1. I’m currently based out of London, UK. Though home home is California.
2. My daily rhythm is Ashtanga yoga, but I infuse my days with rituals and practices, most of which are some combination of banal and spiritual - tarot, sitting, drawing, dancing, cooking, breathing, walking and dreaming amongst them.
3. My reading list is 🤯. Top 3 on my shelf right now: 1) Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice by Catherine Bell; 2) Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett; 3) The Mysterious Kundalini by Vasant G. Rele
1. I live in Indian Wells, California, a displaced Canadian. My husband and I are the North American distributors of a Swedish designed residential compost tumbler.
2. I have practiced traditional Ashtanga in its orthodox form since 1999 and am just now, as I approach 60, softening my lines and my practice. I hold space for a small Ashtanga community. The art of plant based cooking and eating and my little ahimsa garden are inspired by my yoga practice and also feed my soul.
3. I’m in two book clubs and it’s truly all I have time for. Currently reading The Lacuna by Barbara Kingslover and The Midnight Library by Matthew Haig. Some of my food inspo these days comes from Kate O’Donnell’s Ayurveda books which also currently sit beside me. I’m drawn to the Ayurvedic approach to seasonal eating right now.
5. Tuning in- in all ways - to my vast social circle and moving away from ‘red flag people’ and cultivating more deep and meaningful relationships with the kindhearted genuine souls.
Hi Melody! Thank you for sharing. There are so many little delightful tidbits in here that I didn't know. This speaks to me on a bone-deep level: "Tuning in- in all ways - to my vast social circle and moving away from ‘red flag people’ and cultivating more deep and meaningful relationships with the kindhearted genuine souls."
I'm so happy to be connecting in deeper with you and like-minded souls!
Hello, Melody! I, too, am inspired by all of Kate’s books, they are full of so much… nourishment! There isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t reference her delicious and accessible guides. May your seasonal kitchen be flavorful, warming, and nourishing on all levels.
Hi Ashley, Thanks for your kind hello and good wishes! Kate truly made Ayurvedic cooking and eating inspiring, captivating, and easy. I wish the same for you… Happy, healthful winter! ♥️
I loved The Midnight Library! Find eating locally equals and supports seasonal eating. I'm lucky being in coastal NC where there are farmers growing fresh delights.
1. NYC. For now. Although I've been saying that for the past 18 years.
2. I am a daily Ashtanga practitioner. I was very lucky to have a home shala/teacher until pretty recently. I'm enjoying practicing at home these days, but struggling with the loss of community.
3. I'm currently part of a reading group where we are reading and translating the Aparokṣānubhūti. It's inspiring and humbling at the same time.
Hi Jessica! I feel you about the loss of yoga community. Home practice can be so beautiful and meaningful, but to be in co-relation and co-presencing in a shala is so special. I'm optimistic that we can forge community across time and space 🥰
The story about Betty White is exactly the feel good vibes I needed today. Thank you for sharing, and for being here!
1. I am in a suburb of Philly, on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River.
2. I practice Ashtanga, and I try, with varying degrees of success, to be especially present when my kids get home from school and when I am making dinner.
3. I am hoping to sit down with the novel City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert tonight. It was recommended by a friend.
4. I took a screen shot of someone's New Year's resolution. It says "Letting go of fixed perceptions of what activities count as work."
5. I am moving away from shrinking myself and towards leadership.
1. Live in Wilmington, NC, from Wilmington, DE with Colorado and California in between and on my mind.
2. I practice Ashtanga, pranayama, attempt meditation, and lots of walking. I find peace in watching the birds from yard, chopping veggies, and snuggling with my rescue pup.
3. Currently "An Elephant in My Kitchen" by Francoise Malby-Anthony, "The Goddess Solution" by Lisa Marie Rankin, the latest National Geaographic.
4. Today it's this https://www.instagram.com/p/CY1Vd_7L3AX/ I was born on the day of MLK Jr.'s assassination almost 54 years ago, subsequently I've always felt connection to this man.
5. Moving away from the self absorbed, plastic excess stuff. Moving towards connecting (in any form) to my dear friends, creative expression, laughter and just being.
Hi Eleni! The Goddess Solution looks 🙌. California is always on my mind, too, no matter where I go 🌊🏝😉 Thank you for the instagram share, being in the UK there hasn't been much visible honoring of MLK Jr's life and legacy today, so I am humbled and thankful for these quotes and reminders. Let's do this - move toward interconnectedness!
