london calling. inhale. exhale.

this morning i rode my bike over to wakeup fairmount for the first time. it took me 15 minutes. i got their really really early. so i read my book in the shade and got to listen to jake teach his class. sounds like a fun class. i will have to check it out sometime soon-ish. went to jill's 10am class. packed house. lots of familiar faces. it's nice to see the regulars! i guess i'm becoming a regular on saturday mornings. i'd like to be at wakeup more often... hmmm.

take one step toward the point and the point will take 10 steps to you.

i have shin splints. i rode my bike 6.5 miles today. to wake up to yoga squared to home.

i also did rock and roll mysore with a few others at yoga squared. we all practiced to the clash. i did a shortened mysore practice because i already practiced today. i played with handstands. i played with trying to stand up from a backbend. we will try to do rock and roll mysore again sometime. depending on space. and people. we'll figure it out.

i'm just rambling. drinking a honey moon (by blue moon) in bed. i'm tired and will be sleeping in approximately 20 minutes or so. give or take.

jill had a going away party/buy mike's art party tonight. lots of familiar faces. good food. yummy sangria. got to mingle. meet new people. pet doggies. take fuji-style polaroids. i only stayed for 2 hours. perfect amount of time i think. if i stayed any longer, i probably would've drank more and made a fool of myself. ha! that's my secret to leaving the room with a little dignity... not drinking too much and leaving before you get outta control! :) i was very well behaved tonight.

i hope to make it to david g's led tomorrow. we shall see. i'm not setting my alarm. i'm going to see if my internal alarm will wake me up on time like it has for the past week. seriously. my internal alarm is on a roll.

good night moon. honey moon.

the way we get by.

tonight, asher and i packed all of our books. well, it was mostly me. i'm good at it. he kept me motivated though. we organized lots of junk. got rid of stuff. i just finished packing two more boxes of kitchen stuff. our apartment is getting emptier by the minute.

now i must take sleep.

i blogged 4 times today? i must've been lonely or something. or i only worked like 3 hours.

i faxed my lease to the rental place today.

we're moving to no. libs. it was either that or south philly. south philly lost. oh well.

waiting for boxes outside the pita pit

in the alley outside the pita pit. i love a skull on a cellie taken with my cellular device.

ps.

i need a digital camera bad! the one asher gave me, which was hella old, broke... so i've been taking photos with my computer of myself and my beasts... which is alright. i've been taking pics with my phone, which is alright but i miss having a camera to put into my bag. i have the holga loaded with film. but in this day and age, i need instant photos for blogging purposes and facebook.

ok . just putting that out into the universe. digital camera.digital camera.digital camera.digital camera.digital camera.digital camera.digital camera.digital camera.digital camera.digital camera.digital camera.digital camera.digital camera.digital camera.digital camera.digital camera.digital camera.digital camera.digital camera.digital camera.digital camera.digital camera.digital camera.digital camera.digital camera.

into the universe... (maybe i will save up for one when i'm done moving in august??)

i kissed the buddha and made him cry.

liz phair. repeat. repeat. repeat.

i find myself listening to the album "whip smart" whenever i'm feeling a little down.

i'm sad that jill-ji is leaving so soon. i feel like i'm losing a major part of my philly life. jill is not just a teacher to me, she is my mentor. my friend. my pal.

for the past 3 years or so, i've moved every year. santa cruz. huntington beach. baltimore.

philly.

philly.

philly.

i thought about fleeing. running. getting out of town. that's what we do. every year. asher and i have been on the run. like fugitives. rebels without a cause.

i'm happy to be staying here another year. i feel like it's a good thing. i'm scared of another winter. if i can't handle it, we're out of here at the end of next summer. i'm making good friends through my yoga community. i have some friends from college here and i'm meeting all their friends. this is good. i haven't had good friends in any of the towns i've lived in these past few years. i mean, i had some people who i hung with. but it didn't feel like how it feels now. i have some great friends, best friends, they are all scattered all over the country. so it's nice to be making such good connections in this city.

anyway, i just feel sad. i will treasure these next few weeks of yoga with jill on fridays and saturdays. and whatever else we can do before then. coffee? lunch? who knows. gotta live in the present and just eat these moments up.

AYRI Day 2.

Field Notes on YR (yoga research):

AKB enjoys sleeping from 11pm until 7am (or later) and then riding her bike straight to work. She also slept really well after taking a night class on Monday evening. She expects to sleep well again tonight, as she went to another evening class today. Two days with no mysore and she is still mentally alive and well. Physically she is sore is different places, which is refreshing and rejuvenating.

--------

Today I went to Corina's "Harmonizing Vinyasa," at 6pm in West Philly. I rode my bike from Center City to West Philly. I was insanely sweaty when I got to class, but I had ten minutes to change and relax on the mat a little. This class was a little less intense from the Vigorous Vinyasa yesterday, but I still got just as sweaty and had a very fun time. I even got to be a demonstrator on how to use a strap for bow pose. James (a yoga friend from the "old days") was in class. I love the West Philly space. It's more open than the Fairmount location. I love both though. Different but Equal. :)

I'm noticing how much I enjoy sleeping in during the week. If you count sleeping til 7, sleeping in.... Anyway, I love my Astanga practice. I seriously love it. Like I'd marry it, for better or for worse. Ya know what I mean? I think I could practice at night all the time. So I'm considering not going to mysore practice in the mornings anymore. Working with an 18 month old boy drains my energy so much and I need all the sleep I can get. I'm realizing how ridiculous it's been for me to be practicing at 6am and going to work from 8 to 530 everyday. I haven't needed to take a nap today or yesterday at 11am, since I've skipped the AM practice. So I will figure this all out. Something's gotta give. I guess I could go to bed earlier, but I don't see that happening right now. I'm enjoying my evenings with my loverboy.

