108 reasons to love 108...

Darlings,

September is Yoga Month.

The Global Mala project unites us today, the 25^th of September in service, yoga and collective consciousness.

Global Mala Yoga for Peace Project has spread around the world in its efforts. For more info, check out www.globalmala.org.

I'm so very very lucky to be the first comic book superhero to teach at Lululemon Santa Monica and lead this fabulous class. I'm honored.

We start with meditation cards, 12 in total at the foot of our mats. We will use these cards to count our intentions and asanas as we travel through 108 reasons to love the sacred number 108 and celebrate our ability to practice together in community.

Today, we honor a great organization, www.AmaYoga.org, a non-profit organization offering balance, healing and transformation through establishing yoga programs in homeless shelters and transitional housing facilities around the city of Los Angeles. I'm so lucky to have been lead to meet the founder, the inspirational Aimee Schoof working with her and the amazing teachers that make yoga happen for so many people.

108 is considered sacred in many eastern religions and traditions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism and connected yoga and dharma based practices.

Today, we practice together in celebration of this number, this organization and this great place, Lululemon.

If you would like to download the class, please log on to www.YogiChocolate.com and donate what you can and practice!

Every cent makes a difference and every cent goes to www.AmaYoga.org.

We start with setting a personal intention we repeat three times within.

We travel through 9 sun salutation a's.

9 sun salutation b's.

2 set's of 36 purifying kapalabhati breaths.

12 Om's

12 prayers for peace

A bunch of stretching

And this....

Reasons why 108 is sacred and why we love it so...

1. Both 9 and 12 have been said to have spiritual significance in many traditions. 9 times 12 is 108. Also, 1 plus 8 equals 9. That 9 times 12 equals 108.

2. Hindu deities/goddess’s and Shiva have 108 names. There are 108 names for Buddha.

3. Mala beads, Catholic rosary beads, the Sikh knots, Chinese Buddhist, Taoist and Tibetan malas all have 108 beads for which to use in prayer, meditation and/or chanting.

4. In Tibetan Buddhism, it is believed that there are 108 sins

5. In Japan, at the end of the year, a bell is chimed 108 times to finish the old year and welcome the new. It represents 108 earthly temptations a person must overcome to achieve nirvana

6. The sum of “the numbers” in the hit TV show, Lost is 108.

7. According to Ayurveda, there are 108 Marma or pressure points

8. There are 108 moves in many traditions of eastern style martial arts as well as Indian dance.

9. In Homer’s Odyssey, the number of suitors coveting Penelope, wife of Odysseus

10. There are 108 outlaws in the Chinese classic Water Margin/Outlaws for the Marsh

11. Surat al-Kawthar ("Abundance") is the 108th sutra of the Qur'an, and the shortest.

12. There are 108 love sonnets in Astrophil and Stella, the first English sonnet sequence by Sir Philip Sidney

13. The distance between Earth and the Sun is 108 times the diameter of the Sun

14. The diameter of the Sun is 108 times the diameter of the Earth

15. A baseball has 108 stitches

16. There are 108 cards in a deck of UNO cards

17. 108 is the emergency telephone service number in India

18. 108 is the name of the American hardcore band founded in 1991

19. The powers of 1 to the first power, 2 to the second power and 3 to the third power all equal 108

20. 108 is a Harshad number, which is an integer divisible by the sum of its digits (Harshad is from Sanskrit, and means "great joy")

21. There are said to be 108 earthly desires in mortals, 108 lies that humans tell and 108 delusions or forms of ignorance.

22. The chakras are the intersections of energy lines. There are said to be a total of 108 energy lines converging to form the heart chakra. One of them, sushumna leads to the crown chakra, and is said to be the path to Self-realization.

23. There are 54 letters in the Sanskrit alphabet. Each has masculine and feminine, shiva and shakti. 54 times 2 is 108.

24. If one is able to be so calm in meditation as to have only 108 breaths in a day, enlightenment will come. Kids, don’t try that at home.

25. The angle formed by two adjacent lines in a pentagon equals 108 degrees.

26. Some say there are 108 feelings, with 36 related to the past, 36 related to the present, and 36 related to the future.

27. There are about 115 elements known on the periodic table of the elements. Most of those, around or higher than the number 100 only exist in the laboratory, and some for only thousandths of a second. The number that naturally exist on Earth is around 108.

28. The sacred River Ganga spans a longitude of 12 degrees and a latitude of 9 degrees. 12 times 9 equals 108.

29. In astrology, there are 12 houses and 9 planets. 12 times 9 equals 108. Chinese astrology says that there are 108 sacred stars.