1. My familial foundations are deeply rooted in Southern California, I live in Los Angeles.
2. School is my daily practice. Mindfulness in action & stillness are also in the mix, at this moment I cannot claim any lineage, but am grateful for the teachers & guides for their wisdom along the way.
3. Currently reading:
•Several psych books (school)
•The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D.
• The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness by Elyn R. Saks
• 33 1/3: PJ Harvey’s album Rid Of Me inspired fiction by Kate Schatz
Hi Ashley, and thank your sharing. School is such a disciplined and specific practice, and I would argue its own special kind of lineage! The Body Keeps the Score is one of my all-time favorites, and I return to it again and again. Such wisdom. "33 1/3" has just been added to my reading list (thank you for the rec!) and "Julie" has just made me skin crawl in the best way possible 🦋
2. My physical practice is a bastardized mix of Ashtanga and functional movement. My sitting practices include pranayamas and Metta.
3. Right now I am reading : "The Empires of Atlantis" by Marco M Vigato, "The Hero With a Thousand Faces" Joseph Campbell, "The Book of Longing" Leonard Cohen.
4. "To God all things are fair and good and right," declares Heraclitus..." but men hold some things wrong and some right."
5. In 2022 I am moving away from associating with people who do not treat their workers like their family and I am moving toward creating a community of bright lights.
1. Based in a little town in central Kentucky, where I teach Mathematics (and sometimes Sanskrit!) at a small liberal arts college and my wife works at the public library. Our children are all grown but live close.
2. I have practiced Ashtanga since 1999, but mostly isolated, never studied in Mysore, and always felt more affinity with BNS Iyengar than with SKPJ. I sit with a Zen community called Furnace Mountain, in the hills a bit east of us. My svadhyaya is Sanskrit scholarship, serious but not on a professional level. Also backyard and community gardening.
3. Currently on my bed-side shelf:
- Beyond Compare: St. Francis de Sales and Śrī Vedānta Deśika on Loving Surrender to God, by Francis X. Clooney.
- The Roots of Yoga (Mallinson and Singleton)
- Rāmāyaṇa, the Sundarakaṇḍa (slowly making my way through the great epic)
5. Away/towards for me is a matter of vānaprastha, a stage-of-life thing: I am hoping to move away from such complete absorption in work and towards deeper study of yoga, with a view to cultivating and holding space for the practice, locally.
6. I'll pass on emojis, as I never learned how to make the fancy ones. :)
Hi Homer, and thanks for sharing. I too keep returning to The Roots of Yoga, which sits nestled on my shelf at all times. Your practices sound incredibly nourishing, intellectually satisfying, and spiritually rigorous. The poem you shared cracked me wide open as I drank my coffee this morning: "Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing." Thank you, thank you.
Hi Kim, I resonate with the hyphenated Ashtanga! And oh how I love this cartoon. Even mermaids need rest. I am so honored to be in a space with you, and in this heartfelt space of intellectual caregivers. I envision that one day the OG emojis will be back in vogue, the way that denim vests have somehow crept back into fashion ;) Thank you for sharing and for being here.
Hi hi, and thank you for sharing! I can hardly wait to read My India, My America! What a special connection. Love and understanding feel like really true and earnest things to move into this year. And trees too 🌳🌲 I'm always learning so much from the wilds. Here's to a spaciousness and ease in 2022!
1. Santa Fe, New Mexico, the ancestral homelands of the Tewa
2. I'm new to ashtanga in the last 18 months! (Now practicing every other day but a total and complete beginner) + daily meditation, hiking and writing
3. "Poet Warrior" by Joy Harjo (re-reading) and "Zorro" by Isabel Allende
Hi Christian, thank you for sharing. You and I share a love of Joy Harjo and Isabel Allende ❤️ And Bayo Akomolafe! Wow, he is such an inspiration. Welcome to the world of Ashtanga, I'm so honored and glad you're here.
1. San Jose, CA but my spirit is captivated by nature anywhere and everywhere my awareness takes me in the moment.
2. Ashtanga (the non-rigorous, natural, free-flowing, joy-filled kind), daily meditation, swimming, hiking, reading and writing, the last 2 are luxurious escapes.
