Yogi Samantha

This has been a really awesome week. I have had a couple of firsts this week.

I did head stand without the use of the wall. Scary but worth it.

I taught a class last night with no notes at all! I had written up a class but ditched it at the last minute and taught on the fly!

Plus starting next week I will have 4 more classes to teach! Woohoo! Things are going great!

EeeeeeeK! The stinking mice are back! Or we didn’t actually get them all anyway. Stinking mice! I found mouse droppings in my dishwasher and the floor of my pantry. I thought I heard something last night too. I thought we got them all! This stinks. I thought I got rid of all the food sources. Now I am afraid they had time to make a bunch of babies. Oh yucky! Any suggestions on how to get rid of the suckers. I am open to almost anything. I still do not want to kill or toucher them, just get them the heck out my house!

Okay, I am going to rant here a little. I just spent the day shopping for clothes. I came home with nada! Usually when I shop I do not have such bad luck. But, I have a question, why is the lighting in dressing rooms so bad? I feel like I never look worse than when I am trying on clothes. It is already difficult to find clothes with out the dressing room making me look like the bride of Frankenstein. If I owned a clothing store I would invest a good chunk on my budget on the dressing room. They should look nice, and clean, the lighting should be flattering, and the mirrors should make you look thinner. Imagine how many more clothes these stores would sell.

The movie Wanted is truly about this very concept, instantaneous transformation. It reminds me that in life that is how change truly happens. You have to believe it is possible (or be shown it is possible) and then you act in that way. Often the new idea completely contradicts with the way your life has been going so far. We see this happen all the time without our full consent (at least we do not see it that way). We lose our job, we lose a spouse through death or divorce, or we have to move out of our home. Then we are forced to adjust to those changes. We can also make those changes happen. We can choose to change our lives drastically if we want to.

In truth these changes cause pain. It is a fact, pain is inherit in life, as Buddha says. The reason we often find ourselves in ruts is not that there isn’t pain there, there is, it is that we become numb to the pain or we are doing something in that rut to numb pain. In order to change we need to be open to feeling at least some amount of pain. Otherwise we will retreat back to the numbness of old routines and old lifestyle choices. We are just running from pain.

The fact that pain is such a deterrent to change is the reason instantaneous, large life changing events are so powerful. Often these big events give us the opportunity to become who we want to become. We can fall victim to these events, rise to these events or even cause these events. You decide to change your life!

Isn’t this picture amazing. This yoga class was staged on the beach at the border fence between the United States and Mexico. Talk about a statement. How stupid are borders? We are just people. Ideally we should all be able to live where we want to. Papers, borders, fences, race, or religion should not dictate that. It is just like humans to put up obstacles that are completely unnecessary just for more stuff to do. My hope is that we finally begin to see that we (people) are all really the same. We want the same things. We all love our families, want security, love and a full life. How can we help each other get that? I know one thing, it is not by putting up fences!

Today on the news I saw a segment on Nightly News. With the rise of foreclosures a lot of animals are having to be given up. So if you can adopt a dog, do. They are so great and they show so much love. I also want to make the case for adult dogs. Often people want a puppy but, we have almost exclusively adopted adult dogs and they are fabulous. They are often potty trained, some know tricks, and they are less likely to chew up your furniture. If you are worried you won’t bond with them like you would a puppy, think again. All my dogs are sweet, loving, cuddly and absolutely wonderful. I would definately take more dogs to aid in the current crisis but I have 4 dogs (2 big, 1 meduim, and 1 small) and a pretty small yard so, we are pretty full.

So if you have room in your home and your heart adopt a dog, a cat, or another animal that needs a home. I promise you it will pay you back more than you can even imagine. The picture is of one of my dogs. We adopted her from a local shelter.

It is amazing but today I got a deep tissue massage today. It has had an amazing effect on my hamstring injury. I can reach my toes! It is why when practicing yoga it is always a good to, from time to time, get a massage. It will really help your practice. I already feel night and day better. I am going to have to go back weekly for a couple of more weeks but, I really should have made my way there sooner!

I know we are all feeling the pinch. I own a Prius and I am definitely feeling it. I know that most people have heard that gas is more expensive everywhere else in the world, so do not feel so bad and it is true. This is forcing them to to conserve. It is forcing them to come up with alternative ways of getting around. Now that is happening here were I live. In commuter heavy, traffic riddle (can not get along with out a car) Phoenix I am seeing more and more people riding around on mopeds, bikes and electric cars. We are thinking about how to conserve. In the long run the less the US and its people is dependent on any oil the better.

The thing is, if somehow we were able to make the price of gas come down, we would all just breath a sigh of relief and forget the important thing at hand. We need to quit nursing the teet of oil and find alternatives to getting around. Oil will not be around forever.

Here are some examples-

Brazil is doing it! The first organic plastic- awesome!

Sweden to become the first Oil Free state. So Sweden is doing it!

I call that Arizona becomes the first oil free state! Wow, now if the sprawling suburbanites of Phoenix could pull that off, the rest of the world would have no excuse at all, that is for sure. What do you say McCain, and Mayor Nepolitino- I know that we could do it- do you?

Lately, I feel that my life is out of control. Not really my family, not my career, and not my schedule even. It is me, my body, my face and my hip. I am out of control. I am breaking down. I am not sure why. I just am. I realize that I am the one who can fix this. I am the one who can take control and do more than I am now. I am working it out, I am taking control here and now.

Last night, in my teacher training, we experienced a musical meditation. I realized that I already do this. Sometimes when I clean my room I turn up the music and dance and clean. It puts me in a happy euphoric state. My mind clears and I am truly having a great time. This also happens when I am walking. I realized that I was making meditation harder than it actually is. I was in my mind I complicated meditation. What is important is that I do what ever meditation works for me every day so that I can reap the possible benefits. I just need to trust the method.

Truly, anything that occupies the monkey mind so that you can see the I am in yourself is all you need.