by Ali Valdez

This past month, I have been setting up an office which has displaced many things leaving little more than a printer and a rug in my former library.

I came home from yoga one day to a random clothing rack centered in the middle of that empty room. Hanging off the edge were an assortment of half and full marathon medals: Sedona, Napa, Angel Island, Whidbey Island, etc. Oddly and unbeknowest to my mother, she pulled out and abandoned the garment holder on the day of the Boston Marathon. Although there was no unicorn, no yellow and blue stripes to boast of that afternoon, I felt a solidarity with the runners who did.

Something precious to me had been loss that day, too: the miracle of the marathon.

It was almost impossible to witness what was happening when FB blew up with posts about Boston. Images on the media portrayed a city on lockdown, bloodshed on the sidewalks, smoking explosions and people in despair. Days to follow would feature robberies, murders and violent shoot outs. All of it made me cry and broke my heart. For the victims, of course, and Boston as a city struck by terror. But mostly for marathons and the marathoning spirit.

My marathon moment was one of the greatest accomplishments of my life; a feat I hold in higher regard to any of my accomplishments in yoga because none of that training and running came easy to me.  I enjoyed doing them because of the inspirational show of solidarity. Atlantic magazine coined the phrase “communitarian” to define the unique atmosphere when taking the field together for 26.2, the iconic number. There is something in all of us looking to progress, evolve past limits and transcend. You find that as soon as your foot crosses the finish line at a marathon.

And let us not forget the kindness of strangers. Where else could you find thousands of people at sunrise with big smiles on their faces? The start of a marathon line for one.

From this vantage point, strangers bond as friends. When the path’s unforgiving winding expanse of road grows weary, there is always the steady breath of angels on either shoulder to carry you in spirit. 

For those that don’t run, there is a place for them, too, these corroborators of joy: the cheerful roadside volunteer thrilled to see you stuffing cuties and bananas in your clothes. I miss those days; I miss those people.

The field tests the human body, spirit and mental fortitude on every level. What it never challenges is the love the runner has for their sport, their pride crossing the finish line. No ‘race’ is ever the same; and I guess going forward no marathon will be either.

The first marathon was surrounded by the same climate of violence, senseless carnage, polarized political and cultural conflict. On another level it also captured the spirit of winning against all odds. The origins of the marathon go back to the days of ancient Greece. Supremely outnumbered by the Persians during a key battle, the Greeks managed to overcome their enemies and declare victory. A messenger was set on foot to report back the news running the famed ‘marathon’ without stopping until he arrived in Athens. He shouted victory, then passed out of exhaustion.

The Greek derivative of the word marathon means ‘field of fennel’.  Fennel itself in mythology represents the herb famed hero of the human cause, Prometheus, used to steal fire from the Gods.

Prometheus’ deed imparted higher wisdom to human beings, something he paid for dearly by being chained to a rock. When you’re immortal, that can mean an eternity. To make matters worse, Zeus in eagle form daily took to devouring Prometheus’ liver, feeding off the organ that houses anger and resentment. Prometheus was an advocate for the advancement of man, providing additional skills and means to civilization.  Our progression forward had a cost. It left Prometheus stuck in near perpetuity to repeat the same cycle of suffering daily.

It seems hard to not turn on a television and see people in a daily cycle of suffering. In spite of the horrific circumstances which brought forth the victory of the marathon of Athens and the tragedy at the marathon of Boston, people remain people. Yes, Prometheus gave us fire, but after Hercules rescued him off the rock, we humans sometimes are still stuck there in his stead.

From a yogic perspective, is it our karma that keeps us bound? Is someone or something ‘else’ that wrathful eagle pecking at our sides, or is it ourselves when we operate under the delusion that somehow we are seperate from the eagle, somehow the rock is not chained to us but vice versa?

As I point out the similarities and symbolism around the events, I keep circling back to this idea and notion of the ‘advancement’ of man: both the hubris and humility of it. Are we still not facing the same issues just with more modern weaponry and immediacy of their happening, not having to wait hours relying on a running man with a scroll of parchment in hand? There are more countries, more geopolitical angst, and yet people still having to make the daily choice of being victorious or just plain vicious towards one another.

I would love to see the world be that better place. I also know I cannot look out, point my finger benignly at all the perceived wrongs and think somehow I am removed. Communitarian implies being a stakeholder in the ebbing and flowing marathon of life. My karma is not floating free form, discombobulated from the rest of the world’s. In my skin, I have my own race to run, prejudices to overcome, and heartbreak hill to tackle.

Marathoning taught me more about hard work, patience, courage, friendship and devotion than anything else in my life. It was my unchaining from the rock of impossibilities because when I joined the field in communitarianism, and I didn’t walk, I didn’t stop, I just ran and four hours later, I did it!

It is my choice to turn off the channels, reflect on my own life and the areas where I can have impact. I also have to resign myself to the fact that I am not entitled, nor immune, from a potentially catastrophic or tragic event testing the verity of my yoga and faith based beliefs. I am nothing more than the runner in sandals on the long, dusty road back to Athens, the smell of fennel, heavy like licorice, bearing down on my sun burned shoulders. As soon as I arrive with a proclamation of victory over my shared humanity, I am bound to fall flat on my face. That much I can learn from the past.

by Ali Valdez

NOTE: I understand that I regularly take on the topic of sleep, and this blog post is no exception. Although this time, I am talking in terms of dreams: wild, crazy, jumping down the rabbit hole dreams.

You know, the Morrissey “last night I dreamt that somebody loved me…sort of dream.

In yoga, there are these pesky little things called vrittis, or fluctuations of the mind, one of which is nidra, or sleep. Another one is vikalpa, the fantastic or imagination driven idea. Mix the two together and you have me pretty much every night at 2am.

In general, I have pretty fantastic dreams. Baz Luhrman meets Avatar meets some pedestrian tasks like laundry.

But I believe many of them, especially after meditation and prayer time, provide clear guidance on certain things in the way only the subconscious can illuminate. Around the full moon, and especially working with Moldavite while I was in Hawaii, I woke up stone cold from a dream. It really opened my eyes to certain things, intellectual fixations that I have been attached to over the course of my life. With time, these fixations have apparently embedded themselves even deeper into my psyche through the exploration of yoga which is kind of the opposite of how it should work, and yet we are all students on the journey.

My teacher was in this dream, although this teacher was not my yoga teacher, per se, just someone like a Virgil, a guide into the infernal dream realm. In this dream, I saw this man as compassionate and wise, whose authority on topics could be trusted implicitly. In this dream, which lasted a fraction of a second he told me that in my next lifetime I would reach enlightment.

