Fire & Flow and Drops of Nectar; Prana Flow Yoga with Shiva Rea, Boulder/Denver CO, April 3rd 2-6pm

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Finding Zen in 2011

Finding Zen

Is it normal to be impatient with a water dispenser while you are on vacation at a spa?  I asked myself this as I walked down the hallway to my beautiful room fully cocooned in my plush white robe and slippers.  I am currently on retreat with my beloved husband celebrating our 12 wedding anniversary and the new year.  We are celebrating in the gorgeous town of telluride Colorado with its frozen bridal veil water fall sitting as an exclamation point at the end of it's box canyon.

I always considered myself a slow person. My canter has been often described as a saunter. I am actually borderline slacker in my book. I dont "work out" every day nor do I " practice" everyday even though I know I would be a better person if I did.  I really didn't think I had that much  more slowing down to do.  I thought I was more chill than I clearly give myself credit for not being. I thought maybe I was a type B.5 person smack between a type A and a type D.  Turns out, not so much.   

The steam in the beautiful steam shower here at the spa does not come on fast enough.  The humidifier in the room or even the water from the dispenser, not fast enough, hot enough? Impatient. Quick to a negative thought quick to frustration. Too quick. Too blatantly noticeable in this environment.  Not very becoming.    I was in Bali earlier this year and watched people WORK for their drinking water. Have I become that speedie and that impatient?  Have I rushed through this year that much?  Have I hurried along the birthdays the holidays so that I can check them off the never ending to do list I'vve called my life. What am I rushing to?  Where the heck do I think I'm going anyway?  

We have all had the experience of letting go and trusting and being spontaneous and have had incredibly wonderful memories of those times (and yes some not so great memories too but would you have traded it for going on the well worn path? Perhaps ). The tightrope.

Walking that knife edge of attending to the responsibilities that I've chosen to grace my life with and being a complete slacker and letting go too much.  The ying yang the tantra the having it both ways simultaneously.  I know it's possible. I've seen others living it. I've seen it in others eyes.  I know the feeling. Ive touched it. 

As a kid the balance beam was my favorite gymnastics apparatus.  Grip with the toes that's the holding on part. Setting the shoulders and hips that's the staying on part.  The mind and the breath thats the knowing I will nail it part.   I can do this. I've done it, we've all done it and do it in so many areas of our daily lives   The in-between. The gentler place. The place of more acceptance and forgiveness. The place of tolerance and support. The moving on a wooden beam four inches wide four feet off the ground place  So as we round the bend into 2011 I go in with the hopes of slowing 2011 down.    Being more patient with the water dispensers in my life. Gripping my toes when I need to hold on, squaring my shoulders and hips in the direction I want to go and believing in myself and what I've chosen.

Happy new year may yours be all of 525600 minutes long!

Galungen

One of my favorite things about working with a company based in Bali is to learn all the traditions and holidays.  I love getting an email in response to some request I have that states “sorry but we are closed for the next three days for Galungan”.  Galungan?  This of course prompts me to investigate more what that holiday/celebration is all about.  Bali is not lacking for celebrations, and while we were there last spring it seemed there was one each day .   Bali has a unique calendar that displays all of these holidays in its cycle of 210 days.  Galungan occurs once in the 210-day cycle of the Balinese calendar, and marks the time of the year when the spirits of the ancestors are believed to visit the earth.   This is a ten day holiday, with the last three days being of the most importance, the final day being Kuningan

I am told that Galungan is the most important holiday symbolizing the victory of Virtue (Dharma) upon Evil (Adharma). Galungan is the most important feast for Balinese Hindus, a celebration to honor the creator of the universe (Ida Sang Hyang Widi) and the spirits of the honored ancestors.   Our designers tell us it is big like Christmas is big here. 

During Galungan the whole island sprouts tall bamboo poles called "penjor" - these are usually decorated with fruit, coconut leaves, and flowers, and set up on the right of every residence entrance. At each gate, you'll also find small bamboo altars set up especially for the holiday, each one bearing woven palm-leaf offerings for the spirits, set on the right side of every house entrance. People are attired in their finest clothes and jewels this day.  The arch of the penjor represents Mt. Agung, the body is river that flows from the mountains to the sea, and along its route are the products of the harvest, tied to the pole; at the foot of the pole is a temporary shrine.

