloody phone convo and blaring tv this morning at 6am and we went to bed around 1. so needless to say it was a fun morning.

to all my friends and family - i miss you all so much and appreciate your love and support. can't wait to hug your necks!

sunday sunday

it was so nice to sleep in this morning. woke up had some cereal and a banana and went to the spa- my little safe haven here at training. i have developed quite an addiction to their red tea and comfy chairs in the waiting room. it's a nice contrast to the intensity of our weekly training schedule.

after the spa i changed into my suit to lay by the pool and study. bumped into celeste and she introduced me to round robin studying- thought i wouldn't be a fan but rose and stroud joined in and we had a little circle study session going. it works because you say the words so many times you have no choice but to absorb it. after that i came up to the room and kara and i caught up on the days events apart from one another- i get a little lonely not being with my roomie all the time. yes - i'll admit i'm attached :) 

had an thrown together dinner of jiff and a banana- pure happiness! watched part of the first episode of season 5 the office on the laptop. our last treat for the weekend before week 5 officially starts!!!

sat morning class

yes i took this in the posture upside down :)