Imagine that?! By 2080 or so, I will have arrived! But wait, like all good myth, there is a caveat.

I would do so as a male Hare Krishna. I woke up with chills. The waking up has nothing to do with the literal verity of the dream: whether or not I can reach enlightment, or that soon, or whether or not I could reincarnate, etc. were not the yogic concepts keeping me up that night. What kept me astir and wrought with contemplation was the fact that this dream awakened me to the two pillars of intellectual fixation that I am boldly attached to: being a woman and my faith.

I have studied about the Hare Krishnas, read their books including the cornerstone text of the Bhagavad Gita, know their maha-mantra, and have a tremendous admiration for their compassionate world view and Krishna (pictured above) centric approach to bhakti (devotion) yoga. Though a 20th century phenomenon, the Hare Krishnas resort to aspirational texts from five thousand plus years back; the intricate combination of the ancient and the modern. But there is nothing in my current makeup that draws me to becoming a Hare Krishna. But what if, indeed, the only way through the window of enlightenment was to become one as the teacher in my dreams professed? Or better yet,

what if walking through the door meant becoming the exact categorical opposite of all things you think you are? Or all things you think you ‘should’ be?

Could I overcome peach colored robes, shave my head and devote my life to chanting? Looking at the folks below, looks like no ones complaining, and yet I wonder.

There is a block. In terms of my physical existence, and my spiritual pursuits, this dream really struck me with the fact that I am wholly a woman, unabashedly feminine minded, double D type of gal.

I like my long, thick, rope like ebony hair, and I love being a part in this time in history, when women are becoming CEOs, Presidents of countries (not our own yet though) and leading the Western yoga movement with collaboration and pure Shakti mojo.

Even more, the path for enlightenment meant having to become a man. I have nothing against men, I love them alot; but I am not interested nor can I imagine having to live life through the body, brain or soul of a man. For someone who spent a lion’s share of her adulthood embracing corporate life, I guess my ‘masculine’ approach to business is a bit shrivelled come to find out. No offense, but I don’t want to be a male Hare Krishna. Luckily,  I can seperate the meaning from the metaphor, knowing not to take dreams literally: I am attached to the identity of being a woman of Western spirituality and proud of it.

The term for nonattachment in yoga is vairagya; the idea that there is no need to externally project or to identify with anything to define the essence of who you are. I felt that on the material side of things, over the years have I been able to slowly shrug off my attachments. I guess where I really need to look are the dynamics within: my attachment to the principles around advancing womens’ causes and being an advocate for women and their children. I think of the values that I am sharing with my child, a six year old girl, about self worth, respect and dignity, all have a feminist bent to them.

And then there is a matter of faith; could I find full expression in God through alternate means? Is it possible to one day be a Christian, influenced by Western culture to another day move into an entirely different form of spiritual expression? Naturally, these are answers that I do not have. All I have is a physical shell with female plumbing, and a heart and mind devoted to a God of my calling. Willingly, I enter into these castles a joyful servant. If we are all comprised of mayakoshas around atman, as yogic philosophy suggests, then perhaps there will be a time of the peeling off of layers, the striping of veneers instead of altars, where the essence of what makes us all both human and divine rises from a place without attachments of any kind. Is that idea in the dream realm a happy one or a nightmare? I cannot say other than to sleep, perchance to dream.

by Ali Valdez

Three weeks have officially gone by since the forty day challenge ended. I continue to feel fortified for the most part, on the personal commitments I made to myself. The benefits have been many, and I am very grateful for the group of individuals that not only made the journey but continue down the path even without the weekly accountability and support only a group forum can provide.

Sometimes when we are dropped back into the world, our bad habits come back over time. Inevitably, our support systems, although supportive, kind of want us back to the “old you” after they’ve indulged you in your ‘journey.’

I find this especially true in styles of relating, food and alcohol choices weigh in, too.
One 40 dayer was realizing that his revised food revolution was creating a bit of crisis in his relations with his wife. Another person realized that to make healthy, non-emotional decision, had to move out from living with her boyfriend to make the relationship stronger. These choices take guts.

Meting it out in the deeper conversations in a fair, non-divisive way is an art form of the most profound kind.

I have experienced this on some level but the more meaningful choices for my life, mainly focusing on my well-being and personal health, have held firm with no signs of changing. Knock on wood.

When you are willing to sit back and observe, you witness yourself as human. Beyond being a stack of bones, mounds of flesh and a hodge podge of kleshas, there is a light that yearns to shine forth. I had not realized how dusty my light had become through neglect and over-work and under-play.

This has made me unpopular over the past few weeks. People who have been conditioned by my universal ‘yes, I can!’ mantra, granted by my own volition, are slightly put off when I now decline requests, block time for myself in the middle of each day, resist their tempting offers that although appealing really are just pulling me out of my own space for the benefit of their causes. Their motives are not nefarious or bad, just not taking into consideration my needs, because I have never before really made those my priorities.

Recently I was offered to become a Vice President and board member for a Washington company and a cofounder of another excellent technology. Two incredibly compelling offers in one week! I politely declined both. Historically, those were the types of dreams that I would have willingly chased. I would have leapt at the opportunity to expand my business expertise and to grow more deeply involved in technology platform propositions that I firmly believe in.

At the same time, however, now I am unwilling to set myself up to take on more work, more responsibilities and more obligations for others’ and their objectives.

Maybe two years from now when both corporations are wildly successful, their owners brimming with lucre, I will kick myself for my simple yogi ideals: seeking grounding and serenity.

But for now, I am just simply taking in a deep breath, enjoying walks in nature, and delighting in being a mentor in the lives of young teachers, a freshly minted and untired face in the yoga community. I am what I am: a global ambassador for the evolution of the science of yoga. That is my mantra; therefore, that is where from now on, I am willing to go the extra mile.
 Some tips or ideas that might help you.

Set goals and understand the ‘why’ behind them: Set a quick list of a few action oriented lifestyle changes you would like to meet. List what motivates you to want to make those changes, and what factors in your life prevent you from doing it.

Be realistic: with yourself and others: Start small, knowing graciously that you cannot boil the ocean. If it involves setting boundaries with others, don’t create resentment from them with a 180 of course, or should you belittle or shame them for not making a same changes you are trying to make. Love and lead by example and appreciate everyone on their path: no two are the same.

 Love and compassion are always the best goals: My personal experience has led me to take extra time to write thank you notes, acknowledge the people in my life lovingly, expressing gratitude for the positive impact they have in my life.

I am not skipping around waving a garland of ribbons talking about unicorns or running rampant with Leo Buscaglia quotes, but … well, you know.

 Check back; stay focused: Set small attainable goals and check in weekly with yourself or your journal. It takes about forty days for the reprogramming of the body. If you fall off the wagon, be gracious but get back on: it resets the clock.

