Assists:

Just watched "Hands On" Assists with Jennifer Yarrow & Danial Orlansky and it reminds me of all the good points that have stuck with me over the years of being a studen.

1 - Let the yogi get into the pose in their own way and let them be for a few minutes. Watch to see what you feel may help, then go for it.

2 - Use intuition. What may want to be lengthened? Stretched? Torqued? What may want to be left alone? How might this assist help move the flow of energy, down the sushumna, ida or pingala?

3 - Remember to breathe with the yogi and encourage long deep rhythmic breath, if that feels good.

4 - Remind yogi that everyone has their sva-dharma of their lives, and of the day. You know where your path goes, and limits lie, even down to moving within a pose. No two moments are the same...luckily! (Insert Legally Blonde quote*)

5 - Lengthen whatever you're trying to lengthen on the exhale.

6 - Be solid and grounded..in general, but before touching them. Let the yogi trust that they can fall into you.

7 - Be patient. In everything!

*Legally Blonde quote, went a litte something like this:

Here, use my lucky scrunchie for your test; that's how I aced Spanish Class.

-You aced Spanish because you gave Professor Montoya a lapdance during the final.

-Yeah, luckily!

On that note, more tornados are around here today. Gonna go do some stuff before I have to take cover or something.

LOVE!

And Ohm Shanti...

-me

Man me ram, hath me kam

"In the mind, God; in the hand, service."

I think some olds sage was really onto somethin...

Mwah:)

Simple

That is what i'm shooting for in yoga, in life, and as a teacher. I want it to be one place without tons of things (props) and ideas and things to pack in. Simple. I want to share simple.

AWESOME.

Now that that's off my chest, I'll write on this site when compelled. Itried every weekday, but life/work caught up with me, and this felt like work. not good energy for y'all. and by that I mean to put out there to anybody, the world.

But today i did think of something to say. sometimes you spend lots of time, energy, potentially even money on something, and you get to walk away with one significant message or lesson learned. when I think about a lot of amazingly talented teachers i've studied with or places I've studied, I can say that i've learned one big thing from each of them.

7 Centers Yoga Arts - Stand tall and grow roots. (and during my 200-hour, i learned the WORLD!)

Ana Forrest - Loosen up your neck muscles. how can your heart and head talk if nothin can get through there?!

Paul Grilley - Everybody's bodies are different. inherently. deal iyengar-lovers! (and that includes me:)

Paulie Zink - Have fun, be like a kid, and you can make up yin poses to be any animal.

And most recently, I've realized that meditation can be fun. my mantra works wonders, and it will be with me forever, as will a few of my sankalpas. but trying different things while sitting can really make it fun. thanks to Sally Kempton and the book i'm reading for opening my eyes to that.

Oh and PS -

My mantra is ohm strim brahm briyaspataye namaha.

Sankalpas are there is perfection and fun in every moment and nothing is really that important! You know, other than love and family.

Gotta love it. Works wonders.

Gotta finish watching American Idol. And by that I don't gotta do that at all, and can hardly believe I wrote it. Thanks mom! Jeeze. but it makes me kinda happy, so there is the yoga.

Love to all!

-me

Lamb Cake

I didn't stand a chance against the remainder of the lamb cake we made for Easter. Or shall I call it the lamb cake that was the most highly-discussed topic for all of Easter weekend...anyway, I thought it was just okay at first. But not tonight...I was powerless against it and pretty much just at the entire abdomen. Oops:)

Anyway! On to more comfort things...comfort foods and what else? I had a few other comfort moments this past weekend, and those nostalgic times always give my heart this huge warm hug and make me smile. First, I received the Footloose DVD in my Easter basket. Umm, yeah, I know! Wasn't I just the luckiest. Thanks Easter Bunny. So after watching that with Eric and Rachel and reciting almost every line cuz I'm that cool, I purchased the CD on ituens and went for a run with all that music. It made me laugh a lot in the midst of a mid-day run in 80 degree high-humidity Carolina sun. Loved it. Then, today I was taking a walk on my daily path and realized for the first time as I cut across the golf course that the pine cone shards and dirt path reminded me of when I used to go to Eagle River, Wisconsin almost every summer when I was little with my best friends Lisa and Becky and their most amazing family. I love them like they were all my own! And it just made me smile and I literally felt like THE luckiest person in the entire world. I was warm and fuzzy all over and laughed, like, is this really life? How lucky.

