Home practice: so much easier with guest stars!

Getting to a yoga class has been challenging for a number of reasons lately: loss of some time-flexibility at work, as well as a desire to be home with family instead of away until after dark and dinner.  I've been missing time on my mat, and feeling it.

Then along comes Darren Rhodes's yogahour iPhone app (iTunes, $2.99), which made its big premiere in my dining area today, kicking off my new attempt at a home practice.  Oh yeah, so much easier to get and stay on the mat when I have someone talking me through a sequence.  And Darren, the literal poster-boy of Anusara: how to say enough good things about him?  I've had the good fortune to attend several weekend workshops at YogaKula San Francisco, co-taught by Darren and Sianna Sherman.  Darren is inspiring, funny, real.

So, it was pretty awesome to have his voice in my house, putting me through my paces between 6:30 and 7:30 this morning.

The format sure worked for me.  It was easy to commit to one hour, during a time when Joe was out walking Jasper so I would be less distracted.  Yes, because there is an absence of pronouns and articles, sometimes the instruction's a bit telegraphic, but that's fine.  The stripped narration makes some little gems shine, like "eyes soft, heart determined" which is clearly still ringing in my head.

Laura will be happy to know that her favorite "Mix Master" pose is included in the one-hour practice, called "Cosmic Abs" instead!

At this point, since I can't get to my favorite class tonight or Friday, I am going to do this yogahour daily until Saturday, when I can re-join the kula in Sausalito, and then beyond, trying to get to my mat daily.  I'm excited to have some guidance -- master guidance at that! -- helping me with this new practice at home.

Yoga is where I live

I'm home after Day 1 of the 5-day Immersion with John Friend in SF. Wow! It's hard to know where to even start to describe how fun, how inspiring, how awesome the day was. I am just so glad I'm doing this. Honestly, I wish I could do exactly this every single day!

I have pages and pages of notes from today, of course, and am still processing every thing we heard. If there were more hours in this day, I would re-read my notes, and read the new Immersion Part 1 curriculum that was distributed today - first-time ever that's been handed out! As it is, it's almost 8 and I just polished off dinner, and I'm feeling the virtually-irresistible draw of the couch and cozying-up under a blanket with my husband and watching something funny on tv, then retiring to my book and some ridiculously-great natural sleep.

Aaaaah, what a day. I am so looking forward to tomorrow, to hanging around with my buddies again, to learning more and to practicing for hours and hours. Sheer bliss!

Almost no matter the question, the answer = chit ananda!

Cycle 6, Day 3: The bounty of friendship, another gift of yoga

After walking with Jasper at the levies this morning (big tide rushing in, harriers trolling for their breakies), I sat with Joe by the French doors in our room for a while and watched the busy-ness of birds outside. Joe had a bit of a rough night, feeling very weak today and funky, but nevertheless left for work around 8:30, which is late for him. Not sure how long he'll last there today, honestly. Even though it's the last time, it might be the worst time, his poor body weakened by all of the chemo and side-effects that came before. Hanging in there...

I continue to be amazed at the kindness and love of the beautiful people we are so graced to call friends. Last night, darling sisters Alexandra and Gillian brought us an enormous pot of delicious chicken soup tied with a red bow, warm, delicious garlic bread, fresh and delicious zucchini bread. And a handmade sweet card. We were all delighted and dazzled by their presence, so moved by their generosity and unbelievable cuteness.

Besides the sheer delight of their presence, just how lit-up they each are, what's so awesome about it, for me, is that I only met these two lovelies in April of last year, when we had the good fortune to meet and spend a week together at Laura's retreat in Careyes, Mexico. For me, it was love at first sight, in that way I've grown to expect through yoga, that the people I meet through the practice become my fast- and heart-friends. I would do anything for them and know they would do anything for me. It's as if we've always known each other, because we see and know the truest thing about each other from the very beginning. Until last night, Alexandra and Gillian had never even met Joe, but still they came, bringing all that love for us to eat.

I never expected this, to meet such wonderful people through Anusara, to rest back into the arms of such a warm and loving community of yogis and yoginis, to be so very loved and to love so very deeply, so very madly, all these new friends all the time, every day.

The gifts of yoga are so much more than flexibility, handstands, peace of mind -- all of that is wonderful, but what is the real gift, the biggest joy, is this super-connectivity to others. I am so grateful to our teacher, Laura, who creates the conditions in which these friendships burgeon and flourish, Laura who consistently inspires each of us to see the good, the light, the beauty all around us. Through these glorious friendships, I touch the One-ness of which we truly are a part. Thanks to these lovely friends, I am reminded every day, on the mat and off, that Love is all that matters, the one and only real purpose of our time here on this earth.

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