I wish you all the best of whatever journey you are taking. And don’t worry, I won’t post anymore Hummel pics.

by Ali Valdez

Back in 2000, I took a high profile executive job for a very dynamic Silicon Valley juggernaut in wireless internet. I was relocated from Seattle to San Francisco and began a serious asana practice during that time after almost thirty years of contemplative seated work. I seemed pretty invincible, making obscene amounts of money, working with senior level executives, eating at the most prestigious restaurants, and defying gravity able to bend and move my body in the vein of contortionists. Oh, and I traveled first class around the world. Continually, and not to compromise my asana practice, I typically traveled via red eye, where if I was lucky, I slept two to four hours a night.

I was a real yogi and yogis don’t really need much sleep so the lifestyle as I was sustaining it seemed appropriate and the quality of my asana practice seemed to validate this.

One day, I arrived for an annual Mobile Congress in Nice. I was frantically trying to get to my hotel room up in the puffy yellow springtime mimosa-aromated hills far off from the water. I scheduled late and was not in the heart of the action like everyone else. The room had a weird offset bedroom with a bunkbed set up. Nothing I was used to when travelling. Still to this day, I can remember the bold perfume of the mimosa in the air, even at night. It was overwhelming; lovely, but overwhelming. I was isolated up in this small hotel, in a bit of an enclave, removed from mobile phones, well dressed European men, and Nice nightlife. But that was ok, because the second I landed, I had a laundry list of tasks to complete, deals to move forward, calls to make to the States.

I remember the hotel room acutely because it was at that time that something life changing happened: I quit sleeping.

Fast forward thirteen years, and I still never really slept. At 2:34am almost consistently, I would wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed, took to doing asana and meditation so as not to wake my daughter. Maybe I even booted up and got some much needed hours of productivity in before email and my phone blew up. I spent over a decade being on the road, an “Up in the Air” George Clooney lifestyle. Sometimes I took two red eyes per week. I would take a yoga class with Kathleen Hunt, go for a run, shower up and head to the airport. Sometimes I would fly out to Toronto, arrive in the AM and hit the 6:30pm Air Canada flight back that same day, sometimes more than once a week. I would land, immediately go running. I ran, I did advanced asana. I also was a yoga teacher and training teachers.

Many times I hear if you’re a yoga teacher, you should never be sick. For me, being a yoga teacher and practitioner was probably the only reason I could function; it was the reason I was even alive.

A few months back, things got a little weird. I was still “Sleepless in Seattle” but started having crazy side effects. After several Dr’s appts, I got a very clear mandate: “you must start sleeping and consumming lots of water.” You would think as a yogi in my mid forties, the profound life lessons I would be receiving would be infinitely more ‘evolved’ but alas, here I am learning how to sleep and drink water. Fortunately, I am healthy, but now I am really taking the basic essentials of life less for granted and starting to get serious.

The hardest part about sleeping is knowing that I have to change certain lifestyle habits. My super early AM meditation sessions have to start a bit later in the morning and cannot last as long until I figure out a suitable time to practice. I cannot tell you how working with a naturopathic doctor, taking herbal teas, getting craniosacral and meditating before I go to bed has helped. For the first time in thirteen years, I am legitimately getting rest, a full eight hours of sleep. As my body is learning to sleep again, to respond to exhaustion instead of adrenaling my way through the day and my epic tasklist, I am stopping, pausing and breathing.

I finally feel like I am rounding the horn on what being a yogi is: being at peace and living life in balance.

Today, I had a wonderful craniosacral massage from a dear friend and Sattvist faculty member. She sat me down first and insisted that I drink alot of water, made me an incredible herbal tea and honey drink. After the treatment, unlike other’s, encouraged me to stay put and take a nap. I told her this was impossible; I had slide decks due, presentations to get together for a client, etc. She asked me in I could stay still and rest for :10 minutes. I knew this was really important for the benefits of the session to settle in. So I chose not to jump off the table and get on my phone. I got comfortable, nidra style, closed my eyes and focused on my breath. Thirty minutes later, I woke up feeling like a million dollars.

Sleeping for me comes down to one element: resetting my priorities. It doesn’t make sense to cram it all into a day if the next day you feel crummy.

I thought I was invincible but sleeping is a dollar for dollar proposition: you cannot get the time back without putting it in.

Not I know that I am not invincible. My brain grew tired. This time, I was able to stop long enough to listen.

It’s 2013 and I am learning how to sleep and reaping the benefits. Here are some ways that I have been successful in changing my lifestyle and catching more zzz’s. I hope some of them can be of help to you as well. If you have found your sleep constantly disturbed, you may wish to visit a physician for help. Over time, once I get the sleep I need and can establish a proper schedule, I may ease up a bit on the schedule, but for now it looks a little bit like this.

Evening: No stimulation after 9:00pm. Admittedly, I am writing this at 9:41pm but I really feel ready to release this story. Maybe someone tonight in the world needs to read this and is struggling with their sleep. This means no television and no reading. I also will put on either simple meditation music or Doreen Virtue’s incredible Chakra clearing for the evening. Either way, I am not seeding my mind with incessant vrittis. I am slowly turning down the volume on my day so my mind is ready to settle into a peaceful slumber. You may also want to try a YogaNidra or Richard Miller’s iRest Yoga Midra. My friends Christina and Eric Romano has published a delightful Yoga Nidra CD with all the proceeds going to Seeds of Change, a non profit serving children in India.

I take a salt bath every evening, typically by candlelight. I sit, I breath and relax. Bubbles make me happy! The salt clears the energy so I am not carrying around other people’s stuff or the remains of my day. The heat relaxes my muscles. I use the aromatics of blue chamomile or lavender, nothing stimulating like peppermint or geranium.

I quit drinking liquids by 7pm. This prevents me from having to get up repeatedly throughout the night to go to the bathroom. For years, I slept coiled and twisted, and everytime I rolled over, I had to get up and use the bathroom. Now I start my sleep savasana style, flat on my back and focus with closed eyes on breathing. Now I get up maybe once per night and immediately go back to bed. I forgot this was even possible!

I make sure the blinds are closed, the light from my clock and my phone is blacked out. No light helps with your circadian rhythms. I do not keep my cell phone or computer in my room.

If you love crystals, I keep an obscene amount of apophyllite, stilbite (often times they grow together) and celestite by my bed. I think this helps.

Morning: I do not unless ABSOLUTELY essential schedule ANYTHING until after 8:00am. This means I can get up gracefully, meditate, slowly wake up, eat a sufficient and balanced breakfast. I start my day on MY terms. You would be surprised with how you start your day dictates the state of mind in how you finish it.