3. The Alchemist (re-reading), Biology of Belief, The World Beyond Your Head
4. Family photos - there isn’t just one. Coming from a big close-knit family scattered in 2 continents, I need only to look at any family photograph from any decade for my heart to melt and be filled with overwhelming gratitude.
5. I only move towards, and generally don’t think about moving away from something, because I believe that that had its own value in its own time. I feel inspired everyday to move always in the direction of expansion of self in positive, nurturing ways.
6. ❤️🥰❤️🥰❤️🥰 Love is always aspirational for me. Towards every thing and every one.
Hello Veronica! I know that feeling of being a city dweller that's always called to the mountains and wilds. Yes yes to the joy-filled Ashtanga. Oh my goodness I teared up reading what is inspiring you. What a gift to have a beautiful, full and global family that fills you with gratitude. Here's to all the love that 2022 has in store.
1) I am still in Downey, CA. Will hopefully move in to our new place near El Sereno before end of the year!
2) Been getting back to more regular practice of Ashtanga. As it’s warming back up in LA, I also enjoy stepping out and just be in nature, breath for a bit and observe my tiny strawberry garden.
3) I’ve been working through Tao De Ching. Reading Dr. Wayne Dyers interpretation and an interpretation in Chinese.
Hi Joanne, so lovely to hear from you! Thank you for this instagram inspiration, what a beautiful and uplifting account. Congrats on your new place in El Sereno, that is very exciting. I'd love to hear more about your Tao De Ching interpretations and findings. Here's to paying attention to the little bits, and listening deeper to the wilds. Big hug.
2. My primary form of practice is Ashtanga; however fell off the wagon when our zoom classes ended in April. Spiros has been back in Los Angeles intermittently since November and thus have been enjoying in person classes after almost 2 years apart.
3. My reading list is part book club 1)Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston; 2)The Shamanic Way of the Bee by Simon Buxton recommended by my meditation guide, Reema Datta 3)Video Slut by Sharon Oreck; this is just a fun and wacky read that helps to take some of the pressure off when I feel overwhelmed
Hello Karla! Thank you for sharing. I learned a lot by following the NPR link, and am delighted to hear that you're meditating with Reema. I will look for the Shamanic Way of the Bee, and Video Slut too (because sometimes it's nice to have an easy read!) I know the feeling of productivity being associated with worth, and support your ease with "being," and that being enough. Very warmly, Erica
Hi Caleb, we're currently not so far from one another, I'm just down in London. Would love to make it to Ireland during my stint here. I looked up Joanne Kyger at your recommendation and wow! So happy for the introduction to her - thank you. I resonate with more listening and more space. Here's to it!
1.) Live in Half Moon Bay, Ca and work in Redwood City Ca
2.) I practice Ashtanga (primary plus extras when no one is looking!).
I also have a strong chanting/meditation practice that I go to when my body is tired ( I can no loonger practice full series 6 days a week, too much other good stuff going on. I will return to more dedication when my schedule changes and it is safe to practice that hard). Beach walks, swimmming!, and I teach some Vinyasa during the week.:)
3.) I am reading the Book of Homepathic Remedies, The Yogi's Roadmap, Anatomy Book, and TONS of podcats...about to dive into Friendship with God by Neal Walsh
5.) I am moving away from my career as a public school te4acher to move into the healing art (Cranialsacral therapy/ Polarity Therapy bodywork, and Trauma informed therapy)
6.)My fav emogis are the Earth one! The read heart! The Anjali Mudra one! The star!
Hi Kim! Half Moon Bay is such a beautiful nook of the world. Your mosaics are absolutely gorgeous - and I loved the story of the family that decided to make each other gifts, instead of buy them. That sounds like a really meaningful experience to facilitate!
Congratulations on the shift in career, that also sounds meaningful and heart-centered.
1. I’m currently based out of London, UK. Though home home is California.
2. My daily rhythm is Ashtanga yoga, but I infuse my days with rituals and practices, most of which are some combination of banal and spiritual - tarot, sitting, drawing, dancing, cooking, breathing, walking and dreaming amongst them.
