Do you recycle?

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

— Mahatma Gandhi

I do, actually I am a recycle queen I must say. I will go above and beyond not to throw something in the garbage if it can be recycled. I am almost a little OCD about it. But, you have no idea what I have to go through to actually recycle. You see, my huge, ginormous town home development that I live in, in Brandon is an upscale, gated community, but do they offer recycling to their residents – NO! They should be arrested for a crime for not doing so – and I’m serious when I say that.

There is no recycling program whatsoever. I cringe as I drive through and see newspapers that people have delivered to their home and I know that chances are they are not going to be recycled. Such a simple task, but when there is no convenient way to recycle and unless you care about the environment, care about recycling, care about the ability to reuse something, then you won’t go above and beyond. Any that’s just newspapers! That doesn’t count the countless other items that can be recycled in my neighborhood that aren’t, i.e. glass, aluminum, magazines, plastic, paper, etc.

Ugh…is all I have to say.

So, here’s one of the things I do to recycle – I have a great friend Karen! Such a  great friend that she takes my recycling from me each week and places it beside her recycling (she lives in a neighborhood that recycles). An angel from heaven! Thanks Karen!

Can you even believe that I recycle all of the paper and plastic products from my school where I teach. Yep, the county the school is in, only recycles newspapers and magazines – no other paper products! Can you imagine? Yep, I KNOW!

How do you recycle, what do you recycle, is it a difficult task in your area? Do you compost? Do you reuse?

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This week has been my week off from work for Spring Break. I hate to say I was living in the future, but boy oh boy – was I waiting for this week to come. Of course, I was going to go out of town with my hubbie, but as always he ended up having to work. I didn’t really mind this year though because as you all already know, I work too, too, too much. Saying Yes! is a big part of my vocabulary because I love my life and I love saying Yes! To me, the word No means missed opportunities, no exposure, sometimes no fun! So, I say Yes! But, as everyone in our society experiences at one time or another we say yes too much and then the crash and burn effect kicks in. We can only do too much for so long before  our mind, body and spirit say, “What about me, did you forget about me, hello, I need some rest, hello I need some quiet, hello I need a nap!”

I hate to say this, but since I have always been a work aholic I haven’t always had a lot of friends, not because I couldn’t have, but because I never spent time with friends I would just work instead. It wasn’t until I began my yoga teacher training a few years ago, and someone asked me what I was going to do all summer while I was off from teaching and said work and she said, “What about hanging out with your friends?” that I discovered WOW! I don’t really do that sort of thing – do I? A huge eye opener for me. So, as I have been really trying to do is incorporate saying yes, to my friends so that we can be friends and better friends at that.

 “You can’t always sit in your corner of the forest and wait for people to come to you… you have to go to them sometimes.” – Winnie the Pooh

So, that is just what I did this week, I took a little me time and a little time with friends.

Monday began my week when I forgo sleeping in, so precious to a girl that gets up at 5 am each morning to meet a dear friend for coffee in Hyde Park. Carol is a new mom that comes to my yoga classes. We meet when she began coming when she was pregnant, practicing flow yoga up until the week before her precious baby girl – Grace – was born. Amazing. Then I headed off to yoga. The rest of the day consisted of an afternoon nap, shopping and then teaching my own flow class that evening.

Tuesday was a sleep in day- of course! Then to another yoga class, today was Hot Flow – with Thom. I love Thom, but his schedule is one of mostly Bikram classes so I never get to take his classes. I am not a Bikram girl – too much of the same for me, plus my Pitta doesn’t care for the intense heat.  Then running errands, a wax, the gym and nice run outside and off to teach another yoga class.

Wednesday - ahhh yes – you guessed it another sleep in day! Woot! Working on the computer, blogging, reading blogs, contemplating a new book to read, etc. Then off to get some new make up, practicing and playing with some new spring colors, to yoga, run Bayshore Blvd. in Tampa Bay – one of the most beautiful places to run ever. Don’t forget your sunscreen though, little to no shade.

Then a massage. I recently got one from a different girl and ewwww….won’t do that again, what a waste of money. This time Annette worked on me – she is amazing! Then you guessed it happy hour with friends!

The week is off to a great start and although I will be sad when it comes to an end, I am so thankful that I had it to begin with.  

So remember, when you need a little time for yourself  do what comes more natural
- TAKE IT!

What do you do when you have time off? 

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What a great day to exude happiness!