For now, I block noon to two pm for resting or naps. I find laying down and closing my eyes even for twenty minutes is a radical reset. This month’s Marie Claire has an article completely substantiating the value of the siesta. My client probably is not happy, but that is ok, because I am. I feel great! Praise the Lord!

Diet: I have done my best to eliminate caffeinated products, meats, processed foods and sugars. My diet is not perfect, and I know it never will be. My stress levels and anxiety, I find, is more subdued when my diet is complementing the quality of life I want to live. Again, it’s about making choices that are best for me and not compromising to run a ragged race of pleasing or placated others.

I am going to sleep well tonight and it is my sincere hope you will, too. Sweet dreams!

by Kimberly Morton
edited by Ali Valdez

I moved to Peru with my husband and two small children in the middle of October 2012 to start a Center in the Sacred Valley under a sacred waterfall. In the short term, practical life factors took some of the sacredness and turned it into the practical or slightly inconvenient. It has been a whirlwind to say the least. Living in a third world country is not the easiest thing I’ve ever done. Aside from the numerous woes of which beset anyone with young children, a menagerie of pets, and building a world class facility in Peru, it has been a great growth experience and also allowed for some reflection on the resiliency and perseverance of my nature, as well as the importance of my yoga practice.

As a mother, it has been interesting to work towards finding balance between allowing for freedom and also structure with the many changes we are experiencing. Living in the mountains among native farmers, bulls, chickens, pigs, sheep, and not speaking the language has been a test of patience and compassion. As a woman to walk out every morning to the splendor and beauty of the Peruvian sacred valley is thrilling.

With the move and daily Peruvian challenges it had been a while since I had taught a class or had a regular personal practice.  We hosted our first private group the last 8 days leading up to 12/21/2012. I was able to teach yoga and breathwork to this group of 18, many of whom have never had a yoga practice. From feedback I received directly or second-hand, people felt like it was accessible to them now when it had not been before.  A seed had been planted or a past flicker of interest reignited. I was at ease and in my purpose again. It sure did feel nice and for the first time, finally, felt like being home.

As part of this private retreat I was able to attend a traditional Andean sweat ceremony.

In retrospect, this was an initiation.

  This experience was profound and with my past training something truly otherworldly blossomed.  In that dark sweat lodge, chanting somewhat familiar seed mantras to awaken my centers of energy, I resonated with the Universe, I became the Universe, I became the chakra, the sound, the cosmos. It was a magical experience and is deepening my own understanding of connection with myself and others. These types of experiences are informing my yoga teaching and my daily lifestyle, perspective in each moment, raising awareness, consciousness and the unfolding of what our new Center will be to others. The Center will be a conduit for Spirit, for learning, for Creation, and Freedom, Self-realization and Action.

Our Center is a joyful labor of love that will support my efforts as a teacher, mother and healer. The Center will attract those that are on their Path, coming into the understanding of their purpose, with a true mission to make a difference in their lives for themselves and others. We will attract responsible people that know that they are being called to realize their full potential and raise their consciousness moving past the mundane. In this time we are all being called to become our own teachers, healers, and shamans, taking full responsibility for our growth, actions, energy and life. The Center supports this idea and cultivates self-empowerment.  We will also have groups come that are just looking for a place to get away, quieting the mind, to sit in nature and just Be. So although we have more of a spiritual mission and focus, our center will not be exclusive of one type of group or belief.

We have been involved in every detail of starting this Center from budgeting, clearing land, new construction, tiles, bedding, amenities, workers and planting gardens. It has been energizing to start fresh, utilizing past skills but trusting intuition to make decisions that continuously unfold for manifesting our vision in this reality. I feel so blessed and amazed for this opportunity to live, love and learn in the sacred valley.

by Ali Valdez

Creating and hosting the Forty day challenge has been a very rewarding process for me. I love doing the research, creating the manuals, learning and constantly bringing improvements to the program.  This year, brilliantly (and why didn’t I think of this before?) we brought on Sattvist Cristina Gildee, a teacher at the studio where the event is hosted, who is also a Cordon Bleu chef. Her weekly recipes and knowledge on food combining, etc. has been a phenomenal enhancement.

Often times, I am so busy tending to the flock, I forget to really put my feet to the fire for the challenge. Yes, I’ve done the hard work. This year I am 100 percent focused and present in my own experience as well as their’s. This month has felt different. My forty day challenge is not just diet and yoga (yoga being the easy part!). We work through the mayakoshas, Ayurvedic principles, food eliminations, some fasting of sorts, archetypes and the subconscious.

I find each person is looking for their own insights, wanting to get their own experience from the challenge, so I try to create an environment from which to choose. This allows the participant a chance to really set meaningful goals that hopefully become attainable as lifestyle changes.

Some things that seemed like ‘good’ ideas, turned out not to be so much, like consumming soy and tofu upon forfeiting meat and dairy. My body has an aversion to soy. Now in my mid forties, and who knew?! In giving up meat, and most seafood, I was consuming big bountiful bowls of hot pho noodles with extra veggies and tofu. By day 20 I was wondering why the challenge seemed to be having the opposite effect: bloating. I felt like I was starting to put on weight, and didn’t feel very strong. Tofu, as a processed food, and how soy works with its level of estrogen in the bloodstream isn’t making for a happy body.Good to know. More almonds now.

Most of the tasks proved to be solid winners for rewiring my innnerworkings, like taking downtime during the day in small and subtle ways for this maniacally driven workaholic, come to find out, are rather pleasurable staples of my daily life.

Imagine this for a former Microsoft and tech exec: two hours of turning off the phone and laptop. Before the forty days, and immediately following the halycon era of the eight track, PacMan, and Orville Redenbacher’s microwaveable popcorn,I did not believe this could ever be possible.

Some things I am really liking are stopping all food and drink consumption by 7pm because I am sleeping better than ever before, and committing to a nice warm bath by candlelight every evening for twenty minutes of silent reflective downtime: a gesture of departure from the day and readiness going into the night. Look at me getting all self maintaining!

I have been reflecting on my drawn archetypes, the monk/nun (please see cover photo from my yoga retreat in Italy. How incredibly symbolic is that mural!), the poet, but mainly the mountaineer. The mountaineer for me is most acute in my mind. As part of the program, we are looking at the light attributes of the archetype and the shadow. We all have shadow aspects, but for the mountaineer, I envisioned a card with a large mountain capped in snow and an Alpine gent (bottom right) complete with funny hat and lederhosen carrying a huge pack gazing upward as if intent on conquering the summit.

Here is where this post could go in a myriad of directions with its significance, irony and resonance.