3. My reading list is 🤯. Top 3 on my shelf right now: 1) Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice by Catherine Bell; 2) Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett; 3) The Mysterious Kundalini by Vasant G. Rele
4. https://www.instagram.com/p/CTC0Vecr5Ng
5. I’m moving away from rigid ideals and towards fluid emergence.
6. 🐢🧶🦋🎒🧿🔮🐾🪴⚡️
1. I live in Indian Wells, California, a displaced Canadian. My husband and I are the North American distributors of a Swedish designed residential compost tumbler.
2. I have practiced traditional Ashtanga in its orthodox form since 1999 and am just now, as I approach 60, softening my lines and my practice. I hold space for a small Ashtanga community. The art of plant based cooking and eating and my little ahimsa garden are inspired by my yoga practice and also feed my soul.
3. I’m in two book clubs and it’s truly all I have time for. Currently reading The Lacuna by Barbara Kingslover and The Midnight Library by Matthew Haig. Some of my food inspo these days comes from Kate O’Donnell’s Ayurveda books which also currently sit beside me. I’m drawn to the Ayurvedic approach to seasonal eating right now.
4. https://instagram.com/wolfgang2242?utm_medium=copy_link Senior rescue at its finest and my forever pick-me-up go-to. I have 4 senior rescue dogs.
5. Tuning in- in all ways - to my vast social circle and moving away from ‘red flag people’ and cultivating more deep and meaningful relationships with the kindhearted genuine souls.
🧘🏼♀️💭♻️ 🐾🐾🌴☀️ 🌊💃🏼🕺🏼🙏🏻🐖🐄🐓🐟
Hi Melody! Thank you for sharing. There are so many little delightful tidbits in here that I didn't know. This speaks to me on a bone-deep level: "Tuning in- in all ways - to my vast social circle and moving away from ‘red flag people’ and cultivating more deep and meaningful relationships with the kindhearted genuine souls."
I'm so happy to be connecting in deeper with you and like-minded souls!
Hello, Melody! I, too, am inspired by all of Kate’s books, they are full of so much… nourishment! There isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t reference her delicious and accessible guides. May your seasonal kitchen be flavorful, warming, and nourishing on all levels.
Hi Ashley, Thanks for your kind hello and good wishes! Kate truly made Ayurvedic cooking and eating inspiring, captivating, and easy. I wish the same for you… Happy, healthful winter! ♥️
I could particularly go for one of Kate's cranberry butternut muffins right now! Preferably warm and smothered in ghee.
I loved The Midnight Library! Find eating locally equals and supports seasonal eating. I'm lucky being in coastal NC where there are farmers growing fresh delights.
I will have to add The Midnight Library to my list 📚 And yes, what a treat to have fresh produce. Thank you for sharing, Eleni.
1. NYC. For now. Although I've been saying that for the past 18 years.
2. I am a daily Ashtanga practitioner. I was very lucky to have a home shala/teacher until pretty recently. I'm enjoying practicing at home these days, but struggling with the loss of community.
3. I'm currently part of a reading group where we are reading and translating the Aparokṣānubhūti. It's inspiring and humbling at the same time.
4. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/animals-named-after-betty-white_n_61d9e0dce4b0bb04a645826a
5. I'm moving away from focusing so much of my energy outwards and towards being open to accept support from others.
6. 🙏🐾💖♓️
Hi Jessica! I feel you about the loss of yoga community. Home practice can be so beautiful and meaningful, but to be in co-relation and co-presencing in a shala is so special. I'm optimistic that we can forge community across time and space 🥰
The story about Betty White is exactly the feel good vibes I needed today. Thank you for sharing, and for being here!
Hmm, reading the Aparokṣānubhūti, recently deprived of your home shala -- were you by any chance a student of Zoe Slatoff?
Yes, exactly! I always forget how small a world this is. :)
I love this connection!
1. I am in a suburb of Philly, on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River.
2. I practice Ashtanga, and I try, with varying degrees of success, to be especially present when my kids get home from school and when I am making dinner.
3. I am hoping to sit down with the novel City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert tonight. It was recommended by a friend.
4. I took a screen shot of someone's New Year's resolution. It says "Letting go of fixed perceptions of what activities count as work."
5. I am moving away from shrinking myself and towards leadership.
6. 💗🌞💯
Hi Meghan, presence with children is such a challenging and worthwhile practice! I am here for your expansive leadership. I'm so happy you're here.