Certainly it being Friday, makes it really easy to be more happy as we move into a refreshing weekend of friends and fun, but we should really cherish what makes up happy each and every day.

I decided to blog about something a little different for a change and jotted 19 things (since today is Friday the 19th) that make me happy off the top of my head, boy was it easy – thoughts of happiness just came pouring out.

To Me Happiness is:

1. Teaching yoga

2. Being healthy

3. Eating yummy, nutritious foods

4. Taking a great yoga class

5. Having a great run outside with a light breeze and birds chirping

6. Playing with my dogs

7. Taking an afternoon nap with my dogs

8. Traveling (especially to Asheville, NC)

9. Growing spiritually

10. Reading great and interesting blogs, i.e. Kaileen Elise

11. Reading a great book

12. Watching a great movie

13. Having fun with friends

14. Laughing, being silly

15. Dancing

16. Giving someone a kiss and a hug

17. Taking time for myself

18. Meeting new friends

19. Spending quality time (not in front of the tv) with my husband

What makes you happy?

Would anyone like to participate in the Happy Book mail around? Check it out.

Click the image to view it on Amazon

Photos credited to- Arianna, Tumblr, Kind_Overmatter

Recent Posts

Another unique prop to use other than Eye Bags to assist in making your yoga practice more comfy and relaxing is a bolster. The hard thing about bolsters is that is often hard to find a really good one. When you spend a lot of your hard earned money on something you want it to last a while and be a quality item. And, if you have ever purchased a bolster before you know that a good one isn’t cheap. They range anywhere from $25.00 – $70.00.

Like good friends, Bolsters should provide reliable, effective support, even when you place yourself in difficult positions. Bolsters are great for stretching & supporting your belly, back, hamstrings & chest. They should be made firm & dense — this way it provides support for you to relax deeply and stay in a shape awhile.

My favorite bolster maker is Angela McWilliams @ InnerSpaceYoga. She makes bolsters for the Asheville Yoga Center, so you know they rock (but arent’ hard like rocks, of course !)

She makes two sizes in bolsters, a round one and a flat. Honestly, I like them both for different reasons, but the largest of the two is the round. Angela uses fun, lively fabrics and you can choose which fabric you want your bolster to be made with too. Check out this brochure for more information and details. You can follow her on Twitter to under InnerSpaceYoga.

Take a look at these fun pictures too —>

Angela is such a cool Yogini that she is offering $25.00 off the purchase of 1 of her bolsters for the best comment on this blog.

She normally charges $55.00 for a bolster, so you would be getting a great bolster for $30.00.

That’s Supa Dupa Cheap!

She will even pay for the shipping.

So if you are in the market for a bolster, want to save a few dollars and you want a great bolster, post a comment by March 21st and once again my high students will choose the winner since they are very impartial and don’t know any of my blog followers. The winner will be announced after the contest is over.

The bounty is out for the best bolster blogger!!!

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If you haven’t heard of Yoga Vibes by now, you have certainly been missing out and you have GOT to get your vibe on.

Yoga Vibes is a hot, relatively new yoga web site (it launched in August) with live recorded yoga classes of all types, levels, from all over. The classes you buy stream live directly to your computer while you practice making you feel like you are in the class and with the energy of the class.

So far, my favorites are:

• Kathryn Budig
• Laura Schneider
• Shala Worsley
• Rolf Gates

Soon, you’ll have your favorites too, what are they?

I have blogged about them before. Click here to see that post. But this time, is different. I really, really, really want you to try Yoga Vibes. Here are all the reasons why:

1. You have never done yoga and are a little skeptical about going to a studio as a newbie. Not that you should worry because any studio would welcome you with open arms.
2. Let’s say you are a hard core yogi and the classes you can go to during the time you can practice are not quite hard enough or challenging enough for you in the areas you are working on in your practice.
3. Let’s say you planned to go to yoga, but got stuck at work and couldn’t leave and didn’t want to miss a practice all together.
4. Or maybe you want a type or style of class that is not found in your area.
5. Humm…maybe you want something different than the teachers you have been taking classes from have been teaching.
6. You want to practice with a teacher that lives across the nation and of course, we all know, travel ain’t cheap.
7. Ahh…yes, you are a yoga teacher, looking for some creative new sequences to use in classes, new tricks, new cutting edge vibes of energy.
8. You want a quickie class – 30 min. or an hour.
9. You want to save some money be it, travel, class pricing.

Can you think of any more reasons to take a Yoga Vibes class?