The light attribute means I can climb any mountain, possess the courage to tackle every obstacle; like an obstinate pack mule. My Taurean nature can slog up the mountain determined and headstrong.

Yes, I can carry the heavy load, but my shadow side is also in play: I will always go it alone and I will NEVER ask for help.The task of scaling the mountain becomes daunting because there is no one by my side shouldering any of life’s burdens.

I am in the process of releasing the shadow side and I find myself being powerfully connected with others whose first words spoken are, “I am happy to help” and “let’s just get this done together.” The level of comaraderie and teamwork working with others is greatly aiding the realization of my goals, wishes and dream.

I am starting off my year bombarded with manifestation!

People want to be a part of this thing I am building, and I’ve finally been able to see that putting down the pack and collectively ascending the mountain is the better journey travelled.

Wow, now I really feely like I am in touch with what everyone is going through on this journey together. Thank you to each of the Forty Day challengers shedding their shadows along with me. I have loved and am grateful for our time together. And I just couldn’t resist these adorable little Hummels; they represent as a scribe to my past a fond memory. They make me smile!

by Jane Connors, volunteer for Yoga Gives Back

My trip to India began with much fear inside of me.  It didn’t begin this way, as few things do when you are planning the biggest trip of your life and that includes plan to travel with fellow yoga friends. But we all know how yogis can be, and as life would have it (and as it was meant to be), I ended up on a plane to Bangalore, India, alone.

What struck me the most was the surreal realization that the sun had set and risen twice prior to arriving at my new Indian home.  I arrived at 4 am only to find Lufthansa had lost my luggage.  I was devastated. Maybe it was jetlag, or maybe it was the fact that there was no blow dryer for the yoga princess from Charlotte, North Carolina. The airline graciously gave me compensation in rupee – the equivalent of – I don’t know – maybe $300 US dollars approx.  I was to replace two months of packed items with that seemingly measly amount.  I was completely apprehensive that could even happen because heck, one pair of yoga pants at Lululemon with tax is just shy of $100, right?

Anyway, I was too tired to worry about such small things and instead slowly crawled into a car for the three hour drive to Mysore in darkness.  When I arrived at the guest house, I slept nicely on the common area sofa. Yes, I was that tired. Just hours later, several yogis from different parts of the world came in and out with their various organic breakfasts and Ayurvedic smoothies – all conversing about “the shala”. 

I was tired but in complete awe of what lies in store for me on my adventure to the yoga capital of the world! Mysore is the home of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, the godfather of the revered Astanga yoga, and “the shala” is where devotees of the practice worldwide take their pilgrimage to study with Saraswati, his daughter and her son, Sharat.

An exceptional individual whom I had connected with via social media came over to the guest house where I was staying and personally introduced himself to me. Within days, he threw me on the back of a scooter for the grand tour of Mysore.  Scooters in Mysore, wow, that’s living on the edge!

Another practitioner, a girl from California to the disheveled and disoriented North Carolingian without her lulu pants and hair dryer took me for a walk and showed me the shala. After that, she guided me to the grocery and took me to purchase my new Indian blow dryer. I pulled out my rupee from the lost luggage and took to shopping for some practical sandals and clothing and guess what?  I still had money left over! I had no comprehension just how inexpensive daily life in India would be!

I also had no idea what to expect daily life in India to be. I arrived with no possessions, in a land where the cows roamed the streets with the scooters, cars, buses, goats, people. Oh, and the horns, the horns and more and more horns, and more cows: this is a country of infinite diversity as it continues to develop as a world power economy and yet keep its cultural flair.  Coming from a  relatively quiet and reserved suburban Charlotte, I was struck with how much noise and clambering there was in my midst, the voluminous but steady movement on the sidewalks and streets. Want to practice your pratyahara? Eventually, I got to a point where I learned what that term truly meant. Pratyahara, selective withdrawing of the senses. Within a week, I did not hear anything at all.

As time went on and I started practicing at the shala, my days were filled with meeting wonderful yogis from around the world and the most powerful moments in my practice that verged on the sublime. There was the art of sharing our daily lives as traveling yogis: the routine of waking, walking with mats rolled up and cantilevered on our shoulders, navigating through dirt, street vendors, honking horns and lazy rogue cattle, two hour long practices transcendent in their depth, and afterwards, mango lassi, chai tea, papadams and melt in your mouth naan (now that was the start of a bad eating habit!). I will forever cherish unifying my intention and devotion to the practice with the transient humanity that greeted and befriended me at every turn. However, most memorable were the fabulous people I met in Mysore.

One of my favorites was my regular rickshaw driver, Apu.  He was a man of little means, but rich in faith and grand in heart.  He was authentic, constantly smiling, even indulged me in my favorite ‘back home’ music and smiled as if he actually liked it.  Every Hindu palace we passed, he stopped the rickshaw to bow and say a prayer.  Everywhere we went, he followed me at a comforting distance, to make sure I was not harassed as the bold face of poverty lining the streets with sad faces and dirty hands reached out, begging. 

He took me to a very small village far outside of Mysore to Shankranti Fesitval which is cows are lavishly decorated in true Indian style; there is no subtlety in how this culture parties!

They set bails of hay on fire through a patchwork of closed highway then proceeded to drive the sacred cows through the fire!  There must have been a thousand plus happy Indian Shankranti festival goers there and only two of us Westerners. 
Apu knew this was something I would embrace and he was right.  He jumped over the burning embers with joy after the flames and excitement died down and it warmed my heart to spend time with this happy man and his community.

Later, he invited several of us to his humble home of two rooms where two families live.  The living room consisted of a futon bed and a TV. This is the room where everyone sleeps and there is an adjoining closet where clothing and everything else is kept.  He knelt on the floor to prepare for us delicious chai tea and I was so proud to be there with his family.  This is the Indian way!  They are full of authenticity.  They are full of love for all beings without attachment or expectation of anything in return.  They are the happiest and most serene people even admist all of the noise and chaos of blooming India.

They are the yoga without the asana.  It is simply their nature.  It is where yoga was born and it is very apparent that it’s entrenched in that society.

Even as a westerner’s eyes looking in, it was unmistakable and made a big impact on my heart. I fell in love with these people and their simple and gracious way of life. From that moment, although I love my life, friends and family here, I knew that India had captured my imagination.

Then there was the orphanage.  That’s how India captured my soul. A friend in Mysore was very involved with an orphanage and had several yogis helping out with the kids. I decided to join in.  We met late in the afternoon and took rickshaws one day, scooters another, into a very small neighborhood of tiny little shanties  – a far cry from the nice homes in the Gokulum area where I was living and where the $700 a month shala is located.  I was now seeing another India, probably the more real one.