1. Live in Wilmington, NC, from Wilmington, DE with Colorado and California in between and on my mind.
2. I practice Ashtanga, pranayama, attempt meditation, and lots of walking. I find peace in watching the birds from yard, chopping veggies, and snuggling with my rescue pup.
3. Currently "An Elephant in My Kitchen" by Francoise Malby-Anthony, "The Goddess Solution" by Lisa Marie Rankin, the latest National Geaographic.
4. Today it's this https://www.instagram.com/p/CY1Vd_7L3AX/ I was born on the day of MLK Jr.'s assassination almost 54 years ago, subsequently I've always felt connection to this man.
5. Moving away from the self absorbed, plastic excess stuff. Moving towards connecting (in any form) to my dear friends, creative expression, laughter and just being.
6. 💙💖🧿📕🌊🏝🌄🌳🙏🤗
Hi Eleni! The Goddess Solution looks 🙌. California is always on my mind, too, no matter where I go 🌊🏝😉 Thank you for the instagram share, being in the UK there hasn't been much visible honoring of MLK Jr's life and legacy today, so I am humbled and thankful for these quotes and reminders. Let's do this - move toward interconnectedness!
1. My familial foundations are deeply rooted in Southern California, I live in Los Angeles.
2. School is my daily practice. Mindfulness in action & stillness are also in the mix, at this moment I cannot claim any lineage, but am grateful for the teachers & guides for their wisdom along the way.
3. Currently reading:
•Several psych books (school)
•The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D.
• The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness by Elyn R. Saks
• 33 1/3: PJ Harvey’s album Rid Of Me inspired fiction by Kate Schatz
•Moshi, Moshi by Banana Yoshimoto
4. Anna Calvi’s song “Julie” written & performed for Joanna Hogg’s film, “The Souvenir” (2019): https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MF5zm_7-3_o
5. 2022: Moving away from unnecessary excessive service and towards joyful, restorative, and inspiring connection.
6.🌳🕊📝💕🎶📻🎶💕🍜🤗🌊🌍
Hi Ashley, and thank your sharing. School is such a disciplined and specific practice, and I would argue its own special kind of lineage! The Body Keeps the Score is one of my all-time favorites, and I return to it again and again. Such wisdom. "33 1/3" has just been added to my reading list (thank you for the rec!) and "Julie" has just made me skin crawl in the best way possible 🦋
Here's to jubilant and wild connections 🔮
1. Athens Greece and Guerneville California
2. My physical practice is a bastardized mix of Ashtanga and functional movement. My sitting practices include pranayamas and Metta.
3. Right now I am reading : "The Empires of Atlantis" by Marco M Vigato, "The Hero With a Thousand Faces" Joseph Campbell, "The Book of Longing" Leonard Cohen.
4. "To God all things are fair and good and right," declares Heraclitus..." but men hold some things wrong and some right."
5. In 2022 I am moving away from associating with people who do not treat their workers like their family and I am moving toward creating a community of bright lights.
6. ✌🏻❤️🐈🐈⬛🌲🌲🌲🔥😶🌫️💃🏼🕺
Thanks for sharing, Kyle. This quote is ⚡️
I too would like to move toward community of bright lights. Let's build it!
1. Based in a little town in central Kentucky, where I teach Mathematics (and sometimes Sanskrit!) at a small liberal arts college and my wife works at the public library. Our children are all grown but live close.
2. I have practiced Ashtanga since 1999, but mostly isolated, never studied in Mysore, and always felt more affinity with BNS Iyengar than with SKPJ. I sit with a Zen community called Furnace Mountain, in the hills a bit east of us. My svadhyaya is Sanskrit scholarship, serious but not on a professional level. Also backyard and community gardening.
3. Currently on my bed-side shelf:
- Beyond Compare: St. Francis de Sales and Śrī Vedānta Deśika on Loving Surrender to God, by Francis X. Clooney.
- The Roots of Yoga (Mallinson and Singleton)
- Rāmāyaṇa, the Sundarakaṇḍa (slowly making my way through the great epic)
4. https://poets.org/poem/kindness
5. Away/towards for me is a matter of vānaprastha, a stage-of-life thing: I am hoping to move away from such complete absorption in work and towards deeper study of yoga, with a view to cultivating and holding space for the practice, locally.