So, I guess the moral of this story is that life is awesome, and the yoga of it is that if you recognize and allow yourself to see what's going on around you, expand your awareness, that it'll just give you a big fat hug. And make you laugh. And perhaps entice you to put one foot after another on what may have otherwise been a grueling run. Use it, it works:)

On to a meditation update, the coolest thing I read today was to attempt to look at yourself as if you were outside your body looking down on you, and you're able to see yourself from all angles. And just imagine, if you're able to take this into other "regular" life. Omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence. That is Satchidananda's thing. Why can't it be ours too? We're all one in the same, really. And to be connected to people that I respect that much...feels pretty cool.

Eric's sister Rachel lent me a book that has been monumental in her life, that she can just pick up every so often and learn more and more...and she hands out to everybody. Kinda like me and The Mastery of Love. Anyway, hers is Sex, Love and Dharma. I'll keep you posted. Pun intended! Eew I know sorry:)

Love and light...comfort and softness,

K

Day 2 - Good Friday

And a good one it is! Gorgeous weather here in Eastern NC...and lots of family coming in town for Easter. Not to self...get off computer and get onto making the lamb cake! :)

Today I read more from Sally Kempton, and also checked in with one of Paul Grilley's new books. (Sidenote: those Kindles are really onto something.) She said a few things that lightened my spirit about meditiation, something I've been doing for a year and a half but only consistently (nearly daily) for about 5 months. And that is to take a step back from your average pratice or routine and view meditation as 1) an experiment and 2) as playful! She went on to portray how it made her feel this overwhelming sense of love and kindness towards people when she was on a full meditation-swing, and by that I mean times where your Self is calling you, early afternoon, later on in the day, whatever, to sit and be still and listen. Then, after those times, there is this bright and airyness, this colorful soul filled with laughter and love for anyone she encountered in the remainder of that day. Even people that used to annoy her. :) I just loved the idea that this can transform, and I think it stems from the fact that it has transformed me at times. The truth is in the pudding. Or is it the putting? I think it's both.

Gotta love it. And by that I mean everything, because we are all the same.
Love to you!
K

Day 1 - April 21, 2011

Why whatever shall I say? I'll begin by stating how grateful I am to "have to" create this blog, as part of my 500 hour yoga teacher training...something I've been looking forward to ever since I completed my 200 hour at 7 Centers Yoga Arts in Sedona in 2009. Lucky me!

It's called "truth" because truth or satya in sanskrit is very important to me. The practice of satya makes me feel good, so I spread it!

Hmm...books. I'm currently reading Patanjali's Yoga Sutras (finally) by Swami Satchidananda simultaneously with Light on Yoga (finally) by B.K.S Iyengar. How does one get their 200 hour without reading both full volumes? Umm, probably by reading a bunch of other books and teachings that all include those very ideas. :)

This morning I read that the sound of OM, or the word OM actually, is the word for God. And it's not tied to a religious sect, but rather even alluded to in the Bible as "first there was the word of God". I guess Patanjali thought that word was OM. Makes sense, if you're into that kinda thing. :)

I'm also listening to Shirley Maclaine's new biography on my Ipod when I go for walks. She is very insightful, and I like the way she practices yoga. Nothing is hard, and all is as it should be. Or at least that's what I glean from what she's said so far.

I haven't gotten enough sleep lately, and am trying to remember that all is as it should be. There's perfection and fun in every moment. Guess I needed a day to slow down, because that seems to be all I'm up for! It's nice...now.

Now onto more reading. Gotta figure out a way to put all my favorite yoga-is-a-way-of-life-related books on this site, to share with whoever ends up reading it. For now it's just me! Oh and probably Kas, my 500 hour guru. (Hi:)

Much love and light...and understanding that the calm always sits inside us, even in the middle of a hectic trip to Walmart before the in-laws visit for Easter.

<3

K