So I wish you all a very happy Galungan, and encourage you to ponder upon Virtue/Dharma victory over Adharm/Evil and to pray/meditate upon your ancestors, those that have passed before on this planet so that you my be here now.  With much gratitude....

I’m sure by now you’ve all see the bumper sticker or sign somewhere, W.W.J.D.? with the original meaning “What Would Jesus Do?”  Interesting slogan and it has seemed to have caught on.  Just the other day my friend saw a car with the bumper sticker “What Would Janet Do?”  Janet who?  Jackson?  Her personal friend named Janet?  These WW_D? slogans can take an interesting twist by filling in the blank.  I personally have decided to make my own version:  W.W.S.D.?

I’ve taken notice that some of my favorite people I am blessed to have in my life with qualities I’d like to emulate all have their first name beginning with the letter “S”.   My Maha teacher, Shiva Rea,  my business partner Soma, my local teacher, coach  mentor and friend Shannon Schneider and my long time therapist Shana.  All these “S” women have ways of being, ways of communicating, ways of devotion, ways of teaching that I strive for, dream of, and desire for myself.  Maybe not so coincidentally they all have characteristics of the paramount “S”  Shakti, the personification, of divine feminine creative power!

When I’m in a tough spot I try to ask myself what would S_____  do?  When I am in my habitual reactionary place, how would “S” handle this?  More often than not I don’t have a clear answer, primarily because I am not them and I don’t really know, BUT I have a pretty good idea and even just that pause, that extra breath, that inquiry within, between my response or reaction sometimes that question is enough to have my name begin with an S.  I may not know for certain how my “S”s would handle certain situations but here are my best guesses.

Soma, beautiful Soma, she would turn to devotion, Bhakti, worship, meditation.  She, of course,  is the one pictured above in the Ganges river.  She would look to her spiritual guides in all their forms.  She would get on her knees and pray, bow, offer.  She has very little doubt.  I so admire her skill in dedication, her unwavering, and all with such an incredible love and very old maternal wisdom. 

Shiva, fierce, soft,  gorgeous Shiva.  She would devour, dedicate, inquire, swallow whole, embody, study, embrace and exemplify all with such love and tenderness mixed with fierceness and strength.  She would move it and bend it and twist it through her body with power and ease.  Should would breathe and embrace it, all the while touching every soul in her 100 mile radius, changing their lives.  She is an incredible example of strength in a extremely feminine form.  She is beauty, love, power incarnate in a blonde fierce fairy package of intelligence! 

Shannon, poetic musing moving Shannon.  She speaks, writes and bends and turns her words into song and poetry.  She then takes those words into form in movement and leadership.  She takes her poetic thought, imagination, and creation, together with eloquence of expression and turns all that somehow into the most moving soul stirring of yoga classes.  She is the muse. 

Shana with her tousled head of black curls radiates femininity, knowledge and power through her communication.  Her “white witchy-ness” is mesmerizing and empowering.  Her way of placing words, thoughts, emotions and feelings into graspable, tangible terms is astounding.  Most admirable is her ability to speak to men in a way that seems to stir them., almost like a spell has been cast.

And Shakti, well Shakti, she is the divine mother of it all.  Not only is Shakti responsible for creation, she is also the agent of all change.  Shakti is cosmic existence as well as liberation.  She is the sacred force of empowerment, all in all a very multi-dimensional goddess! 

With my cast of “S” women to call on I will always have a profound answer to “W.W.S.D.?”   As Shannon often quotes “we ARE the company we keep.”   You can refer to me as Skaryn from now on.....

Bali Malas that adorn my “S”s:

1. Shiva Rea wears often our Rudrani/Pearl mala and Citta Seeds designs and even has her own collection with us! 
2. Shana likes anything with lava, like our Strength choker
3. Shannon is a self proclaimed “mala-holic” and lets her mood rule her mala of the day
4. Soma is of course the creator of them all!
5. Shakti wears of course the traditional, plain malas, however we have specific designs that invoke Shakti.

