my world + this weekend

Welcome Friday.

Welcome Friend.

I've got so much swirling around over here in my head.

And in my heart.

I've got about 19,001 things I want to write about.

Like how I'm still recovering from the yuckiness I picked up in Mexico.

Like how my body feels different.

I want to tell stories about the darker, shadow side of my yoga self.

In particular one story that Andy and I learned a lot from.

I want to tell you how amazed I am by the latest group of yoginis to graduate from my 200 hour yoga teacher training. How brilliant they are. How they inspire me to want to be a better teacher. I want to tell you about Jen and how she is breaking the mold and chasing her heart's desires.

I want to tell you how fantastic the completion of my life coaching training was. How awesome it was to be part of a beautiful, like minded group that's dedicated creating and living a life by their design. I want to tell you how this time has rocked my world in ways I'm still waking up to.

I want to tell you about the push/pull I feel about diving into coaching. How excited I am. How primed I am. How I really do believe I'm made for this and how I've already been doing this thing called coaching through my teaching and writing (thank you Mia for shining a light on that).

I want to tell you about all the ideas I have for Barefoot Works, the treehouse. And how thankful I am for the awesome teachers I am blessed to have supporting me and our students at said treehouse.

I want to tell you about the cowboy boots I want to buy.

New dishes I want to replace.

New dreams that are coming true.

Adventures Andy and I are planning.

And our dogs. How cute are they?

It's a lot.

Instead I want to share something else I'm pumped about.

The manual I had printed.

The pink binder and new gel pens I just bought.

And the fact that I get to participate in a training this weekend led by a fave,

Miss Leeann Carey.

Leeann will be teaching our Saturday group class at 9:15. Hip, hip, hooray!

The Sunday 10:30 class is canceled.

Sunday 4:00 class is on, subbed by Laura Whitaker.

You can still join in on the fun with Leeann. Here are some deets:

Each segment (descriptions below) is $59 and are as follows:

Friday: 5pm -9pm
Sat: 11am - 3pm or 4pm - 8pm (these are adjusted times from our typical schedule)
Sun: 9am - 1pm or 2pm -6pm

I highly recommend Friday for sure and Saturday. If you take only Sunday then you will have missed all of the foundational information from Friday. Leeann will probably end a bit early on Sunday so the 2nd Sunday segment is not recommended.

You can register for the segments on our website or simply show up a little early tomorrow and pay Leeann when you are there.

Friday, 5 - 9pm
Observation Skills - This includes learning how to look at your students using the propping, collapsing and yielding metric, form and function rule, range of motion.
Inquiries - Proprioception test and breathing patterns.
Physio-emotional assessment tools.

Saturday, 9 – 1pm
Understanding which pose best teaches us about a specific condition.
Pose breakdown using observation skills with other students and applying strategic prop placement.

Saturday, 2pm – 6pm
Pose modifications to address unique needs for therapeutic results.
Yāpana yoga class.
Sunday, 9 - 1pm
Continue pose breakdown using observation skills with other students and applying strategic prop placement.
Continue pose modifications to address unique needs for therapeutic results.

Sunday, 2pm – 6pm
Breathing: Brhmana and Lanhana and organic explorations in relation to poses and the diaphragm(s) Ethical Inquiries - how to teach who is in front of you.

*Segments are designed for those that want education on a portion of the training and are priced in an affordable manner. Although the total of the 5 segments are less than the $445 rate, in order to receive a certificate of completion you must complete all segments of the training and pay a $150 certification fee on top of the 5 segment total (which comes to a total of $445).

6th annual maya tulum yoga retreat

Happy Friday Friends,

I've been back from Tulum for a few days. I feel like I'm just now getting back in the swing of things. I wanted to share a few photos with you and recap a few highlights from my recent yoga time in Tulum.

As always, the group was simply fantastic. This retreat was different than others I've led in the past in that there were five couple (including Andy and myself). We also had a mom/daughter duo and more than a hand full of awesome women traveling alone to treat themselves to a week of yoga and retreat. Five of the participants retreated with me last summer in Tulum so being reunited on the beach, in this sweet and sacred land brings me such happiness.

The group in general just meshed so well. Certainly a highlight for me. The week in general felt very light, airy, low-key, and fun.

I love walking around on the property of Maya Tulum and seeing lil pockets of yogis enjoying themselves. Swimming in the sea, laughing together while lounging on the beach, sipping a delicious drink. And I equally delight when I see people taking time for themselves. A quiet walk on the beach, walking around reveling in the beauty around, reading in the restaurant, writing in a lounge chair, napping in a hammock. Delicious.

