Moving to Virginia ... somewhat packed

Just got back from househunting in Harrisonburg, VA. Interesting little town. It essentially comprises JMU students and Mennonites with a small percentage of Mexicans and Central Americans who work in the poultry industry. The downtown is gorgeous, with an old courthouse and town square. The outskirts leave something to be desired. There's been a student population boom, so a lot of prime farmland and beautiful rolling hills have been converted into rental properties stacked on top of each other - no urban planning to speak of: no sidewalks or neighborhood parks. I found our place near downtown, and it looks more navigable for a mom with a toddler and new baby in stroller.
What I love about this town is that (as a friend calls it) it was the bread basket of the Confederacy. The amount and diversity of local, pesticide free food is amazing! The farmers' market does a great business three times a week. Currently, I spend most of my income on good food, and in this place good food is cheap. Polyface Farm (to which Michael Pollan devoted a chapter of his book "Omnivore's Dilemma") is 45 minutes away. It's a local organic CSA (community supported agriculture) that uses revolutionary (read old school) methods of farming.
I'm thinking about following in the footsteps of Texas' own Food Renegade, who actually lives north of Austin in Georgetown, and blogging about learning how to make real food, enjoying the seasons, and figuring out how to slow down life a little bit. It's tempting.
I met with the owner of Shenandoah Yoga. What a sweetheart! We met at a local tea shop to talk about yoga opportunities, and she brought me a container of freshly picked blueberries as a welcome gift. I love yogis. I'm so proud of our community. I promised her some class descriptions, and I may be teaching a beginners series starting in September.
A friend of mine reminded me of something today, she's struggling with a new life in Costa Rica: “The world does not come at us. The world comes from us.”
One of the most challenging and amazing experiences I had was living in Budapest, Hungary - barely able to communicate in the language but still trying. For guidance, I would remember back to the time that I was traveling interior Mexico with an old friend, speaking beautiful Spanish - yet the smiling Aussie who spoke not a word of Spanish was the one who kept guiding us to all the right places. "The locals told us to go here, the locals said this was better." It turns out that he just smiled big, drew pictures, and let his sunshine do just that, shine. He didn't need Spanish to get the job done and make friends.
“The world does not come at us. The world comes from us.”
So excited about this move, because of the challenges and adventures that will make us better people and recognize that in ourselves. They speak English there, so it's not going to be difficult in the same way, but the rules are slightly different in each place, and we're going to have to learn them to evolve.

Life Changes

Wow. Karl just got a job offer to teach at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA. We've decided to take it and move. So amazing that we're actually leaving Austin. I've lived here for 35 years, with some stints in Alaska, Hawaii, overseas. But yes, seriously, 30 years in Austin, all told. It's a one-year gig, so there's a chance that we'll be coming back, but this could be for good. I'm a skosh freaked out.
I think this is my chance to devote myself fulltime to yoga, to my daughter, and to the dystopia that I've always wanted to write. Not sure how that's all going to play out - a little priority setting is in order, but this is my chance.
The 6 a.m. thing seems to be working out. And, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to have to get up even earlier to get some personal writing and practicing time in.
I'm pretty sure this opportunity is the universe speaking to me and telling me to walk my talk.

Spring Cleaning - Still ON!

I fell off the wagon. I'm back on it. I've been thinking lately about yoga and what I take away from it. I'm strong, I'm more in touch with my body, mind, patterns ... more intuitive, patient, confident. There is always a new revelation, maybe not true enlightenment, but something new happens each time. Blah, blah, blah. I can talk up a storm about the changes I see, physical and mental. But the fact is these changes happen when one devotes oneself fully to any assortment of practices. And the fact is these changes can only be experienced to be understood, not talked about. I used to hear the same chorus from heaven when I practiced ballet, painted canvases or rowed a regatta while on the crew team in college. Yoga is just more explicit about how to be a good person as you transcend your chemistry and consciousness. Mystics have for ages used tricks of sleep deprivation, fasting, chemical enhancement, exercise, sweat lodges in order to change their chemistry and focus. They were on a quest to see the universe in italics, bold, underlined, blue light, etc. in order to understand the mystery better. Me, I'm just trying to get up consistently before 6 a.m. Sure, I'm practicing and teaching asanas every day. But right now, my yoga is learning to be an early riser. And, it's mindblowing. Switching gears slightly, there is a debate going on in the Austin yoga community right now about Yoga Journal's contest for its next cover model. A friend of mine, Amy Pancake, has written an open letter to YJ about her disgust for this popularity contest. I sympathize with her somewhat; it's a valid concern. She feels the practice of yoga has been watered down by marketing and adherence to unyogic values such as attachment to nice yoga clothes, appearance, or just the physical practice. And I know that there are a plethora of new teachers out there who know little to nothing about the eight limbs - and may not even want to. Sure there are people who want to look hot in their expensive yoga pants. And there are those who (seem to be) missing the point. Others will only buy a magazine if there is a sexy chick on the cover. She seems to believe that yoga can't withstand these strong yet shallow forces - like a flash flood of sterilized yoga mixed in with American consumerism. But I think it can. The fact is that yoga is just bigger than its asanas. It is discipline and contemplation and action. We are all on different paths of our journey through life, and if the least that you learn is that your body is a temple, so be it. I truly think that once you learn this, you start respecting yourself and then others a little more. The path is longer, rougher, and more meandering for a lot of us, but the work is still happening for any of us who consistently practice. It may happen faster/deeper with a good teacher, but the student must also be ready. And, we need to stop taking ourselves and our yoga so seriously. It's just a tool, a powerful tool, but a tool nonetheless. I like YogaDawg's satire about the vast and varied yoga community. Every once in awhile, I go to that site for a reality check.