30. In the Krishna tradition, there were said to be 108 gopis or maid servants of Krishna.

31. 1, 0, and 8: Some say that 1 stands for God or higher Truth, 0 stands for emptiness or completeness in spiritual practice, and 8 stands for infinity or eternity.

32. The average distance of the Moon from the Earth is 108 times the diameter of the Moon.

33. Silver and the moon: In astrology, the metal silver is said to represent the moon. The atomic weight of silver is 108.

34. Meditations: Some say there are 108 styles of meditation.

35. Breath: Tantra estimates the average number of breaths per day at 21,600, of which 10,800 are solar energy, and 10,800 are lunar energy. Multiplying 108 by 100 is 10,800. Multiplying 2 x 10,800 equals 21,600.

36. Paths to God: Some suggest that there are 108 paths to God.

37. Islam: The number 108 is used in Islam to refer to God.

38. Stages of the soul: Said that Atman, the human soul or center goes through 108 stages on the journey.

39. First man in space: The first manned space flight lasted 108 minutes, and was on April 12, 1961 by Yuri Gagarin, a Soviet cosmonaut.

40. 108 is the number of "Upanishads" comprising the Vedic texts of Hinduism.

41. 108 is the Chinese number representing "man".

42. 108 is the number Buddhists use to represent that number of human passions.

43. 108 is six times the number "18", which is a Jewish good luck number.

44. 108 is twelve times the number 9, which is the number of vinyasas (movements linked to breath) in a Sun Salutation.

45. There are highways in Canada, The US, Japan, China and The Virgin Islands called, the 108 and 108 is a hip hop, country, jazz, oldies, pop and internet station across the US.

46. Octoer 8 2001 – U.S. President George W. Bush announces the establishment of the Office of Homeland Security.

47. October 8, 1962 – Algeria joins the United Nations.

48. October 8, 1956 – New York Yankees's Don Larsen pitched the only perfect game in a World Series; one of only 20 perfect games in MLB (major league baseball) history.

49. October 8, 1932 – The Indian Air Force is established.

50. October 8, 2004 Martha Stewart is sentenced to to prison

51. October 8^th is Matt Damon and Chevy Chase’s birthdays. Send ‘em an e-card.

52. October 8^th is the earliest date Columbus day can fall on the calendar

53. October 8^th 1991 is the official date that Croatia becomes Independent of Yugoslavia

54. 108 minutes was how long it took me to put this list of 54 facts together.

54 times 2 is 108. Bam!

Flying at the speed of 108,

Lady Yoga

Emancipate this...

Darlings,

The Emancipation Proclamation consists of 2 orders by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. The first was issued on Sept. 22, 1862, declaring the freedom of all slaves in any state of the Confederate States of America that did not return to the Union control by Jan. 1 1863. The 2nd order, issued in Jan. of 1863 named 10 specific states. The main purpose of the proclamation was to restore peace and Union control amidst the civil war. The Emancipation Proclamation granted freedom to thousands of slaves. Till the Emancipation Proclamation, the Confederacy had used the slaves to cater to war time effort. They formed the spine of the Confederacy by handling root requirements like sewing uniforms, catering, utility repairs, farm and factory work and common labor. The declaration reversed the strength on the two warring sides and defined the outcome of the struggle.

Please don't yawn.

We need to know WHERE we came from to know where we are and where we are going.

We might not have been slaves, but on some level, in our lives, we are slaves to something.

We celebrate this time of freedom and acknowledge that which we might be able to look at in our lives and free ourselves from, on or off the mat. Use your postures. Use the time on the mat to explore where you can be free and use the inspiration of what you feel and hear.

Emancipation means...

Liberation,

freedom,

liberty,

Independence,

salvation.

Celebrate it in history and celebrate it here in your life now.

The true value of a human being can be found in the degree to which he has attained liberation from the self. - Albert Einstein.

With senses, mind and intellect, under control, having liberation as the prime goal; free from lust, anger and fear, such a sage is verily liberated. - Bhagavad Gita

The emancipation of out physical nature is in attaining health, of our social being in attaining goodness and of ourself in attaining love. - Rabindranath Tagore

Freedom had its life in the hearts, actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from it's life giving roots it will wither and die. - Dwight D. Eisenhower

Nothing is more difficult and therefore more precious than to be able to decide. - Napoleon Bonaparte

You have freedom when you're easy in your harness. - Robert Frost

Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better. - Albert Camus

Freedom is the oxygen of the soul. - Moshe Dayan

We feel free when we escape, even if it be from the frying pan into the fire. - Eric Hoffer

Freedom is that instant between when someone tells you to do something and when you decide how to respond. - Jeffrey Borenstein

Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth. - George Washington

True independence and freedom can only exist in doing what's right. -Brigham Young

Today, you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive that is youer than you. - Dr. Seuss.

