No One Enters A Yoga Studio With Shoes On

Woke up softly then chilled out at home until it was time to depart for an 11:00 a.m. Zumba class. After class, proceeded to a place where I got a smoothie then headed home to take a shower before going to a three hour yoga workshop.

The workshop, with Doug Keller, was about pranayama and yoga nidra.  We practiced the bee-breathing technique (among others) and it was "group"powerful. During the final yoga nidra, I woke myself up with my snoring and, as I put my yoga props away, I got really puzzled about where my shoes were until I realized that, duh, no one enters a yoga studio with shoes on. I definitely had a yoga buzz going on.

Prop-alicious

As people gathered by the door, someone mentioned Lululemon and I got annoyed because I wonder about the sadist who came up with leggings. I also don't see myself buying a $100 dollar pair of leggings or pants. Someone else mentioned K-Deer  which also has similarly priced clothing.

Maybe I was annoyed because I don't see myself fitting into leggings anytime soon. Someone said that this well known plus-size yoga teacher wears leggings -- which still does not make me want to put my thick thighs in a pair. The person also mentioned the need for performance clothes when practicing yoga and, to them, Lululemon fits the bill.

Guess that I shouldn't judge Lululemon since I've never owned anything from there. Maybe their clothes are amazing and it just feels like a status symbol to me.

One of the yoga teachers saw that I was about to gather more steam and she said Yeah, it's totally about what makes you feel comfortable. 

When Parched

I miss Salzberg's Meditation Challenge and had I known that lessons would remain active for a month or so, I would have not deleted most of them.

We take an intentional posture... Lesson #21

For the peeps (meaning Gingerzingi) who are missing the meditation challenge, here's a lovely one...

Went climbing on Wednesday and Patti told me that she needed to do more stretching and was looking to take up yoga again but wondered if her husband would join her. Patti did say that her daughter told her: He climbs because of you. He swims because of you and he bikes because of you. He'll do yoga too. Her daughter's words made my heart melt.

On Thursday I went to Gloria's again and we roasted fennel, beets and carrots according to a recipe in Thug Kitchen 101. I excused myself to go to the bathroom at one point when I heard a noise so weird that I reversed my direction and called out to Gloria to see if everything was okay. The verdict?

The oven door had shattered into hundreds of little pieces. Gloria calmly sent me back in the direction that I had gone. When I returned, she said I'm glad that I do yoga then we cleaned up the mess. I've only heard of shower doors shattering like that. Prior to going upstairs, I had been sitting right by the stove.

I'm getting better at making decisions and not second-guessing a situation. For example, one of my Zumba teachers forgot his water bottle. At the end of a routine, he encouraged people to grab water then said but he wouldn't be able to because, wahhhh, he had left his water bottle.

At first I discussed "the situation" a bit with a friend and she belongs to the same tentative club that I do but then I thought about how much I enjoy this teacher's class and how nice he is and so what if class was almost over with; I went and got the water, a small act for a teacher who is not leading Zumba classes for the money... I also know how it is when you start a workout and your water is, say, in the car. It's no fun to push when parched.

Repost from @lilycushman108 - It's still unbelievable to me that over 20K people participated in the challenge this month. Such a beautiful community that I'm honored to be a part of. All made possible by the magnitude of @sharonsalzberg and her continuous dedication for so many years. ♥️ Huge thanks to "Team Sharon" for working so hard behind the scenes to make things run smoothly all month long. 🤓 Special thanks to our co-teachers @lodrorinzler @kimberlyjbrown @ethannichtern @sebeneselassie and our hosts all month @mndflmeditation @nalandabodhi @theinterdependenceproject @shambhalanyc @brooklynyogaschool @newyorkinsight 😇 #commit2sit #realhappiness

A post shared by Sharon Salzberg (@sharonsalzberg) on Feb 28, 2017 at 10:40pm PST

What Yoga Is For

The 'Fugee is out of the country and I usually spend Friday nights with her. Had plans to cut the grass, clean out the fish tank or go to Trader Joe's which would have eliminated the need for a Saturday trip. Instead, I crashed. Woke up around the time that Hawaii Five-0 came on and was surprised by the volume of  violence but immediately understood why my aunt Al likes the show...

