Sunday, February 27, 2011

I would like to thank all of the little people...

Darlings,

In Lady Yoga fashion, it is my goal to look back in history to see where we have come from, find the yoga in the moments past to keep us rooted in the present and passionate about where we are going in the future.

On that note...

The 83rd Academy Awards is this evening. I don't have a television and my internet is down.

I rise at 5AM to propel myself to the nearest internet cafe and imbibe caffeine...an old friend I haven't seen in a while and one I'm all to excited to meet as I gather my intention and set my collective intention for the three classes I will teach in the heat today.

It doesn't matter. They don't mind. No, I MIND. It's important to me to show up with something that makes the sequence that I teach, the same sequence, over and over, more than just a script but a collective experience that changes as we do in body, mind and spirit every time we come to the mat.

Refresh what you come in to. Revive what you want to. Re new what you think you.

Today, LA is filled with all the glitter and glamour we all came here for, whether we admit it or not, it is a part of the cultural experience of BEING here in this city. It's an undeniable pulse and surge of energy amuck. It makes me grateful to be here.

I'm not part of any festivity and will not watch the Oscars, not because I do not want to but because I will be teaching. I'll You Tube it later. And whether you like it or not, our city is the Oscars on this day. So in honor of that, lets celebrate the collective effort to produce the creativity that allows us to escape, congregate and converse over, judge, argue and bet over winners and losers and adore and gasp at the fashion that dons the red carpet.

Let's celebrate that we can practice AND honor what moves us.

Your greatest test is yet to come. - The King's Speech

Take a good deep breath...Lionel Logue, The King's Speech

Everything just comes together. I chose this. Aron Ralston 127 Hours

The only person standing in your way is you. - Thomas Leroy - Black Swan

This is your moment. Don't let it go. - Thomas Leroy - Black Swan

I'm the CEO bitch! - The Social Network

You mustn't be afraid to dram a little bigger darling. - Eames, Inception

With the slightest disturbance, the dream is going to collapse. - Arthur, Inception

I miss you more than I can bear, but we had our time together. I have to let you go. Cobb, Inception

This is the highlight of my day. I hope it's not all downhill from here. - Kevin Spacey, best actor, American Beauty

Do you want to take a leap of faith? - Saito, Inception

Looking back is a bad habit. - True Grit

Recess don't last forever. - Toy Story 3

There's no way out. Just kidding. The door's over there. - Toy Story 3

Never ask for what oughta be offered. - Winter's Bone

You'll never be out grown or neglected, never abandoned or forgotten. - Lotso, Toy Story 3

He's brave, like a cowboy should be. And kind and smart. He'll never give up on you. He'll be there for you no matter what. Andy about Woody, Toy Story 3

Just like me. Keep coming back. Keep practicing and keep celebrating that you can do this every day or now and then.

Yours,

Lady

Yogi's Gone Wild!!!

Darlings,

In Lady Yoga fashion, it is my goal to look back in history to see where we have come from, find the yoga in the moments past to keep us rooted in the present and passionate about where we are going in the future.

On that note...

On February 24th, 1827 the 1st parade with floats appeared in New Orleans in the celebration of Mardi Gras. Ahh...let's float!!

On February 27th, 1827, a group of masked and costumed students danced through the streets of New Orleans, Louisiana, marking the beginning of the city's famous Mardi Gras celebrations.

Mardi Gras is a Christian tradition brought over from France meaning ‘Fat Tuesday’. It celebrates the last day of indulgence before Lent or fasting before Easter aka the resurrection of Christ. Nowhere is it celebrated more prolifically than in New Orleans. And even though it’s a religious tradition, it crosses religious barriers bringing together people of all kinds with the sole idea to celebrate!

In February of 2006 after being hit by Katrina, the party still went on as a symbol of strength, recovery and zeal of a city in union, tradition and camaraderie.

Let’s bring that strength, zeal and camaraderie into the practice today as our collective intention to celebrate!

Carpe Diem – Sieze the day!

The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.
Oprah Winfrey

Celebrate the happiness that friends are always giving, make every day a holiday and celebrate just living!
Amanda Bradley

Celebrate what you want to see more of. – Thomas J. Peters.