For political reasons I do not quite understand, the children were ineligible for adoption as the State of Karnataka had somehow not sanctioned this place.  I am not quite sure.  All I know is that this Indian family cared enough to make their lives about helping children that were in the most desperate need in a society that placed them at the ultimate disadvantage. I do not know what trajectory their lives would have taken them without the loving and tender guidance of this family, but what I do know was what I saw with my own eyes: that it was a very happy environment.  We would take the kids to the park just so they could play.  I am a mother and it was a joy to be with them on the swing sets, pitch cricket, do cartwheels and put on my lip gloss. Just like an American kid, they also loved playing with everyone’s cameras and/or iphones.  They could not get enough of the simple things. They just wanted attention and love and they were more than generous to return it in kind.

One day, several of the yogis had taken art paper to the orphanage to trace all of the children’s feet (33 in total) so they could purchase new shoes for them later that afternoon.  However, nnly thirty of them got their new shoes.  The three that did not get shoes never showed a hint of animosity. They never frowned, never got angry, they only smiled and showed their excitement for the others who all sat together in a circle laughing, playing and trying on their new shoes.  If that had been in the US, there would have been a major meltdown.  Those three children joined in the joy of the others with no attachment to an outcome for themselves.  All ended well as they were treated to a rickshaw ride to the shoe store personally and sang beautiful chants the whole way there.

These are just a couple of the things that touched my heart in a rather small town in India that happens to be where the world of Ashtanga Yogis come to practice with the lineage holders. This is where I got a taste of how beautiful and giving this culture is here in India – and not just the yoga culture I am speaking of, but it is also very beautiful and special in this small town of Mysore, too.

One day, I was waiting with a friend in a rickshaw while another friend was on the phone. She was standing there chatting about seeing someone’s progress with a microfinance loan that they had been given.  My western brain reverted back to my hometown of Charlotte, which is large in banking industry, which was the last thing I wanted to have happen in Mysore.

But the habits of home are always lingering, and later in my journey, I was on Facebook and saw a few posts about the organization to whom my friend was referring, Yoga Gives Back (YGB).  I started looking at YGB’s website, and was immediately inspired by what I was learning.  I then noticed that the person that was chatting about the “microfinance” was their legal advisor. 

I was impressed by the humbleness of this organization coupled with the natural innate spiritual side of yoga in the people of India. 

Through my research, I realized that yoga is a billion dollar industry in the United States. It is also an industry that has taken an ancient science which is predominantly male and made it a fast growing area of business for American women.

Big business back home is booming, but not at the orphanage or on the streets around me where the incipience of the science grew. We have lovely studios, fabulous yoga gear, but I quickly learned, we have nowhere near the ‘yoga’ that these people exhibit in their everyday living. 

Also, India is a culture where women and children are in the minority by way of opportunity for sustainable livelihoods. The history of their culture never really gives the poorest women and children a chance to advance in society, or to even survive, especially those in the most remote and underserved villages.  I knew then I wanted to show my appreciation and thanks to the place and people that brought the gift of yoga to the world, to my world. I am just so humbled and thankful.

I wish we could all go and experience the real yoga of India. You can see in the eyes of its people; there need not be any asana involved.

This is what I was able to witness during my stay in India. They are the happiest and they want you to be happy. They will give you whatever they can or whatever they have, even if it is almost nothing. 

The owners of the guest house, Apu, the children at the orphanage: they are all love. The captivated my heart and led me to devote my time to this wonderful cause of inclusion and opportunity.

I am looking forward to returning to India, both in service to Yoga Gives Back, traveling to Kolkata, Mysore and other places, as well as getting a month or two of practice in at the shala. I find my life is perfect balance and harmony there. For that, Mother India, I am eternally grateful.

Part II: Path of the Yogi
by Ali Valdez

“If we are looking for liberation, we need to investigate the complex of karmic motivations that you have from birth. Babies on their first hour already have character and tendencies, why? They don’t have life experiences but they have a previous life. It is very important to understand karma rules.”

In the first part of the interview, Andrey was discussing yoga as a tool for eliminating suffering or kleshas, as outlined in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. The Universal Yoga system has been designed to create a well-developed state of balance by conditioning each of the mayakoshas, or shells.

For the conditioning of the first shell, ‘hardware’ as Lappa calls it, Universal Yoga employs rigorous asana and vinyasas that work the body multidimensionally in space and are perfectly balanced to put influence on one’s consciousness, or citta. He uses asana as a balance of energies so the inside work of the second shell can be accessed. He believes in working the body in all five dimensions in space and conditioning the physical body in all seven ways, including the oft forgotten coordination and reaction and in the era of lightning-fast vinyasa, endurance.

“We don’t start with sweating right away; first we understand what it is we do, then we begin. In music, just like you need to know how to use all keys on the piano, you also need to work the body in all directions and full mobility of the joints and the spine.”

Another important tenet of Universal Yoga is the importance of sequencing that is also balanced evenly across dimensions in space, planes of the body and types of body conditioning which is why you will see unique in the Universal practice turns on the mat, shoulder stretches created by Andrey to compliment those of the hips, and digital balancing across the composition of the asana and pranayama sequencing. You don’t have to be a geometry major or Rhodes scholar to devise either very simple or stunningly labyrinthine configurations in beautiful harmony, an energetic mandala of movement with the human body.

“You want to leave balanced, not with disbalance. You need to reach the point of internal peace. Karma is surrounding you. We want to impact all seven shells, but we start  sending energy signals by getting our muscles moving. We take care of our organic shell by how we eat, how we move our bodies and where we devote our time. 24 hours a day, we are accumulating karma. So one hour per day you do yoga, something very good. But 23 hours per day you don’t. What becomes heavier on the scale?”

Balance across all seven mayakoshas is one of the aims of Universal Yoga. He understands that attention only to the hardware, or body, leaves us unchanged in areas of tendency, habit, and predisposition.

“So if you have American dream: property, children, parents, you are always working hard and staying busy to find happiness. Non-stop civilization, when you finally die then you can relax and be happy. You don’t own things: your things own you. Karmic freedom: either you have it, or you don’t.”

Universal Yoga was designed to aid the practitioner to reign in the monkey mind, the citta running wild, and get to a state of where one’s thoughts are under control.

For the second shell, Universal Yoga employs pranayama combinations and other energy exercises. “Ten minutes of pranayama and meditation is not effective,” he says simply. Lappa typically will lead mandala classes in excess of three hours to allow ample time for all layers of mayakosha to be influenced. Depending on which way Lappa wants to effect the energy through sequencing or pranayamas, either circular, crosses, symmetric, assymetric, visamavritti or samavritti, as much mindfulness is made in the course of the students’ breathwork as in the complexity of the asana.