So, if you haven’t had the opportunity to take a Yoga Vibes class yet, I am offering –>

to the best, most creative, fun, freestyle reason to a take a Yoga Vibes class for yourself.

Get your vibe on and show me what you got!

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I decided to skip my regular Friday night yoga class in the studio. Mainly because I was tired of running all week and wanted to be home some. Of course, I still practiced, but used my favorite online, streaming yoga class site, Yoga Vibes.

I ended up taking Denise Payne’s Power Yoga class. I take Power yoga all the time, so it was like signing up for what I always do when I chose it. Little did I realize what I had gotten myself into. You see, I was beginning to feel that I was mastering my yoga practice, working on handstands, is my newest challenge and I am practicing it each and every day, getting better and better each and every day. So, I was feeling, sort of like, “Once I get this pose, I will be complete in my practice.” Of course, that was all ego, and I had to remind myself that I already have everything I need in my practice.

The class began with Surya Namaskar A and then B. No biggie!

Then began the journey-

Downward Facing Dog jumping into Bakasana (Crow/Crane) pose

- 5 times back and forth.

If that didn’t already poop me out on a Friday night when I was already tired, but then came the following poses of course taught in a flowing, nice, charismatic sequence:

Astavakrasana

Eka Hasta Bhujasana

Bhujapidasana

Titibasana

Kurmasana – Sleeping Tortoise

Eka Pada Sirsasana

Bhairavasana

Kasvapasana

Salamba Sirsasana II – by way of Sirasana (Headstead)
Try this one at home for fun!

Eka Pada Koundinyasana

And I saved the best for two last, of course!

Dwi Pada Sirsasana

Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana

Headstand and then you keep your head on the floor and walk your feet around your body.

Try that one on a Friday night for fun.

I love a good challenge and although I have to admit at times during the practice, my eyes almost popped out of my head and my mouth out loud said, What?! (I was practicing at home). I still managed to at least try each and every one of the shapes.  Some obviously turned out better than others. I am sure many of you can do some or even all of the shapes, but it was indeed a deep challenge for me, but one that I loved and will cherish for some time to come.

Thanks to Densie for a great class! I especially loved your humor as you taught and my eyes bugged out.

So the moral of the story is that the journey of yoga is one of a lifetime. Just when we think we have mastered something, one pose, twenty, met our goals, calmed our mind, shined our spirit our yoga practice will show us something new, something more magnificent and something worth returning to the mat for each and every time we practice and with that I say, “Practice, practice all is coming” (Pattabhi Jois). Namaste!

What is your hardest, most challenging element of yoga that you are working on in your practice?

Pictures courtesy of Yoga Journal.

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First and foremost for today’s blog is the winner of the Light on Eyes Giveaway post.

May I have a drum roll please, the winner is……..Tina Herbst! Congratulations Tina!

Believe it or not, since I knew so many of you it would not have been possible for me to make a fair and impartial choice so I  asked my 6th Period Web Design students to read my post, then each of the comments and then chose the winner. This was a great reading comprehension tool for them, but also provided them experience in the world of web design and blogging. They were excited to be a part of choosing the real life winner.  Thanks to my students for all your help!

As usual, I have been really busy lately, taught a Yin class last week at Serenity Stream in Brandon and it was amazing. Thanks to all of you who came and enjoyed the juiciness of a Yin practice. Even though I didn’t practice, but taught it, I was on cloud nine for a little while afterwards, just the aurora of yoga makes me relaxed and sharing what I love with others of course.

If you want to come, I am teaching another one this Sunday 2/21 at 2 at Asana Yoga of Brandon!

I had the day off from work yesterday and headed over to Yogani, to take Ashley’s Shakti Flow class. She returned a few weeks ago from a long trip in California where she beefed up her tool bag with new teaching skills while there. I have always enjoyed her classes.

I am reading several books now. I just can’t read one at a time, I am a little bit ADHD if you hadn’t already noticed, or if I hadn’t already told you. The ones I am reading now are:

My Stroke of Insight- by Jill Bolte Taylor	Meditations from the Mat - by Rolf Gates
This book is about a lady who just happened to be a brain surgeon that had a stroke and she documented her experience from the time the stroke happened, through her recovery. It is amazing and I really love reading about how much our brain sides have so much to do with the way with think and do.	This book is a daily guide to Sutra based meditations for one year. I wasn’t expecting this when I bought it but I have since fallen in love with it. So, far I am reading one meditation each day and trying not to read ahead so as just to digest the current days meditation.