The human body is amazing, duh. My hand abrasion is still rough but has closed. My leg bruise, which I'd start referring to as a planet, is fading.

Went on a Yoga Buzz field trip this morning to Eckert's. Although a bit chilly, the weather was great and practice was beautiful.

This woman next to me told a kid that Yoga is just to help you relax. Elle talked about our practice being a celebration of bounty. She had me cracking up before practice when she tried to get people to move closer -- There's like three acres up here she said. Elle was also pretty funny during practice.

We got a cone of custard after yoga then went on wagons to pick strawberries. I have a whole new appreciation for people who pick food and my container was small so I didn't pick a lot.

Alison's Son Fascinated by the Camels

The Pickers

Leg Bruise/Planet

Obligatory Pic from Field Trip

Like A Stranded Turtle

Started singing "Neither One Of Us" in the shower earlier in the day. Guess that I don't want to be the first to say goodbye to my little staycation...

This morning thought about how this woman walked up to the hoola hoop area last night at a yoga event and told me that I needed to stick my butt out and she calmly proceeded to hoop it up effortlessly.

Hadn't hoola hooped in a while and I guess it's not like riding a bicycle.

The yoga event at Union Station was special. It was a fundraiser (for veterans of war) and a yogapalooza of sorts.

Another Yoga Buddy, Tammy, Checking Our Surf Fitness

The Hoops

As I checked photos on Instagram, I spotted several photos of myself including one that had me cracking up.

There was live music -- a reggae band -- and once the music started, it was hard to hear Elle so the instructions kind of floated around which is why I'm going to say that I look, in Alison's word, like a stranded turtle.

A Muddy Shoes Production

Love A Big Top

Went to Circus Flora last night with the 'Fugee, the other 'Fugee and a staunch supporter of 'Fugees.

The show, from begging to end, was delightful. I really enjoyed the trained cats and immediately thought of Gingerzingi.

Went to a Farm to Yoga event today. Got up to check Yoga Buzz's Twitter feed and, despite early morning rain, the event was on.

Left the house with not a minute to spare and, of course, a huge chunk of the highway was closed. When I hit Ferguson, I slowed down and called Alison who told me that everything was fine. I was only five minutes after the fact and figured that I could catch up if they had started touring. Later on Alison told that she thought about the possibility of me getting pulled over...

Of course someone arrived at the farm at the same time that I did and we were not the last ones to arrive. Plus, the start was delayed because preparations had to be made for us to practice yoga out of the elements.

Farm to Yoga was such a special event and I learned a lot. Love Molly Rockamann's EarthDance story. Molly is the one who gave us a tour of the farm. I also love the language of different industries: root zone, predator prevention...

Had no idea that a cover crops existed. Ditto for the role of legumes. As I toured the farm, I thought about my grandfather and great, great, great aunts who used to grow their own food. Some of the apprentices told us about the projects that they're working on. I was so moved by the mud that covered one of the apprentice's hands.

As we stopped by the Garlic Project segment of the farm, we all spotted what looked like white butterflies but they were cabbage moths -- never heard of them.

Liked how Molly told us that nature does not like bare soil -- ergo -- weeds. I also liked it when she said that the more diverse an ecosystem is the more resilient it is, Makes sense.

Molly was surprised to see two dead hens.  She said that the hen house is an ideal environment  and she will have to investigate to see what's going on. Got a little sad thinking that the hens would be dinner at some point but those hens are exclusively for egg production. Molly took that opportunity to tell us that they have a lot of space and how a lot of people deceptively use free range labels.

House Is Bigger Than In Picture

Ruby -- Very Interested In The Residents

I think, at first, Molly wanted to shield us from the dead hens but she went ahead and gave a solid talk about the circle of farm/life. Molly had her well-behaved two-year-old dog, Ruby, on the tour as well. Ruby suddenly became animated around the hen house.

There was also a separate Farm to Yoga event for kids and the kids had us cracking up. When they got near our group, they wanted kisses etc. from their parents. Alison's son refused to make salad dressing because he thought the ingredients were weird but one of the kids was so sweet and shared the dressing that she made.