The remainder of the shells are also influenced accordingly as Lappa teaches how to use rasas, operating from your own personal power to overcome the will, pratyahara techniques to suspend the flux of the five indriyas, or organs of perception in the body, cognitive senses,through yantra and mantra. For the fourth shell, Lappa’s Universal Yoga skillfully weaves in meditations and concentration techniques that are accessible to all students.

“On a mental level, information is our food. Don’t let poison install onto your hard drive by being programmed by TV. Computers, TVs, iphones are all universal installers of ideas onto your mind. Vijnamayakosha is the concept of idea, the intellectual shell organizing our minds into who we are in reality. Our senses are five internet lines always connected to the wall and downloading, and without conscious work, you have no anti-virus software.”

Universal Yoga strives to help the disciplined practitioner overcome the elements of the four previous shells to enter into ananda, creating an authentically blissful state where people can truly be happy and content. Lappa believes on the sixth level, the cittamayakosha, exists samskaras, latent tendencies that play out in your present life from past ones, “if you can overcome any patterns, habits, automisms it will be another state of consciousness.”

From there, we can enter into atmamayakosha, the soul itself, or as the Light on the Yoga Sutras by BKS Iyengar says, “Mastery of contemplation brings the power to extend from the finest particle to the greatest.”

Lappa is the first to admit that although Universal Yoga is available to everyone, not everyone is ready to embrace the depth of what Universal Yoga can be:

“Time in my course will answer whether or not you really want to practice yoga.” When speaking with Lappa, setting aside the strong Ukrainian accent and directness in his speech, he is a humble and gracious man,

“It’s not about me; it’s about the essence of science. If you want to have results, you have to challenge yourself and understand your motivations. Wrong motivation in yoga will lead to wrong result.”

Truly Eastern at heart, with a vast travel, yogic arts, and contemplative repertoire scanning Russia and its former Soviet states, and both southeastern and central Asia, he has been teaching yoga for many decades to different types of students, and certainly embraces the more traditional Eastern view of student and teacher which can sometimes confound the Western minded student.

“Yoga is that related to evolution. I enjoy teaching in Eastern cultures that understand the meaning and purpose of teacher. They respect and they do. It may not always feel ‘good’ but they do it because they trust the teacher has the right result. You must challenge yourself on the physical level just like sports or there is no development. If you can always do 100 percent of the teacher’s practice, you are not pushing yourself. Twenty percent should be undoable so you as a student can have extra goal and grow.”

Part of being a teacher, Lappa also believes, has nothing to do with pushing dogma about yoga, just making sure that as yoga continues to expand in the West, it doesn’t fall prey to shallowness but can evolve with the full intention of what the science of yoga can offer faithful practitioners. He offers freely his wisdom and insights to all that show interest.

“I bring science of yoga. Under the name Universal Yoga, I give people universal laws which can be represented in all styles of yoga, which is basically about yoga itself. All my teaching is only about these principles.”

To see the first part of Path of the Yogi, please click the August 2012 blog post. Space is still available for all interested students, practitioners of Universal Yoga, aspiring yoga teachers, or current teachers. Registration information can be found at our site /andrey-lappa.

Part One: Path of the Yogi
By Ali Valdez

“What I propose is something that is effective: not too easy and not too hard. You always choose for yourself modification if needed, but the general structure is the same except for intensity of the yoga. But if you always choose easy, easy, easy, you will die undeveloped. This I can guarantee.”

Few people have the diversity of life experiences, the veracity for the abhyasa and vairagya of yogic studies coupled with the karma of being both a seeker and the good fortune of finding. An international traveler from a very early age, Ukrainian yogi master, Andrey Lappa, has been on a road few dare travel. I had the pleasure of interviewing and working with Andrey earlier this year in Houston, Texas where we spent time discussing his innovative and unique contribution to yoga, a scientific method cultivated over years of interdisciplinary studies throughout the world, Universal Yoga.

The name itself, ‘Universal’ yoga, was born out of practical differentiation catering to the American marketing mentality. Having come to the States twelve years back, Andrey was constantly asked by yoga studio owners what to call his ‘brand’ of yoga. Seriously, how would a studio owner fill an event simply labeled ‘YOGA’ with a teacher sitting in Paschimottanasana? Being a man whose heart is true to the authentic spirit of yoga, Lappa was a bit flummoxed, jokingly calling his method “yoga- yoga.” Finally settling upon a name, Andrey felt his style incorporated the full spectrum and universal aspects of yoga and thus began the Universal Yoga system.

Originally from the Ukraine, and having spent extensive years throughout Europe, Southeastern and Central Asia, Andrey now spends half of the year (the cold, winter part) in the Himalayas in Nepal devoted to internal practices which I had the pleasure of studying with him in Asia last year. His journey into yoga reads part spiritual awakening and Lonely Planet travel guide.

His father was sent from Kiev back in 1976 to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Back in the Soviet era, activities were readily available at no cost for all families. Lappa, a world-class swimmer, was a busy young man in bustling Kiev, only finding himself in a remote, now underdeveloped environment with nothing to do after school.

“Back in Ukraine it was Socialist, so many special programs were there for children. I was very busy. Busy with educational stuff. In Mongolia, nothing was available.” He sought and found inspiration the moment he arrived in the dusty capital city that summer.

“I remember our train arriving with all our furniture to Ulaanbaatar. While we waited it was hot, so I opened the window. Then a camel stuck his head into our train car. There were not camels in Ukraine. I was a boy and there appeared my first impression when we came to Mongolia. I was so impressed, I still remember that head of camel.

So I know that camel inspired me to study something unique to the East.”

After settling in, one day Andrey walked by an Eastern equivalent of a ‘monastery.’ After looking in, Andrey found his “uniquely Eastern” inspiration and decided he would devote his after school time watching, learning, then participating . Already fluent in multiple languages, Andrey quickly learned all their chants and became fascinated with the spiritual Eastern traditions he was observing.

“My father made arrangements for me to attend and study under a monk at the monastery where I learned Mongolian, about Buddhism rituals and puja (form of worship). Mongolian traditions come from Tibet, and the monk there was always talking about Tibet.

I did not imagine that was yoga; I was just lost in the presence of that beautiful spiritual influence that I had there. When I left to go back to Ukraine, I was glad but I also knew I lost something very special.”

Returning to competitive swimming, Andrey began looking to diversify his training, develop his breathing and found himself drawn back to Eastern influences, choosing martial arts and yoga.
Over time, he realized that the path of martial arts was focused on self-defense, “to push someone down” and yoga was where the real potential was because it is about “non harming”. This somehow brought back the work he had done at the monastery. From there, he avidly dove into yoga, having access to forbidden books, and finding an easy and ready retention of all that he learned.