Celebrate the happiness that friends are always giving, make every day a holiday and celebrate just living. – Sydney Smith

Life should be a continuous celebration, a festival of lights the whole year round. Transform small things into a celebration. - Osho

Enjoy yourself. It's later than you think.
Chinese Proverb

Go for it now. The future is promised to no one.
Wayne Dyer

Every man dies. Not every man really lives.
Braveheart

Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.
Elbert Hubbard

As you grow older, you'll find the only things you regret are the things you didn't do.
Zachary Scott

And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.
Abraham Lincoln

To change one's life: Start immediately. Do it flamboyantly. No exceptions.
William James

You will never find time for anything. If you want time you must make it.
Charles Buxton

Men for the sake of getting a living forget to live.
Margaret Fuller

You live longer once you realize that any time spent being unhappy is wasted.
Ruth E. Renkl

How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.
Annie Dillard

If you wait, all that happens is that you get older.
Larry McMurtry, 'Some Can Whistle'

When your life flashes before your eyes, make sure you've got plenty to watch.
Anon

When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life in such a manner that when you die the world cries and you rejoice.
Indian Saying

Whether it's the best of times or the worst of times, it's the only time we've got.
Art Buchwald

If you woke up breathing, congratulations! You have another chance.
Andrea Boydston

I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.
Diane Ackerman

Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its shortness.
Jean de La Bruyère

Every day is an opportunity to make a new happy ending.
Anon

May you live all the days of your life.
Jonathan Swift

Life is not long, and too much of it must not pass in idle deliberation how it shall be spent.
Samuel Johnson

Later never exists.
Anon

Let there be space in your togetherness. – Kahlil Gibran

Even if a unity of faith is not possible, a unity of love is. – Hans urs von Bathasar

Strength doesn’t come from physical capacity. It comes from indomitable will. –Mohandas Gandhi

Many people take no care of their money till they come nearly to the end of it, and others do just the same with their time.
Johann von Goethe

That it will never come again
Is what makes life so sweet.
Emily Dickinson

Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop to look around once in a while you could miss it.
From the movie 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off'

Waste your money and you're only out of money, but waste your time and you've lost a part of your life.
Michael Leboeuf

You only live once; but if you live it right, once is enough.
Adam Marshall

We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance.
Japanese Proverb

Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is the special occasion.
Anon

Seize the day, put no trust in the morrow!
Horace Odes

Not all of us will do great things in life, 
But we can all do the small things in life greatly.
James Yatras

Beads and bras amuck,

Lady

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Miracle on ice...

Darlings,

In Lady Yoga fashion, it is my goal to look back in history to see where we have come from, find the yoga in the moments past to keep us rooted in the present and passionate about where we are going in the future.

On that note...

On February 22, 1980 One of the most dramatic upsets in Olympic history occurred. The Miracle on Ice!!

The US Hockey team beat the 4x gold medal defending champions from Russia 4-3 in Lake Placid, NY before a frenzied 10K spectators and hundreds of thousands watching at home.

They were underdog college kids that worked their pucks off and proved many doubters and bettors wrong.

2 days later, off the high from their Russian game, they defeated Finland 4-2 clinching the Gold Medal for the US.

To many, it was Americans ideological victory for the cold war, which was the chilly political and economic conflict between Russia and well, mostly the US post World War II. Either way, it was cold and we won.

Lets defy the odds on the mat today, push past what we think is possible and stay cool when things get too heated inside and out.

To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom. –Bertrand Russell

Always make a total effort – even when the odds are against you. – Arnold Palmer

Success is 99% failure. – Soichiro Honda

Action is the foundational key to success. – Pablo Picasso

Don’t aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in and it will come naturally. – David Frost

Failure is success if we learn from it. – Malcom Forbes

Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. – Winston Churchill

Courage is the discovery that you may not win, and trying when you know you can lose. – Tom Krause

If we’re growing, we’re always going to be out of our comfort zone. –John Maxwell

If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it, I know I can achieve it. – Jesse Jackson

The difference between try and triumph is a little umph. – Unknown

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. – Thomas Edison

Men are made stronger on realization that the helping hand they need is at the end of their own arm. – Sidney J. Phillips

Nobody ever drowned in his own sweat. –Ann Landers

Put your heart, mind, intellect and sould even to your smallest acts. This is the secret of success. Swami Sivananda

The future is simply infinite possibility waiting to happen. What it waits on is human imagination to crystalize it's possibility. -Leleand Kaiser

Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom. –George S. Patton

Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts. –John Wooden

Success is often achieved by those who don't know that failure is inevitable. – Coco Chanel

If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours. - Henry David Thoreau

Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success. –Henry Ford

We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success. – Henry David Thoreau

Start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible and suddenly you are doing the impossible. - St. Francis of Assisi.