Are you reading any great books now? If so please share, what are they about?

What are your favorite studios in your area?

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You may recall the book, Light on Yoga, but today’s post is about light on our eyes.

One of my favorite things to spoil my students with in class is an eye pillow during Savasana. In my own practice, it just seems to settle me in to my relaxation a bit deeper, but it also assists in resting my hard working eyes.

Our eyes work really hard for us on a daily basis. They are small but mighty organs! Here is a list of things our eyes do for us each and every day, all day while they are open that you might not even think about:

• Work with our brains to tell us the size, shape, color and texture of an object
• Tell us how close the object is, whether it is still or moving
• They work with each other, but also with the brain, muscles, and nerves to provide us visual images and messages
• They constantly adapt to our changing environment; i.e. light or darkness

When you place an eye bag on your eyes, either during Savasana or any other time, you are helping your eyes rest with ease, helping to relax the muscles of the eyes and activating your parasympathetic nervous system. It’s a Win-Win!

So, now the big, fun news! Many of you ask me where do I get the eye bags I use in class from. And (drum roll please)…..the answer is Deb Smith in Memphis, TN. A couple of years ago, I was traveling to see my mom in Memphis and of course, checked out a yoga studio that I hadn’t been to while I was there. I was on the major look out for a new eye bag because I lost my other one, but I am very picky. They can’t be too big, have to have a great, relaxing smell, the whole package. While at Better Bodies Yoga I found a wonderful, amazing eye bag and of course bought it. When I returned to Florida, I loved it so much that I called the studio and asked them where they got it from and they gave me Deb’s contact information.

I called her and she was so excited, I ended up buying 15 eye bags to use when I teach yoga. Just for each of you.

She calls her eye bags The Repose Healing Eye Pillow and describes it as a sensory relaxation tool used for easing stress and tension, while allowing you to rest, recharge or sleep. Filled with flaxseed, lavender, pineapple, sage, thyme, mint, eucalyptus and/or rosemary. This pillow applies gentle acupressure to tired eyes and facial muscles, while the aromatherapy induces an aura of comfort and calm. The luxurious fabric is cool to the touch allowing the Eye Pillow to drape and conform to the contours of your face, providing welcome relief for headaches, sleeping difficulties and stress or eye puffiness.  Deb actually really grows all of her herbs she uses to make the eye pillows in her own garden. You can’t get any fresher than that.

Take a peek —>

If you want to buy an eye bag from her you can contact her at: dsmith@wkno.org

Or Facebook – Deb E. Smith or call her @ 901-413-9572 Here is a list of her prices as well:

Eye Pillow

$12 – each

$10 – for two or more

$9 – for five or more

$8.50- for ten or more

Spray Cleaner

$9.00 each

Note – She has even recently added mat spray cleaner. Yippee!!!

Don’t you wish you had a new Repose Eye Pillow? Don’t you wish you had some great (non-toxic) mat spray too?

Well you can, and guess what you may not even have to buy it.

You could win a free eye pillow and free bottle of mat spray. All you  have to do is respond with a comment to this post, by February 14th (Valentine’s Day) and tell me why and how you will use and appreciate an eye pillow of your very own as much as I  do and of course, how new, fresh mat spray is just what you need to clean your yoga mat. May the most creative post win! I will announce the winner as soon as they are chosen and award them with their prize.

Thanks to Deb for making the best eye pillows ever, creating and adding great new mat spray to your inventory too, and for giving one of each away for free. You Rock!

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My newest yogini adventure consisted of a Restorative Teacher Training at where?, of course, the Asheville Yoga Center, with who?, of course, Stephanie Keach.

I specifically decided to attend this training because she was teaching at. As I progress further in my teacher trainings, not only do I have fewer and fewer trainings to take, but fewer and fewer are with her or Shala Worsely. Bummer. I love them both!

I decided to drive up, like a crazy person, but really because the flights were just out of control expensive and since half the time when I go I end up getting stuck in ATL for one reason or another I decided in mid- Jan. this might be a better choice. I actually was looking for to the stillness of the drive (at least inside the car) after being so busy lately. Quiet time, just me and the road.

As soon as I arrived, I headed into the studio for Candra’s Hot Flow class at 4:00 PM (yeah, I got up bright and early to head to NC from FL) why? because I wanted to take a class with Candra. She also completed her teacher training at the Asheville Yoga Center and she is a massage therapist (trained at Shala’s school). I love her easy going voice and style, but rock solid, powerful class. What a great combination. After class ended, I chatted with her about some of her philosphies regarding Ayruveda and she replied, that she followed some of the principles, like scraping her tongue each morning. Interesting…. I love to her what people take and leave from Ayruveda.