Spring Cleaning - Day 4

Wake up at 6 a.m. today? Fuhgeddaboudit. Didn't make a plan the night before, and crashed while putting MoJo to bed. She has an uncanny ability to cast a sleep hex on whoever is tasked with reading her bedtime stories. It's a gift.
Anyway, no one said this was gonna be easy. Habits take a while to form, and I know that I need to plan a little better, with more specifics. I've got a 50 percent success rate so far. And the hubby is on board with helping me get this crazy early morning thing accomplished.
I was reading Christina Sell's blog today. Sweetheart Anusara teacher who has really inspired me in terms of embracing change and pursuing self-evaluation. I particularly love this little gem, "Nope, this shift doesn't happen automatically. It takes yoga of some sort, I think. It takes time. It takes practice. It takes unrelenting persistence in the face of repeated failure to learn how to make use of our discomfort so that the heat yields breakthrough and not breakdown." Amen.

Spring Cleaning - Day 3

I didn't end up practicing early yesterday. I called my friend Noelle to see if she wanted to go with me to Castle Hill and practice Mysore at 6 a.m. She had too much work to get done. She also is trying to get on board again with the early morning practice. We Ashtangis are relentless in our desire to pursue discipline ... not so relentless in our follow-through at the moment. I sort of have an excuse (Don't we always?) in that I taught a 6 a.m. on Tuesday, worked, taught an 11 a.m. and then drove to San Antonio to make a presentation at a conference. Three hours in a car added onto an already packed day. I pretty much collapsed with MoJo after reading her a story and didn't wake up until 8 a.m.
It's still an excuse, though. So I made up for (at least) the lack of practice by taking a 4 p.m. vinyasa class and teaching a prenatal at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
This morning was another story. I had the alarm set for taking Tim's vinyasa at bFree at 6 a.m., and then MoJo barreled into the room at 5 a.m. crying. Not sure if she was having a bad dream or a tantrum or both, but mother's guilt made me stay. I did get a practice in on the living room rug after she had calmed down and had gone back to sleep, though. The hardest thing to do is practice yoga by yourself.
Baby steps.
One of the reasons I think it's hard to practice yoga on one's own is that we humans are pack animals. We love to move, play, learn and sing together. I see evidence of that in my toddler. For the longest time, she would only "go potty" in a group setting. It's one of the reasons why I called Noelle, not because I needed the commitment to another to get my goal accomplished, but because it's more fun when you have a buddy - or lots of them - participating. I just finished reading this book called "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall. I haven't been a runner in a long time. The last time I ran was when I was on the crew team in college. I love to hike, though. This book changed my mind about a lot of things, because he brings in anecdotal examples of ultra-marathoners and then bolsters his theories about the evolution of mankind with some scientific evidence -physiological and anthropological. Many of his points revolved around this thought, that we evolved to run, hunt, walk and rear our children together. We aren't very fast, but we've got the endurance and compiled brainpower to make things happen. The problem is this: We can run at a slow jog for a few days, but if our brains start trying to seek out and eek out efficiencies in our energy output, we need each other to egg us on and talk our individual brains out of their separate desires to economize. This is why a large yoga class will work so hard and get so sweaty, because without a word said, everyone knows they are in it together. When you're by yourself, you end up hanging out in savasana and balasana a lot. They have their benefits, but the energy output is definitely less.

Spring Cleaning - Day 1

Success.
I hestitate to say that getting up to teach today at 5:15 doesn't count. Having to be at the studio, fold all of the clean towels, and get the room warm is not quite the same as crawling out of bed voluntarily and practicing your yoga for yourself. But, the Tuesday morning teaching gig is going to anchor my resolve to do this every day. So it counts, and I feel good. My lord, I've been up for 4 hours already! Actually, I had the strangest sleep pattern last night too. Maybe that big super moon is still affecting my circadian rhythm, but I slept deeply last night and woke up almost every hour feeling completely rested and agog that I had so much more time left to sleep. Strange how the mind starts playing tricks on you. My head feels clear and refreshed, though. I made some nummy chai last night to siphon out of the thermos after class. Finding true grit ... and self-bribery.

Spring Cleaning

I was talking to a yoga student yesterday. She's having trouble finishing up her master's thesis. In fact, she has no motivation to finish whatsoever after having "downgraded" from the Ph.D. program.

My thoughts were that she's got to do something to shift her paradigm. I'm in some of the same places professionally; I work as a scientist for the state but want to own my yoga/wellness studio. It's always complicated. I have family to consider and therefore feel a bit like I'm in professional purgatory; I can't leave my job, because my husband is still working toward his dream ... and I'm the stable force financially. But, when you make small changes to your goals, big things open up for you. That's just physics.

So, I suggested that my student start taking a regular 6 a.m. yoga class. I found that when I was exclusively an Ashtanga practioner, which requires 6 days a week of regular 6 a.m. mysore (self-led) classes, I was much more productive. When vinyasa and family came into my life ... that discipline fell apart. Strangely, that's when professional inertia set in. Coincidence? I think not.

I'm going to challenge myself to the same goal that I challenged her to achieve. Sure, I teach a 6 a.m. class once a week, but the other days I sleep in a couple of hours. My spring cleaning challenge to myself is to charge it Ashtanga style. Six days a week, I'll get up early and do my yoga. I'll take Saturdays or moon days off. I'm still planning on doing my group practice in the afternoons with my favorite master teachers. We'll just see what happens.

I thought this HuffPo article had some neat commentary on the subject of goal-setting.