Yoginis on ice.

The Yogis and Yoginis at Sanctuary are a fairly rockin bunch!!  

This weekend I had the total pleasure of overhearing someone at the studio asking another person how her trip to Mexico went and the answer was, "something, something, tequila - lots of tequila".  David Williams once referred to this sort of person as a "soul yogi".  The meaning of this did not immediately sink in since I had just drug myself out of bed to pick him up before class reeking of cigarettes and bed head after being out at The Fest with my cousin (I have to qualify that I neither smoke nor drink, the smell was a side affect of a great night of music not terminal coolness).  However, later on when the fog cleared I let him know that Gainesville must be Soul Yogi heaven, because most of the folks around here are mostly enjoying, even meandering, down the path to enlightenment.  I mean, why hurry?  There is so much to do and experience along the way.   

So, I love getting updates on the wild adventures of the soul yogis who practice at Sanctuary, and here are a couple who are enjoying the path.   This is the particularly adventurous (aka, crazy) yogini, Jodi, on her first ice climb:

I thought this shot was incredibly cool, but then there is this one:

She left for Alaska a couple weeks ago trying to figure out how she was going to fit all of her camping equipment, clothing, and enough wine into her luggage (these items were not listed in order of importance),  and in between hiking, kayaking, sea lions, and puffins she managed to fit in conquering her fear of heights by climbing up the side of a glacier.  An unplanned moment of sheer tapas from which she could enjoy a taste of samadhi.  Followed, of course, by a glass of wine!

You might also enjoy Ali's blog.  She is a Sanctuary expat currently living in Thailand, posting some great photos, and writing about it beautifully!

Another true soul yogi and amazing teacher, Tzahi Moskovitz, came this week for the YogaWorks teacher training open house.  It was an amazing time and we are truly blessed to have a teacher with such a depth of knowledge and lightness of heart.  I have a strong feeling that he will fit incredibly well with our tequila drinking, glacier climbing, music loving, seeking,  soulful bunch.

Far Away.......

We are now in the full swing of summer and going by the number of "out of office" replies I've been getting lately we are enjoying some important time away.   I've also gotten several questions concerning how to maintain a practice on holiday.  The simple answer is to just keep doing it!!!  Worst case scenario (which is not so bad) just enjoy some sun salutations.  I've done salutations in parks, beaches, boats, planes, airports, and hotels while in transit and the best part is that there is a freedom to traveling that hangs on a "who the hell knows me here" attitude that can really be liberating.  There is also the exciting possibility that with yoga's popularity there are studio's just about everywhere, and google will find one for you.  You might even be able to ask your gps in a real emergency.  There are also a bunch of yoga podcasts.  Yep.  Yoga classes anytime and anywhere.  Great ones too.  Check out www.yogajournal.com    ,  itunes,  and my personal favorite: www.yogichocolate.com

 

You could even get a little crazy and sequence your own practice!!!!  This is my little bug and I working hard at sandcastleasana.

Eating locally, and Charlie; the fastest chicken

Ok, so I am way overdo for a worthwhile post, but bare with me, its been a crazy month.  

I'm a big believer in the "dollar" vote.  I feel that where I spend my money is a reflection of my moral, political, and sometimes even spiritual view

s.  With this in mind I do my best to be a responsible informed voter.  That being said, let me step off of my high horse and be honest enough to point out that many of my dollar votes have gone to adorable frocks made in Thailand or china where I would much prefer to stay ignorant about working conditions or how many miles the chemically grown cotton was shipped to be cut, sewn, and shipped back.  This is definitely a journey of awareness, and doing my best by always getting better.  Sometimes this is hard and requires a good look at my wants vs. actual needs.  Anyone who has seen the pile of shoes in my closet would know that my wants put on a great argument, but there is an easy place to start with contributing to local economy, using less oil, and lessen my abuses of people who would probably love to have abundant shoe guilt as a life problem.  Eat locally.  In Gainesville, its actually pretty easy.  We are so blessed with a great climate, small farms, and more farmer's markets than I can count.  You can really get anything here including meat, dairy, and poultry and here is a great link to find all of these things: www.localharvest.org  Again, I'll be honest Annie's Mac and cheese will always be a staple in my pantry, but lately I'm finding that my eating locally has transcended reading origin labels at the grocery and taken me on some great adventures at our local farms.  

Even better than eating locally, is the satisfaction of growing it yourself, and a couple of weeks ago Bonnie had one of the coolest ideas EVER.  On the west side of Sanctuary is some open space that could become our community garden.  If you are interested in participating e-mail( melissa@yogagainesville.com ) me so we can get a meeting going to make this a possibility. 

 

This is Charlie; the fastest chicken.  She began as an eat really local experiment, so I could have eggs right in my back yard, and lately  I've been totally preoccupied with building her what my husband and I call the "super coop" with a green roof, a rose arbor, and recycled heart pine sidding.  She was a discriminating Chicken who preferred a modern sensibility.  She was also my "heart chicken", and she passed away last night.  At the risk of sounding tragically southern and a bit crazy, I was totally in love with this chicken, and I'm pretty sure she loved me to.  She taught me a lot about chickens and totally reinforced the concept living with purpose and the importance of cultivating positive relationships.  Namaste Charlie!!!

ps.  Tonight we are going to work on balancing poses.  This girl never passed up a good perch.