sage! (circa thanksgiving)

sage, cowering in the spotlight.    

sage, pretty in profile.

weekend in baltimore.

family portraits on the purple sofa!
sisters!!!

went to baltimore for my sister's graduation party and graduation ceremony. i had a blast mingling with all the people at the party. and got to return to my alma mater to make fun of it! ha! this weekend i ate too many cookies, but i had a blast.

xoxo.

hair cut.

i just cut my hair and it looks pretty horrible. i don't know what i was thinking. it was just so thick and bulky. normally i do a decent job... but i'm out of tune. i actually haven't cut my own hair in a while. my last two hair cuts were by professionals.... it took from october until now for my hair to look good after my last hair cut. and now i just messed it up real bad. 

i guess i'll be wearing my hat... not that i don't wear it everyday... all day. even in yoga (at least during the surya's).

i have a fantasy of having long hair. but it never happens. i was growing out my mop of a head this summer and i ended up with a mullet... got it cut in philly while visiting... i just have little patience for hair. 

i've shaved it twice and i asked asher if i should just shave it and start over and he said no... don't go there..

a shaved head was not a good look for me.. although if it were... i would shave it every month. 

sigh... oh goodness.

there are things i believe in... aka always listen to your motha!

i believe in pre-determined destiny and i believe in free-will. i believe we have choices to make in our life that will either positively or negatively effect our path. i believe Hashem (my g-d) will lead me in the right direction. i just have to trust and listen to myself to find the way.

i believe in listening to my mother. (most of the time). i believe she knows what is right when it comes to staying alive, as she has been alive 27 years more than me. she always told me to wear a helmet and i still always wear a helmet. i always try to get my friends to wear helmets. it's just something i believe in.

i know other's believe in helmets. i've heard stories. "i was riding my bike late at night, a woman hit me, my head hit the curb, the helmet saved my life." i believe the helmet is connected to our path. we can choose to wear one or choose not to wear one. some of us are lucky and never get hit. some of us are not so lucky, get hit and are saved by our helmet, our protection.

i got a text this morning from my amazing friend, "the helmet you made me buy saved my life last night. i got hit by a car. im ok. the man got arrested for dwi."

this confirms my belief even more. i have my helmet in my closet for when i choose to start riding a bike... but for now, i walk. and i hope i walk in the right direction. a direction where i listen to myself and always follow my beliefs. even if i look like a major dork in my helmet.

ashtanga anniversary and pineapples galore!

i remember my first class...

 i had bought my two week unlimited pass for yoga works in orange county and was dabbling with all kinds of yoga at the costa mesa and huntington beach studios. i tried iyengar (twice!), some vinyasa flows, a restorative, kundalini (multiple times, but i just couldn't hack it!) and finally, the last class i decided to try before my trial pass was up was an ashtanga led primary class taught by suzy gill. since the name ashtanga was something i had never heard of, i decided to do a little research before heading over to costa mesa to try it at 7am on a sunday. i found videos on you tube but not a whole lot of information on what i would be getting myself into. 

i remember going into the room. suzy gill was practicing on the mat next to me. i kind of had a feeling she was the teacher, but i wasn't sure. there were fresh flowers in the room, some candles. a very nice atmosphere to practice yoga. the room filled up with a ton of people. i really didn't know what i was getting myself into. suzy counted in sanskrit and it resonated in me. even though i didn't know all the names of the poses, many of them were familiar once i was in them. i looked across the room at people when i didn't know what bhujapidasana was. the led class was hard, but i could handle it. for some reason i decided that this was it. this was the yogasana that i had been looking for. i had been on a asana journey for a few years. dabbling in hatha, obsessing in bikram, trying a fake bikram and finally making my way to yoga works and finding ashtanga. i'm glad it was the last class i tried there because i knew that i had tried every kind of yoga there was... and ashtanga was it. 

i don't remember much else about my first class. but i do remember wanting to go back and do it again. i kept taking led classes on saturdays (with rachel) and sundays (with suzy) while doing my work study with yoga works huntington beach. i learned a lot from both of these women. rachel held me up in my first headstand. suzy would come over and make sure i wasn't causing any trouble on the mat. i still remember her telling me to put my palm down on the ground and relax my head in ardha baddha padmottanasana. 

i remember seeing mysore listed on the website, but not fully understanding what it was. i did a little research and decided i couldn't do mysore style because i hadn't memorized the sequence. i also was scared out of my mind.  i do regret not starting mysore earlier, but i found an amazing studio here in philly and have an awesome teacher who started me on a fantastic mysore journey. 

it's been a year since i found ashtanga and i wanted to thank everyone who has influenced me, or taught me, or listened to me talk about asana and what not.

i also had a tradition of buying a pineapple on fridays, cutting it up, putting it into tupperware and into the fridge. it was my yoga pineapple. i would eat it after led classes on the weekend. it's been a while since the pineapple, so i bought some cut up pineapple tonight to celebrate my journey. 

happy 1 year ashtanga!

what am i excited for?

my sister graduating college next weekend! (yay! she's all grown up!)

ashtanga yoga workshop: foundations first with jill on jan 31st/feb 1. (need to sign up for this!)

eddie's led class in nyc on jan 18th! (paid for!)

a week of mysore and a led class with david in march! (deposit down..)

rolling in garbha p! (working on it!)

bringing in the new year right.

this week was full of asana practice. sunday mysore. monday mysore and vinyasa. tuesday mysore. wednesday mysore. thursday vinyasa. friday mysore. i also "taught" a little on monday and tuesday.

i am sore, but in a very rewarding way. 

i went to wake up yoga on new years day and got to practice with an amazing teacher, jill manning, and a very welcoming and warm community. there were a bunch of folks from y2 there and it felt very good to connect to them in a different studio/atmosphere. wake up yoga fairmount was super adorable. i like that there is no front desk or waiting room. you walk in and you're in it! in it to win it! i've never seen a studio set up this way and i think i love it. :)

jill played her harmonium while we chanted and that was also a treat! sooo fun. 

today i opened up y2 for a freestyle mysore practice because jill is sick. (feel better!) 5 of us practiced together with no teacher.. it was very quiet and quite beautiful. i think practicing on your own is hard... but with other yogi's... the energy picks up a bit and it's somewhat easier. 

i did try and roll in garbha p. didn't make it all the way around... working on it... "round things roll!!!" i kept saying this in my head after hearing jill say that during wednesday mysore. 

been doing a lot of backbending this week. i feel open. 

i also feel tired. now i must take rest.