Every new day begins with possibilities. It's up to us to fill it with the things that move us toward progress and peace. - Ronald Regan

Relinquish your attachment to the known, step into the unknown and you will step into the field of all possibilities. -Deepak Chopra

We don't know who we are until we see what we can do. - Martha Grimes

A person is a success if they get up in the morning and gets to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do. – Bob Dylan

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. –Ralph Waldo Emerson

I'd rather regret the things I've done than regret the things I haven't done. –Lucille Ball

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal. –Henry Ford

The best way to predict the future is to invent it. –Alan Kay

Repeat anything often enough and it will start to become you. - Tom Hopkins

Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success. –Napoleon Hill

Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get. –Dale Carnegie

Winners never quit and quitters never win. – Vince Lombardi

Going for the gold,

Lady

Saturday, February 19, 2011

A wise man once said...

Darlings,

In Lady Yoga fashion, it is my goal to look back in history to see where we have come from, find the yoga in the moments past to keep us rooted in the present and passionate about where we are going in the future.

On that note...

In honor of Presidents Day and the assassination of Malcom X, one of the most important yet radical human rights leaders, we honor the leaders of this country, man and woman and lead ourselves through our practice in grace and honor of our selves.

How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes! – Maya Angelou

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
-- Eleanor Roosevelt

A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything. Malcolm X

Don't be afraid to see what you see. Ronald Reagan

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Don't worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition.

Abraham Lincoln

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. John F. Kennedy

Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. (and women) John F. Kennedy

Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction. John F. Kennedy

Happiness is not being pained in body or troubled in mind. Thomas Jefferson

It is neither wealth nor splendor; but tranquility and occupation, which give you happiness. Thomas Jefferson

But what we can do, as flawed as we are, is still see God in other people, and do our best to help them find their own grace. That's what I strive to do, that's what I pray to do every day. Barack Obama

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. Barack Obama

If we do not lay out ourselves in the service of mankind whom should we serve?

John Adams

I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color. Malcolm X

If you don't stand for something you will fall for anything. Malcolm X

If you have no critics you'll likely have no success. Malcolm X

In all our deeds, the proper value and respect for time determines success or failure.

Malcolm X

Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it. Malcolm X

Stumbling is not falling. Malcolm X

The future belongs to those who prepare for it today. Malcolm X

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

It is far better to be alone, than to be in bad company. George Washington

A good conscience is a continual Christmas. Benjamin Franklin

Fatigue is the best pillow. Benjamin Franklin

Each year one vicious habit discarded, in time might make the worst of us good.

Benjamin Franklin

When you're finished changing, you're finished. Benjamin Franklin

There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one's self.

Benjamin Franklin (He didn't mention that stealing a diamond is quite the hardest of them all!)

Take time for all things: great haste makes great waste. Benjamin Franklin

Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn. Benjamin Franklin

You can do what you have to do, and sometimes you can do it even better than you think you can. Jimmy Carter

Freedom is the open window through which pours the sunlight of the human spirit and human dignity. Herbert Hoover

Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough. Oprah Winfrey

Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure. Oprah Winfrey

Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.

Oprah Winfrey

It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it. Eleanor Roosevelt

Great necessities call out great virtues. Abigail Adams

Become so wrapped up in something that you forget to be afraid. Lady Bird Johnson

Do what you can to show you care about other people, and you will make our world a better place. Rosalynn Carter

If you don't accept failure as a possibility, you don't set high goals, you don't branch out, you don't try - you don't take the risk. Rosalynn Carter

Some people give time, some money, some their skills and connections, some literally give their life's blood. But everyone has something to give. – Barbara Bush

Giving frees us from the familiar territory of our own needs by opening our mind to the unexplained worlds occupied by the needs of others. – Barbara Bush

Get involved in some of the big ideas of your time. Barbara Bush

A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be. Rosalynn Carter

Pomp and circumstance,
Lady