6. I'll pass on emojis, as I never learned how to make the fancy ones. :)
Hi Homer, and thanks for sharing. I too keep returning to The Roots of Yoga, which sits nestled on my shelf at all times. Your practices sound incredibly nourishing, intellectually satisfying, and spiritually rigorous. The poem you shared cracked me wide open as I drank my coffee this morning: "Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing." Thank you, thank you.
Where in the world are you based?
Cincinnati OH but from NJ
What is your primary form of practice?
Awesome-Ashtanga-with-care-and-curiosity. Chanting. Sitting with mala meditation.
What are you reading?
Because I missed this several years back, 'The Eight Limbs of Yoga - handbook' by Stuart Ray Sarbacker & Kevin Kimple. What a sweet guidebook.
A link to something that’s inspiring you - a quote, a photo, a blog, a piece of music, anything at all.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CSb60ubBFXC/ (permission! ;)
Something you’re moving away from and something you’re moving towards in 2022.
Away from intellectual bullies and toward intellectual caregivers.
An emoji (or string of emojis) that conjures the aspirational spirit of 2022.
the OG :)
Hi Kim, I resonate with the hyphenated Ashtanga! And oh how I love this cartoon. Even mermaids need rest. I am so honored to be in a space with you, and in this heartfelt space of intellectual caregivers. I envision that one day the OG emojis will be back in vogue, the way that denim vests have somehow crept back into fashion ;) Thank you for sharing and for being here.
Where in the world are you based?
- I am based in SF.
What is your primary form of practice? Writing? Singing? Sitting? Ashtanga? Rocket? Painting? Chopping vegetables? Carrying water?
- all above above, in fact, including 🚀.
What are you reading?
- My India, My America, by Krishnalal Shridharani published in 1943 by my Grandma (who you met's) uncle on visit to Palo Alto!
- what else? my own heart and mind. your blog.
A link to something that’s inspiring you - a quote, a photo, a blog, a piece of music, anything at all.
https://www.amazon.com/My-India-America-Krishnalal-Shridharani/dp/1163823627
Something you’re moving away from and something you’re moving towards in 2022
- a futile effort
- i wonder: understanding and love
An emoji (or string of emojis) that conjures the aspirational spirit of 2022.
-🌳🌲
Hi hi, and thank you for sharing! I can hardly wait to read My India, My America! What a special connection. Love and understanding feel like really true and earnest things to move into this year. And trees too 🌳🌲 I'm always learning so much from the wilds. Here's to a spaciousness and ease in 2022!
1. Santa Fe, New Mexico, the ancestral homelands of the Tewa
2. I'm new to ashtanga in the last 18 months! (Now practicing every other day but a total and complete beginner) + daily meditation, hiking and writing
3. "Poet Warrior" by Joy Harjo (re-reading) and "Zorro" by Isabel Allende
4. https://www.treehugger.com/spiders-web-part-its-brain-suggests-new-research-4859403
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxOvuTkmK58&t=4s
5. I'm moving away from a deep pattern of fixing and saving, and towards creative expression.
6. 🏔🌲🦌🌲🏔🧚🏽♂️
Hi Christian, thank you for sharing. You and I share a love of Joy Harjo and Isabel Allende ❤️ And Bayo Akomolafe! Wow, he is such an inspiration. Welcome to the world of Ashtanga, I'm so honored and glad you're here.
1. San Jose, CA but my spirit is captivated by nature anywhere and everywhere my awareness takes me in the moment.
2. Ashtanga (the non-rigorous, natural, free-flowing, joy-filled kind), daily meditation, swimming, hiking, reading and writing, the last 2 are luxurious escapes.
3. The Alchemist (re-reading), Biology of Belief, The World Beyond Your Head
4. Family photos - there isn’t just one. Coming from a big close-knit family scattered in 2 continents, I need only to look at any family photograph from any decade for my heart to melt and be filled with overwhelming gratitude.
5. I only move towards, and generally don’t think about moving away from something, because I believe that that had its own value in its own time. I feel inspired everyday to move always in the direction of expansion of self in positive, nurturing ways.
6. ❤️🥰❤️🥰❤️🥰 Love is always aspirational for me. Towards every thing and every one.