One of these mornings

You're going to rise up singing

Then you'll spread your wings

And you'll take to the sky

But until that morning

There's a'nothing can harm you

With your daddy and mammy standing by

Summertime,

And the livin' is easy

~ G. Gershwin

Ice Cream Truck!

We live in a neighborhood where an ice cream truck rolls through every summer afternoon, annoying little jingle blaring from its speakers.  Annoying not only because it is a sure sign I will have to make the decisions for my daughter, is it too close to dinner time, has she already had enough sweets for the day, is it really a good idea to support a gas guzzling over priced non healthy treat brought you your curb?  But also annoying because it is a catchy, and by this I mean stuck in your head for the rest of your life catchy, little ditty that has not changed in over 15 years.  In a way a nice constant that summer is upon us, in another way, why can’t they change the darn tune? 

As a way to cope with the ice cream trucks daily cruise, my husband and I have decided that whenever we hear its tinny chimes we hear it as our “meditation bell”.  It is time for us to stop whatever we are doing and take a minute to breathe consciously, to reflect on our pattern of thought.  Are we being kind in that moment?  Are we open to compassion and ease at that moment?  The charm of it all is we never really know when it will roll down our street, and sometimes when we are in other parts of our town we hear it and stop and reflect then as well.  At the carwash, in line at the bank....

What in your life is a constant that you may find annoying that could turn into your daily reminder to breathe?  Isn’t that often the way, something that really bugs you often becomes your best teacher?  AND you get get a creamsicle while you’re at it!

Immersion

Like a naked dove bar dipping into the dark chocolate coating over and over, so was my recent ten day training with my teacher Shiva Rea.  I was at the studio at 6:30-7am each day, sweating, scribbling notes, bending myself, twisting my brain and my body, stretching and growing, dipping myself into that vat of sweet yoga chocolate.   Coating myself thoroughly, being sure not one spec of my pure white vanilla ice cream self was left exposed.   At the end of the day I’d stiffly walk the two blocks home, eat, read the study materials, work on sequencing and fall into a deep slumber.  Wake up at 6am the next morning and do it again.   Dousing, dipping, plunging....

As I listened daily to my dear husband holding down the home front, I learned that LIFE was still happening at home, in FULL SWING.   The unexpected in life; broken wrists, dog hit by car (happy to report both are fine and mending) and of course the more common of life, the laundry machine breaking, cooking/cleaning, grocery shopping.  I shared and learned from my fellow “yogic dove bars” in the training with me that their lives too were still in full swing back home.  All while we moved into our 100th downward dog of the day with our delicious chocolate coatings still wet.   Huh, I really didn’t HAVE to do it all, I couldn’t do it all, at least not right now!  To have ONE thing to solely focus on for an extended period of time, ONE thing to deeply engage in.   Just ONE thing to occupy myself with, to go to sleep with and wake up to and carry with me throughout the entire day.   When was the last time ONE thing got my complete and full attention?  In my incredibly speedy, over scheduled, pulled 1000 directions world,  I often do many many things in a 24 hour period, but honestly not ONE of them is done really well.  I learned that sometimes it is necessary to pick one thing and plunge, dip, douse, duck, dunk, submerge yourself into it.  No nuts, no whip cream, no fancy sprinkles, no extras,  just ONE thing.  Back home now, I have somehow found more space, mentally and emotionally, to attend to my life.  The daily full swing of groceries, work, carpools, kids, and dinners seem to have a vastness to them now.  I have more room in me. 

Pick your “dove bar” and dive in, your vat of sweet dark chocolate awaits!

My immersion mala of choice was the  “Ayu”.  The rudraksha beads are now very dark with the

my experience while the south sea  pearl’s luster is activated.  The shortened length of this mala

was perfect for the practice of yoga.  I am still wearing it but will be taking it off soon for the first

time in a month or so.   Whenever I go to wear this mala again I will certainly be reminded of my

yogic dove bar experience.  See our selection for you at www.shop.balimalas.com