After  a quick snack to refresh my body, I headed back for the beginning of the weekend training. Restoration is surely what I needed. I have to admit, I wasn’t too thrilled with the fact that I was going to be restoring all weekend, what I really wanted was some serious vinyasa. It is interesting what our mind wants  and what our body really needs, thus our mind does too. Stephanie immediately talked about why we are always in such a hurry, when what we really need is to slow down, take our time, really breathe. Even though I know this, I get swept up in all the activities of life. As soon as we began to practice my whole body and mind were like Ahhhhhhhhhhhh………..sigh……………..Ahhhhhhhhhhhh……….and then of course……thanks! That is pretty much the just of it.

I was also reminded about how great eye bags are for us to use regularly…I am so glad I share this with my students after I teach, as I tote my little eye basket for of bags like Little Red Riding Hood to all of my classes. Eye bags are great for the brain, relaxing it, taking pressure off the eyes – allowing them to rest, stimulating more of the parasympathetic nervous systems actions to kick in. I so love an eye bag.

In addition, to all of the restorartive poses I learned about and participated in doing over the weekend, my favorite other concept I learned was about the Lymph System. In case you didn’t know, the Lymph System is a 1 valved system, the valves move one direction. We want to move and twist and turn and take deeper breaths and get all of that lymph fluid pushed around our body so that it can do it job, cleanse!  By the way, did you know that the right lung has 3 nodes and that the left lung has 2 since our tummy takes up more room on that side? (I was reminded of that from my 200 hour tt).  We want to breathe deeper and bigger and exercise those nodes.

All in all, my favorite poses of the weekend were reclining big toe with some new tricks, modified shoulder stand with a block to activate the nadis in the sacrum (a great option if you are on ladies holiday too), and the serious shoulder openers we did. So come to my classes and make sure I include those poses in the class.

As I left to drive back home, on Sunday, I was completly refreshed. A little sad as one of my last trainings (maybe the last) with Stephanie herself was done, but so excited to share all of my knowledge with each of you!

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Wow, it has been a while since I have posted, hasn’t it? I have got to get more on my blogging game.  Times are busy, boy is 2010 already flying by, with work and teaching yoga, practicing yoga, hosting and attending workshops there is not enough time in the day to do all the things I love.

With that said, last weekend I had the ultimate pleasure of attending Shala Rain’s Detoxification & Pranification workshop in Tampa, FL at Yogani Studios. As you know, from my previous posts, I love her! She has this solid, well rounded, but so much knowledge in her brain you wonder how it all works, way about her. What a grounded girl she is.

Friday nights practice began with a Kapha dosha practice and we began by choosing an oil that coincided the most with what dosha we felt we were at the time. Of course, I chose vata because I am so vata, running around all the time. 
We then proceeded into a more firey practice with lots of heat building pranayama – Agni Sari (breath of fire) and hip openers.
Saturday mornings class was a vata style class, the class was a slow flow as I like to describe it. Slow but stimulating enough for a vata girl like me. Shayla’s smooth way of teaching just glides you through the poses and it just flows right  together smooth and easy.

I was fortunate enough to squeeze into my tight schedule, the Saturday afternoon discussion session all about Ayurveda. We did a dosha test to see what our constitution was and mine came out:

1. Vata
2. Pitta
3. Kapha – although I am really close in all of them (not close enough for a Tri Dosha – 1 point apart in each dosha)

I am mostly a Vata then Pitta.

Then we talked about what to eat for your dosha, attributes of each that affect your daily life, how to be more balanced and eat in a more balanced way for your constitution, and she gave us some really interesting recipes that are great for certain seasons and for our dosha.

Unfortunately, I had to miss the Sunday morning Pitta practice due to my Introduction to Yoga Series workshop at Yoga Asana of Brandon, but it was well worth it, another great group of 18 students (pics to follow soon).  I did hear that the Pitta practice was done by yogis blindfolded. Eeekkk… a challenge for the Pittas in the world.

If you want to learn more about Ayurveda, visit either of the following web sites (Blue Lotus Ayurveda or Holistic Online) or conduct a fun search of your own and take a dosha test to see what constitution you are.

For more follow up come to my Spring Detox workshop just before spring begins on March 14th at Yoga Asana of Brandon.

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