Hello Veronica! I know that feeling of being a city dweller that's always called to the mountains and wilds. Yes yes to the joy-filled Ashtanga. Oh my goodness I teared up reading what is inspiring you. What a gift to have a beautiful, full and global family that fills you with gratitude. Here's to all the love that 2022 has in store.
Hi Erica !
1) I am still in Downey, CA. Will hopefully move in to our new place near El Sereno before end of the year!
2) Been getting back to more regular practice of Ashtanga. As it’s warming back up in LA, I also enjoy stepping out and just be in nature, breath for a bit and observe my tiny strawberry garden.
3) I’ve been working through Tao De Ching. Reading Dr. Wayne Dyers interpretation and an interpretation in Chinese.
4) https://www.instagram.com/p/CYCf0ZIvxaF/?utm_medium=copy_link
5) I am moving towards letting go, paying attention to small moments, and tuning in to nature.
6) 💕🌅🌄🌱
Hi Joanne, so lovely to hear from you! Thank you for this instagram inspiration, what a beautiful and uplifting account. Congrats on your new place in El Sereno, that is very exciting. I'd love to hear more about your Tao De Ching interpretations and findings. Here's to paying attention to the little bits, and listening deeper to the wilds. Big hug.
1. I'm based out of Highland Park, Los Angeles.
2. My primary form of practice is Ashtanga; however fell off the wagon when our zoom classes ended in April. Spiros has been back in Los Angeles intermittently since November and thus have been enjoying in person classes after almost 2 years apart.
3. My reading list is part book club 1)Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston; 2)The Shamanic Way of the Bee by Simon Buxton recommended by my meditation guide, Reema Datta 3)Video Slut by Sharon Oreck; this is just a fun and wacky read that helps to take some of the pressure off when I feel overwhelmed
4. https://www.npr.org/2022/02/01/1075623826/why-is-february-black-history-month
5. I'm moving away from always 'Doing' and how I associate that with my worth, and being okay with 'Being' and all that has to offer
6. 🙏🏽 👍🏾 🙌🏾 🎆🧡🌺
Hello Karla! Thank you for sharing. I learned a lot by following the NPR link, and am delighted to hear that you're meditating with Reema. I will look for the Shamanic Way of the Bee, and Video Slut too (because sometimes it's nice to have an easy read!) I know the feeling of productivity being associated with worth, and support your ease with "being," and that being enough. Very warmly, Erica
1. Ireland (where I've lived for the past 30ish years, though I was born in New York).
2. Ashtanga yoga, pranayama, chanting. Also walking (with my dog) and swimming.
3. Currently reading: The Combustion Cycle by Will Alexander; Siva Sutras translated by Jaideva Singh; The Reef by Edith Wharton
4. Joanne Kyger's poetry
5. Moving away from a sort of reductive isolation, moving towards more listening, more space.
6. 🐶🪲🦚🌞🌑🔭🌲🌲🌲
Hi Caleb, we're currently not so far from one another, I'm just down in London. Would love to make it to Ireland during my stint here. I looked up Joanne Kyger at your recommendation and wow! So happy for the introduction to her - thank you. I resonate with more listening and more space. Here's to it!
1.) Live in Half Moon Bay, Ca and work in Redwood City Ca
2.) I practice Ashtanga (primary plus extras when no one is looking!).
I also have a strong chanting/meditation practice that I go to when my body is tired ( I can no loonger practice full series 6 days a week, too much other good stuff going on. I will return to more dedication when my schedule changes and it is safe to practice that hard). Beach walks, swimmming!, and I teach some Vinyasa during the week.:)
3.) I am reading the Book of Homepathic Remedies, The Yogi's Roadmap, Anatomy Book, and TONS of podcats...about to dive into Friendship with God by Neal Walsh
4.) www.absolutelyoriginalmosaicart.com
5.) I am moving away from my career as a public school te4acher to move into the healing art (Cranialsacral therapy/ Polarity Therapy bodywork, and Trauma informed therapy)
6.)My fav emogis are the Earth one! The read heart! The Anjali Mudra one! The star!
Blessings everyone!!!
Hi Kim! Half Moon Bay is such a beautiful nook of the world. Your mosaics are absolutely gorgeous - and I loved the story of the family that decided to make each other gifts, instead of buy them. That sounds like a really meaningful experience to facilitate!
Congratulations on the shift in career, that also sounds meaningful and heart-centered.
Thank you for sharing and for being here ❤️