A couple of my personal highlights include sharing 10 days with Andy in Mexico, and specifically having him as a part of the group yoga retreat experience. That was pretty special for me. He was pretty awesome and took all the yoga classes except for one (he even made it to class after a night of a few....or five too many drinks ;).  I loved introducing him to fellow students who I consider part of my yoga family. And I loved the lil ways he took care of me during the week. Pretty great.

We also treated ourselves and upgraded to an amazing villa. The views from this room are simply unbelievable. I felt like I was even retreating by having this space!

As with most things, there were a couple of rocky moments. The biggest being Andy and I getting sick on the day the retreat ended. We had booked two extra days to vacation and I was pretty excited to decompress, do some yoga, and spend quality time on the beach and in the water.

Not so much. But really, who can complain?

I know I'm 100% blessed to get to travel to such a place, to meet such amazing people, to be a part of such a thing, and consider it my work.

Craziness.

A big hearty thank you to everyone who traveled to Tulum to explore yoga, meet new people, create new experiences, and have some good ol' fashion fun. I admire all of you. And I adore you too.

As you might imagine, you'll find me (and Andy) back in the magical land of Tulum yet again next summer.

infinite light

The moon is most happy

When it is full.

And the sun always looks

Like a perfectly minted gold coin

That was just Polished

And placed in flight

By God’s playful Kiss.

And so many varieties of fruit

Hang plump and round

From branches that seem like a Sculptor’s hands.

I see the beautiful curve of a pregnant belly

Shaped by a soul within,

And the earth itself,

And the planets and the Spheres-

I have gotten the hint:

There is something about circles

The Beloved likes.

Hafiz,

Within the Circle of a Perfect One

There is an Infinite Community

Of Light.

~Hafiz





serve the world while serving your soul

Source: aldiebe.tumblr.com via Sharon on Pinterest

"You can find a way that serves the world, serves your customers, and serves your soul. The job you are meant to have has not yet been named. It has not yet been imagined. It is waiting in the confines of your own heart to take shape in the world of form." ~Martha Beck

I'm leaving tomorrow to travel to Mexico to teach yoga to a fantastic group of people scattered from all across the US and Canada.

20 years ago I hadn't even heard the word yoga and Mexico seemed like such a far away place that I'd never visit there.

10 years ago I started a love affair with yoga and embarked on a journey of discovering just who the heck I was and what I wanted to do with my life.

8 years ago I devoted myself to doing something that I loved, something that served my soul and served others. I taught yoga. A lot of yoga.

And here I am, getting ready to leave for my sixth annual yoga retreat to Maya Tulum.

My happy place, my happy people, my happy work.

I could never have written this job description that I get to call my life. Yet somehow I did and here I find myself with a heart filled with thanks and a belly filled with anticipation for all that is and all that will be.  Feeling deeply grateful.

So. Very. Grateful.

And pretty freakin' ecstatic.

If you're like me, a fairly optimistic person with a pocket full of dreams and the mindset that the universe actually wants you to be happy and doing what you love then please consider joining me for The Right Brain Business Workshop on Saturday August 11th.  Get all the details here.

Serve the world while serving your soul. I'm on board.

celebrating my teachers

Source: nuggetsoflove.tumblr.com via Sharon on Pinterest

Look at the chickpeas in the pot,
how they leap up when they feel the fire.
While boiling, one of them rises to the top
and cries, "Why are you setting this fire under me?
Did you buy me for this tumbling and torture?"
The housewife keeps hitting it with the ladle.
"No!" she says, "boil nicely now,
and don't leap away from the one who makes the fire.
It's not because you are hateful to me that I boil you,
but so that you might gain flavor,
and become nutritious and mingle with
essential spirit.
This affliction is not because you are despised.
When you were green and fresh,
you were watered in the garden:
that watering was for the sake of this fire.
~Rumi

Today is guru purnima, a day of celebration for the guru. The day of the full moon in July.
Guru means that which is grand. Purnima means fullness (as in full moon).
A guru is typcially thought of one who removes darkness.
Guru also refers to knowing your own higher self.

Today I am remembering and celebrating the grand teachers that have impacted my life.
I am recalling the ones of past and present.
Thinking of the lessons they helped me to learn, the time they shared, the changes they inspired, and

the teachings they shared so that I might gain flavor and become nutritious and mingle with spirit.

Bowing to them with a reverent and grateful heart.

trust thyself

Source: smstemplates.net via Sarah on Pinterest

Trust thyself:
every heart vibrates to that iron string. 

~Ralph Waldo Emerson