Caged birds accept each other but flight is what they long for. - Tennessee Williams

Freedom means you are unobstructed in living your life as you chose. Anything less is s a form of slavery. - Wayne Dyer

There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires. - Nelson Mandela

You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has freedom. - Malcom X

It's only after you've lost everything that you're free to do anything. - Chuck Palahniuk

The anchor in our world today is freedom, holding us steady in times of change, a symbol of hope to all the world. - George H. W. Bush

Freedom is the basic condition for you to touch life, to touch the blue sky, the trees the birds the tea and the other person. Thich Nhat Hanh

The truth shall make you free. - Jesus

Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose. - Janis Joplin

All the great things are simple and many can be expressed in a single word - freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope. - Winston Churchill.

For the full yoga practice with these quotes and this intention, please log on to www.YogiChocolate.com and get moving and inspired.

Yours,

Lady

on a clear day in 2001

Sometimes I am living in NY, sometimes I am living in LA, sometimes I am going off to work on a perfectly beautiful day in midtown and am then terrorized by planes flying into the twin towers and I remember it all like yesterday.

Even superheroes get scared.

I remember it all like yesterday.

I knew then it would be very important. I knew it would change my life, everyone's life.

I knew that all that happened was so very, very...pertinent.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry that it made me selfish and look at my life in the wake of lives lost to realize that the life I was living needed to change.

If it didn't happen, I would NEVER be a teacher. I would never be teaching yoga or fitness training or writing a comic. I would NEVER be doing the things I was meant to be doing if people didn't lose their lives. I would have NEVER found my truth if their wasn't so much uncertainty in the fact that all of our lives could be taken so fast.

The temp job that I was placed in just one week prior had two locations, one was in the twin towers, one was in midtown. I was placed in midtown.

I was lucky.

And now, 9 years later, I just think of how lucky I am to continue to live my passion even though the last two years provided more loss for me than gain. More loss for me than 9/11.

And right now, I am grateful.

But, I remember, this time of year, when my mom and sister go away. And I am here and I miss my dad.

When I miss my dad, I listen to Pink Floyd, Paul Simon and Joan Baez. I think, listen, pick at my cuticles (a nervous habit I got from him) and I look to my left.

I remember him in the drivers seat, barely harmonizing, but doing his best.

I'll see you on the dark side of the moon.

I sing along while he looks ahead at the traffic and I feel love.

How I wish you were here. We're just two lost souls swimmin' in a fish bowl, year after year. Running over the same old ground. What have we found. The same old fears. Wish you were here.

My dad...is my muse. He's with me every moment of the day. And he's been gone over a year. 9/11 happened almost a decade ago. I didn't lose anyone there. I was there and I felt the terror close to home, but I will never know THAT loss.

Loss is loss though and in loss we can remember and gain. When the bulb of life goes off in one we love, it infuses us with more light to live our life more fully. I know this. I feel this. I don't know what 9/11 was like outside of the island of Manhattan, but in the island of my life, I understand the fear and terror of loss. Not the same, I know, but the same. No one likes to lose the one they love.

But in love and loss there is so much perspective, so much gain for all of us that have the opportunity to live. And maybe we can look at our lives and where we are at, right now and see where we can modify, change or accept where we are in gratitude that we have that ability to be whatever we'd like in life. We have life and we have choice.

In tragedy, I found my absolute truth and passion. In loss, I was infused with more spirit and fervor to achieve what I wanted and then some.

I have aspirations and I want more, but right now, I love my life and all that comes with it, trials, wins and obstacles.

In gratitude,

Lady

You can't stop the beat...

Darlings,

There's no doubt that one of my prime motivators in life is listening to Broadway show-tunes. Ok, well, singing Broadway show tunes.... it’s my other life when I'm not a superhero and it fuels me with that high energy crescendo we all love in life to get us through the day to day with passion.

I was listening to the Hairspray Soundtrack today while practicing my inversions when I got a message through my blue nose stud from a mom in Brentwood who was balancing her new born while dealing with a young one going off to school for her first day.

She was frazzled and stressed out.

I was listening to this high-energy music and thinking, it's much like life. When we are surrounded by high energy, we ARE high energy. It's like an athlete listening to hip-hop while training on the punching bag. We need that chutzpah to keep us going. But what if our outside world does not reflect our inside world?

This mommy had her own high-energy music inside her head and it did NOT have a happy melody.

