100 things.

I was reading Prescribing Yoga recently and linked through to Minimalist Muscle's blog and I found the 100 things project. (It's worth googling.)

I have this thing for minimalism. Although, I am not a complete minimalist, I'm a minimalist at heart. I have been googling '100 things' all night long. I've been reading people's lists and their rules. I find this project fascinating.

So I decided to start getting rid of stuff. and more stuff. I have a big pile of stuff if you want it.. I definitely don't have 100 things.. I have more. I can't count yet.. But I've made some rules for myself to start.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Amanda's 100 things rules and regulations which are bendable and breakable...

-shared stuff between me and asher and morgan doesn't count. (includes bed, sofas, dishes, appliances.)
-dogs + ferret and their stuff doesn't count towards 100 things.
-shoes are considered 1 item for now. They are in a storage container and are therefore 'contained in one space' so that equals 1 item.. I have probably around 15 pairs of shoes (includes winter boots, sexy boots, 1 pair of flipflops, 1 running/fast paced walking shoe, leisure shoes, etc..)
-underwear= 1 item
-socks= 1 item (i have numerous amounts of socks and underwear and plan on reducing the size to probably 14 pairs of each?)
-work clothes for dmitri's is 1 item, it's all in one pile and it's stuff i'll get rid of eventually with time.
-yoga clothes, 1 drawer full = 1 item. I've got the drawer down to a minimum of stuff i definitely wear. Since I practice around 6 times a week.. I definitely want to have 6 yoga outfits for the week and can wash the stuff on saturday or a moon day.
-books- got my stacks down to 10 yoga books, 10 or so books i love and can't part with and a stack of yoga research+journals that i refer back to.


1. laptop+charger+protective case
2. cellphone+charger
3. yoga mat (1 @ home, 1 @ studio)
4. shoes (1 container full)
5. underwear+ bras
6. socks
7. work clothes
8. yoga clothes
9. bike+lock
10. wallet
11. keys
12. red spring jacket
13. lululemon lightweight jacket
14. black down coat for winter
15. puffy vest for in between weather
16. digital camera+it's parts
17. holga camera
18. ipod
19. sleeping bag for travel
20. makeup (for special occasions and work)
21. hair straightener
22. neti pot+salt
23. drybrush+sesame oil
24. toothbrush+floss+paste
25. deodorant
26. chrome bike back pack
27. yellow strand pigeon bag
28. fabric horse biker's belt
29. blue+red bird bag I made in california
30. books
31. jewerly (minimum of stuff, can't decide if i want to break this section down yet.)
31. yogi toes
32. bandanas (5 or so, I use them as snot rags and sometimes for yoga when i'm sweating.)
33.

I am not in the mood to count up all my clothes tonight. (I had a beer and I'm kind of tired..)
Hopefully this will be a continuing project and I will update more as I get more done.

Rules about clothes: Can only keep stuff I am currently wearing.. drawer's must not overflow. that's it for now.

Could you live with 100 personal things?

10 things that make me happy right now.

1. random tea room & curiosity shop.
2. ashtanga yoga, mysore style. it's the best.
3. afternoon, dream-filled naps.
4. handmade jewerly
5. my cousin's wedding this saturday!
6. the orchid asher bought me today.
7. acro yoga!
8. bike riding as a way of commuting around town.
9. my eyebrows growing back in. they are getting nice and full and juicy. love them. bringing bushy eyebrows back.
10. jumping through from down dog to dandasana with much more ease, less effort.

so i guess this means i'm a yoga teacher.

Last night we had our final celebration for yoga teacher training.

It was a fabulous time.

It was part pot-luck, part gift exchange. part sadness, part joyful.

This photo is of me rocking the bindi and my new tshirt from my friend Flea.

We all gave presents. It was really great.

I'm happy to be done, but sad to not have a weekly meeting time with all these fabulous yogis.

Now... onto the real world.

Judaism to Yoga and back again.

I've struggle with being a Jew for a very long time.

I was raised Jewish, but there have been times in my life where I needed to stray from the teachings of Judaica in order to explore my life a little bit more.

After many years of exploring, I want to return to my Jewish roots.

There have been many moments where teachings of yoga has lead me back to teachings of Judaism.

So, I'm at a point where I love my yoga practice and I love the spiritual side that yoga has to offer.
But I also like Judaism and that's my religion. Yoga is not a religion for me. It might be for some? I do not know the answer.

I am devoting my life to being a Jewish Yoga Practitioner.

Not a Yogi who does Jew.

But a Jew who does yoga.

I feel really good about this. I'm getting back on track.
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"Gadol k'vod habriyot - Great is the value of human dignity." - Talmud

Saraswati.

सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यं वरदे कामरूपिणि ।
विद्यारम्भं करिष्यामि सिद्धिर्भवतु मे सदा ॥

saraswati namastubhyam varade kamaroopini ।
vidyarambham karishyaami, siddhirbhavatu me sada ॥

O Saraswati, I bow to you, the giver of boons and the giver of form to desire. As I begin my studies, may success always be mine.

10 things that make me happy right now.

1. AIR CONDITIONING.

2. the fact that the northern liberties piazza hosted the equality forum party yesterday and the neighborhood was flooded with so many fabulous GLBT folk & allies.

3. my dogs snoozing on a bed together, so sweet.

4. month of mysore, month of may. bring it on!

5. ashtanga yoga, primary series. serious love.

6. being employed and still having time free during my days and nights to play. life is good.

7. passing my final graded yoga class for teacher training on saturday. f-yeah!

8. yoga teacher training party on friday night, yay yay yay!

9. v neck tshirt, cut off jean shorts and frye engineer boots. all together, on a daily basis.

10. walking in the warm rain this morning.

i did it!

I taught my final graded yoga class for teacher training today! The room was full of teachers, teacher trainees, friends and some strangers. It was amazing energy. So glad to be finally done with this and to move onto actually teaching yoga.

I'm so stoked.

Seriously. Stoked.