Anyway, I also love Vinyasa classes when it's taught by great teachers such as Jill or Corina. There have been other's but those are the two I'm enjoying these days. I'm sure i'll find other teachers that impress me, but I just started this exploration, so it might take me a while to find my other Vinyasa teachers.

I was going to go to Corina's class tomorrow, but I would totally have to rush from work, so I think I'm going to pass. Instead, I'm going to sleep in, skip mysore again... and go to Acro Yoga with Justicia at Dhyana Yoga West Philly. Actually Justicia is another teacher whose Vinyasa class I greatly enjoy. Also, Jessica Puma at Dhyana is amazingly sweet and has very fun Vinyasa classes. Just haven't been to either of their classes in a while.. So, I will go to Acro and see some of my buddies tomorrow night. The plan is to take off on Thursday. Give my body a rest. I've been going strong since Friday. (friday, saturday, sunday, monday, tuesday, wednesday..wow!)

So Thursday off. Friday 6:30 led Primary with Jill-ji! Saturday Vinyasa with Jill-ji! then also open practice at y2 for rock and roll mysore. So I'll practice twice on Saturday... my second practice will be just exploring. Definitely not a full practice. More like practicing jumping back, maybe some handstands... whatever I want to do!

Um. Yeah. I got two classes with Corina this week. I will take two more with her next week, probably Monday and Tuesday again. Then I will decide if I want to do Wake Up Yoga's TT.

That's all folks for now.

AYRI

Amanda's Yoga Research Institute.

Jill says to explore and research, so I'm researching and exploring. Pattabhi Jois opened the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute to spread the Ashtanga Love. My research institute is really just for me and maybe some reader's.

So. Hmmmm. So. Yeah. I participated in a yoga teacher training that I did not enjoy. I will not speak slander on the program or the teachers. I enjoyed my yoga colleagues, I enjoyed many of my teachers, but I did not enjoy the program. That's where I will end on that note.

On a second note, after months and months of self-practice, self-reflection, self-actualization... after many talks over coffee, after many thoughts flowing through my mind.. I've decided that I am not done with the want and desire to teach yoga. To spread the yoga love.

Third note, I thought about leaving Philly. Running back to Cali or living in a van, but neither option really seemed like a smart thing to do right now. So I decided to stay here. In the city of brotherly love. I love this brotherly sisterly city. I'm making some amazing friends. I'm enjoying my job... (most of the time.) I love the yoga community I've found here.

So, I have another year here. (I haven't signed a lease yet, but as soon as it's ready, I'll be here at least until October 1, 2010). What am I going to do besides be a nanny and a yoga practitioner for this upcoming year... Well, I think I should go back to yoga school aka teacher training.

There are many options. I want to make the best decision for me. This is the perfect time for me to do this. I have a strong practice under my belt. I'm dedicated to the yoga in all it's glory. I am financially sound. I can pay rent and pay for teacher training and still put food on the table and buy new boots this fall.

I've decided to explore Wakeup Yoga. Their teacher training starts September 2009 and ends May 2010. It's 250 Hours. David Keil teaches the anatomy. Manorama: Sanskrit. They have other adjunct faculty for meditation and chanting. The names escape me right now, but I've heard great things.

One of the pre-requisites for this training is that you take at least ONE class with Corina, the owner of Wake up and the director of the teacher training (TT from now on). I decided that I would not just take ONE class with Corina, but at least 4.

Today was day one. I enjoyed Corina's class very much. It takes me a little while, maybe like half an hour to get out of Ashtanga Head Space/Body Space. I'm so programmed to do the Primary Series that whenever I take a Vinyasa class I always feel confused, except during Jill-ji's because I frequent her classes so I know what to expect. Anyway, after giving myself the space to explore this style of yoga I had a blast. I see the structure of the vinyasa class. I'm no yoga-dummy. I know how the class works. I know that we warm up, we get juicy, we slow down, we close. We did poses I have never worked on but enjoyed none-the-less. Some of them were downright hard!! but!!! what is yoga? (ashtanga) yoga is mind control yoga, essentially all yoga is mind control yoga. In my head, I'm like, "this hurts, but only a few more breaths, you can do it." Mind control. It's all about that. Guruji is right.

I am planning on going to Corina's class tomorrow at 6, then Wednesday at 5:45 (it's her birthday so it should be juicy and fun-filled.) I will blog after each class. I will write my observations. Then next week I plan on taking one of Victoria's classes (she will be assisting in the TT) and one more of Corina's before I fill out my application..

I decided that in order to fully explore Corina's classes, I'm skipping mysore for a few days. I obviously can't do mysore in the mornings, work, then vigorous vinyasa at nights and be able to survive.. I could do it maybe once but I'm not. I'm just taking a break from the mysore practice. I do miss it though. This week is a good week for me to skip the morning practice's because I had to be at work at 7:45 today, 8 tomorrow, probably 7:45 Wed, 8 Thursday.. So it's a little much to get to the mysore and work and be able to function.

Ok. That's it for the AYRI.