All the music in the world won't help us if we are stressed!

We need to slow down our mind and body in order to speed up efficiently.

In my mommy’s case, we need to find the stabilizing energy, the center of the spinning top; to keep still while all that's around us is hurried.

Take a moment. Take a deep breath. Take a look around and take each moment as one full nugget. Don't DO many things at once. It will make you feel spread to thin. If you can get help, enlist it! From neighbors, spouses, friends, family. Especially if you have a little one and a not so little one going off to school.

It's important to balance the difference between the two.

And then there's you.

When is the you time?

You need to have you time in order to have 'little one' time. You can't give energy if your stores of energy are tapped out.

No mom can DO it all.

If you are with the kiddies all day, make sure when the other half comes home that you designate at least 10 minutes for you to decompress in another room. Meditate, dance to Lady Gaga, and take a bath. You need at least a little time to separate yourself from your duties.

Everyone needs this.

If you are a single mom or don't have support, take the time when one kid is off at school and use the other little one's nap time to find your respite.

I know...too much to do.

You need to do the laundry, return phone calls, and finish a project for work, whatever. 10 minutes will give you more minutes in the long run if you take it for yourself now.

Use this time wisely, not to do anything else but self-care. Even if it's changing the polish on your toenails. Make WHATEVER experience you take for yourself, mindful. Take this time to be fully present in taking care of what you need to clear the palate for the next surge of duties you need to take care of the rest of the hours of the day.

I think it's funny,

As a super hero, I have no family or spouse and yet I find that there is less and less time for Lady time and all the time to teach and be a superhero.

So, I don't know what it's like to have a family relying on me, but I do know what it's like to have many responsibilities and obligations that I am thankful for. I never have a day off. I don't complain, because I do what I love, but I sure as heck take moments in the day to conserve my energy for where it counts.

If you are a mom, you are blessed. But in that blessing, you must conserve to make sure that blessing remains consistent for yourself and those you have created. You are brilliant in your creation so make sure you are at peak to nurture that creation and reward yourself. You accomplish so much every second of the day. It's astounding what you do! So, do, but also, BE.

If Lady has no energy in the well, even the yoga mat cape won't fly.

So, how does Lady, how do I, make it work?

I call it stealing. It's legal, though.

I steal moments in the day...to just be!

Think of your energy as cash in the bank. Don't spend it on anything that isn't WORTH it, today.

If you don't have the time to run errands or deal with a 'to do' on your list, save it for another day or enlist help. There will always be to do's and with many of the mommies I work with, there will always be stress. As long as you expect that, your time will be limited and you will have stress AND it will give you more incentive to 'steal', 'take', 'save' time for yourself. Stick that time in your bliss account and you will be rich!!

Trust me. Too many years I have worked with over-stressed executives and mommies. The obligations in this day and age are great and they are only getting greater. If you don't find a 'day off', steal or save moments in a day where you can, whether you are a mom or just a super busy person, or a superhero.

I find, the more I can schedule, the more TIME I find in the day as pockets of respite for.

Put things "in the book." Some things can be negotiable and other things, non-negotiable.

If an appointment is pressing for another, so is one for you...even if it's 15 minutes.

The city of Los Angeles is filled with things you can fill 15 minutes with.

I find that even after long hours in traffic, because I can't always use my yoga mat cape, is salved with 15 minutes walking the clean aisles of CVS or Whole Foods. I may not 'need' anything, but there is something very rewarding, for me, by combing the aisles and looking at the colors of vibrant fruit and vegetables or beauty products. Just looking, sets the mind at ease. Try it.

Looking at life-fruit and vegetables, will calm the nerves-being with things close to the earth is so rewarding. AND, it's something you can do with your little guys. Looking at rows of neatly organized merchandise will soothe the mind and relax you. I'm serious. I'm also a Virgo, but even 'lil G has tried this and it works. Observing something outside of yourself that is still and calm is good. Go to a park and look at the trees. Walk around the block or just walk to your garden or front gate of your apartment and look at the cars at the light, the rows of cars parked on the street. Take in all that you see, the flowers that line the curb or the lush trees - that's it. That alone will GROUND your energy.

It's like if you are on a boat and are seasick. The captain will tell you to look at the horizon to keep you still.

That's all you need, just a little, to keep you in the moment and ready to take on the world.

These are all options 1-5-10 minutes to stabilize the stress of your everyday, alone or with others. Turn off the phone and be.

I'm not saying it's easy, just try it and see. If it doesn't work, let me know.

You can't stop the beat, but you can stop to be.

Yours,

Lady