After touring the farm, we took off our muddy shoes and retrieved our mats. Nathan, our yoga teacher, is also an apprentice at EarthDance so he juxtaposed plant life with mat life.

Our Red Carpet

View During Practice

It got really toasty at one point and Nathan acknowledged how humid it was -- Sometimes people pay extra for this type of atmosphere. So true...

We did earth salutations and, for some reason, I forget how much I enjoy them. Gotta keep that sequence on my radar...

After practicing yoga, we had lunch provided by Whole Foods. The food was "uncomplicated" but so good. And the bread? I should have followed Alison's son's lead. He had the wheat bread with hummus and nothing else. That bread was ridiculously good...

I've been looking for an organization to donate money to and I plan to make a donation to EarthDance. There's so many things to like about the farm including the fact that they employ students from the area.

The Body Starts Telling On You

A new coworker thanked me for my attitude. This person is a bit of a schmoozer but as someone I know once said It doesn't hurt for people to "pretend" to be civilized.

Talked to the new coworker about yoga and she said that it's good that I go because if you don't do things for your body  it starts telling on you.

I wanted to go swimming and to Yoga Buzz's Cinco de Mayo celebration. As soon as the coworker said that about the body, I decided to do yoga. Swimming is relaxing but I'm trying to mix things up a bit and not get stuck on doing the same things on the same day just because that's the way I've done them before.

When Alison expressed interest in going to the Cinco de Mayo(ga), that just sweetened the pot.

It was a really nice yoga session with food and drinks afterward. I kept thinking that it felt like Friday but a good feeling shouldn't be reserved for one day...

Here's a picture of our time in savasana. Not sure who snapped the picture.

What a beautiful night for yoga at @TowerGrovePark! #STL pic.twitter.com/k3sbiXF6vq

— Yoga Buzz (@YogaBuzzSTL) May 6, 2015

Boss Me About

It's my third straight day of yoga and I can't help but think of Gingerzingi and her recent stare down with it.

Went to the Earth Day Festival yesterday and it was like a yogi's paradise with classes starting at 11 until 5. The space, close to the Muny's main stage, was beautiful and aptly named the Yoga Buzz Zen Den. The weather was perfect.

The Zen Den

Earth Day Weather

I had planned to attend two classes with Alison and asked her which combination of classed looked good to her. Just boss me about Alison finally wrote so I made the call only to miss the first class because I underestimated how may people would be at the festival and had a 20 minute walk to get to the Zen Den.

I arrived about five minutes after class started and debated about whether or not to go in. It wasn't a studio but still. Hit the Kindle ap on my iPod and picked back up on Open Your Heart. So I read about yoga while I waited for yoga.

What I Was Not Doing, Acro Yoga, While I Waited

Cursed many times during practice tonight. Did strength training days ago and my armpits are still tender. Chatu who? I struggled and felt a tinge of regret for not staying at home.

After savasana Joy started talking the talk. You are you. You are uniquely you. You matter... And about yoga: Head stand is not the goal. Serenity is the goal. Balance is the goal. It was exactly what I needed to hear.

Other Clovers

Yesterday was my 15th anniversary at work. Of course, I didn't spend all 5,475 days behind my desk since I only worked the occasional Saturday. Plus, I got days off for good behavior.

The 'Fugee got me a bouquet as did the Spanish-speaking cleaner. I also got a gift  bag with Chobani, a mango and blueberries.

It's been even busier at work than it usually is but I often joke that I have a 12th man so even when it's supremely hectic, I feel like I have key people on my side. Still, my soul looks back in wonder. I remember a note that a former colleague wrote -- What some people do and still stay sane...

My 15th anniversary didn't go as smoothly as I would have liked for it to have gone. It was as if it was someone's mission to sabotage the occasion but as someone told me on Friday: This too shall pass.

Got up this morning and went to a health festival. Hit the 10:00 a.m. yoga class led by Yoga Buzz. YB a.k.a. Elle does a lot of events at breweries. She's reaching out to people who might not come to a traditional yoga class and she often mentions accessibility and there's nothing more that I love than accessible yoga.

We practiced with Motown in the background and I found a four-leaf clover right in front of my mat. I even pushed aside other clovers just to make sure that I wasn't seeing what I wanted to see.