Once challenged by his coach’s ultimatum, Andrey’s decision was made and yoga increasingly and profoundly became his primary occupation. The culmination of his experiences, physical conditioning, and exposure to Eastern traditions all comprise elements in Andrey’s Universal yoga system, popularly known for creative mandala style sequencing, digital balancing and innovative asana creation, including arm stretches to balance out the multitude of stretches in earlier times reserved just for the hips and more variations on arm balances than an acrobat would employ during their tenure. But beneath the conditioning of the body, or ‘hardware’ as he calls it, there is a need to maintain and keep healthy, the software. This is the heart of the Universal Yoga system.

“Karma. Why do we have suffering? Dualistic thinking. To overcome this, we use techniques in yoga which has this name ‘unification – to be one with the supreme’. There is no antagonistic thinking, no struggling.

According to book two of the Yoga Sutras, we must overcome kleshas or sufferings. How is method for this? Ten minutes of meditation and pranayama each day is NOT enough time.”

Andrey’s methods actively include rigorous asana, believing at any point there are four levels of physical development for the practitioner and at least twenty percent of the class sequence should be beyond their abilities, so the sadhaka can continue to develop and grow. In addition to the physical work, practices can go past three hours with muiltidimensional turns on the mat creating influences on the body and the brain, intricate integrated pranayama techniques, concentration techniques including mantras and yantra visualizations.

“Universal yoga we practice yoga on the every shell (mayakosha). We have practical tools for every shell. Most teaching in United States are external practices only and the ego is not affected.” Andrey points out that this is a problem it is the ego that will make you run away from the practice.

“As soon as we cut a little deeper using rasas, we meet internal challenges that come out. Some people have childish karma and childish thought. With time and practice, internal challenges become internal changes.”

In essence, the Universal Yoga value proposition is conditioning and transforming the practitioner at every shell of their being, architecting one’s personal karma from the inside out to the point of unification.

“Computer has software and hardware. Corpus of laptop very flexible, this is yoga on the physical level. But the software was not changed. You can go inside and see ignorance, suffering and a strong ego. Internal practices most classique. Software is more important than hardware. But hardware has suffering so we practice vinyasa and asana to learn to control our energy.”

Next month, join us for Part II of the Andrey Lappa Interview, to learn more specifically about the science of the practice, the conditioning and balancing of all koshas and more.

For information or registration for Andrey Lappa’s event in Seattle September 26th-30th, please email or visit our website: sattvayogaonline.com/andrey-lappa.

Simple Gratitude: So Far, So Good
by Ali Valdez

It can be a thankless job: teaching. Even when your teaching provides you opportunities to travel to faraway exotic places, the teacher is inevitably, and appropriately, removed from the evolution of the students. The journey is about them, created for them. It is wonderful to see how far they have come in a short amount of time (throwing them into the fire sooner rather than later probably did not hurt…) but also the quality bonds they are forged amongst one another. But the teacher, like a parent, understands that the student has lots of growing to do, especially with the science of yoga. This does not always make the teacher popular, but yoga is not about popularity so I am okay with that.

This is my first hosted international teacher training and although I have been an annual visitor to Bali, and feel I understand the bones of her body and her most beautiful attributes, that does not diminish the inevitable logistics and ‘wires crossed’ when traveling to visit with people new not only to Indonesia, but her culture, food, and non American timekeeping. Plan to be ANYWHERE urgently, and you resign yourself to disappointment. So what can you do, but make the daily offerings, bless the space by lighting incense and sweeping the floors of the shala. This early AM quiet time is treasured before the barrage of questions and having to be ‘on’.

There were many lost in translation moments for me this time out as I coordinated arrangements for everyone. A lot of ‘yes, ma’ams’ at a beautiful retreat center still green and stretching its legs, for fear of not meeting my expectations, but when you are traveling with a child and eight people, half of whom have never been outside of the United States before and are rampant with difficult allergy combinations, there is no Bill Murray moment. At times, it got frustrating even interacting with the kindest people when their allergic configurations at meal times were not adhered to. Plus each dish was lovingly and individually made, not to mention delicious. We found ourselves wondering if we would come back from teacher training heavier with all the homemade desserts, luxurious sauces, and fried tempeh.

Sympathetic of being new to travel, dealing with exotic foods, and adjusting to a new way of living for two weeks had a few of our students struggling to acclimate while buckling under the tidal wave and weightiness of the content and depth of the ocean of yoga. The study manual alone is about 480 pages! Not to mention the book list, the homework assignments, and the self-test manual.

There is much to see in Bali and the girls became fast friends. I took them to Uluwatu and sunset and then seafood dinner on the beach. After combing the markets of Ubud to find the loveliest sarongs and coordinating sashes as part of the students’ welcome gifts, it was exciting to see everyone rested and dressed for temple sharing with them the real Bali. For once in six years, the Ramayana at sunset sold out so we did not get in to see that. We will see it the night before we leave at the Kings palace in Ubud, so not all is lost but the balance between showing them beautiful Bali and the rigors of putting in the hours in the shala sometimes come to odds with the students’ preferences.

Nothing went perfectly, but things went and the students progressed rapidly. Sigh! I can do this even thousands of miles away from home. Some of these gals are simply crushing it!

One of my highlights was taking them to Goa Gajah, a personal favorite of mine to meditate followed by a beach sunset at Sanur. Heading back, some people were in need of getting rupiah (Bali currency) and then everyone in unison marauded the local Circle K, stocking up on chips, chocolate and comfort foods. We loved all the wonderful meals we were served porridge, salads, mouthwatering curry, fresh exotic fruits, but there is something about being away from home and finding a can of Pringles, I guess, that makes one feel secure.

My personal indulgence is Pokka Green Jasmine tea which I consume excessively when in Singapore and Bali. I got everyone hooked on ‘the crack’ as one of my students called it

and I just returned from the Delta Dewata for a snack and Pokka tea run for the crew as they refined their sequencing calligraphy and metronomes. I created the mother of all Memory games and uped the ante with prizes (Bali Starbucks mugs, the perfect prize!) for them to study, practice and play after meal times. Other games included Asana Flashcard Tarot, and Rasa dance party everyone kept asking to work their rasas everyday.

My favorite part of any training is always developing their critical thinking and showing people that the meditation and pranayama as equally important to any asana practice they develop. It is a pleasure to give them everything I’ve got, stumble anew upon my own limitations, and take the opportunity to grow a little more each time. I hope by the end through sharing this time together in Bali, everyone will walk away inspired and on fire for yoga.