something better

What could possibly be better than the OmSwing? (I really should get paid for all of these gratuitious OS posts…) I’ll tell ya what could be better —

Yogi Jamie.

Drew and I worked the front desk at The Dog last night (best job on the planet), and had the joy of flying with Jamie. Jamie teaches the last class of the night. He came out during the closing savasana for a prop and Drew was in the hallway so in she went to do “angel pose” with the class. She came out so happy to be included and I told her “Jamie flies people!” I flew her a bit and then she was too intimidated to fly with Jamie, so I jumped on his feet for a bit of aerial, therapeutic yoga.

OMG. What could be better than the OmSwing? Hanging like a bat while somebody else tractions your body in every direction and gives you thai massage at the same time. Ah, it felt so damn good. I’m afraid I made Jamie late for the airport, but it was definitely worth it.

Stay tune, we’re running a 3-part series on partner, aerial and therapeutic yoga with Jamie in October. Can’t wait!

Here he is in the park with a girl he met 30-seconds before. Jamie used his now-famous pick up line: “Hey, ya wanna fly?” If he uses it on you, trust him and say yes!

The man-child

While I adore little children, I have to admit that I’m one of those people who would love to snuggle the baby, play with the little ones for an hour or two, and then send them home. They are exhausting and demanding and require a lot of skill-set that doesn’t come naturally to me, like eating on time and following a bed time schedule. I’ve always secretly wished that I could give birth to teenagers. Yea, teen agers are the way to go.

Then, over the years I’ve been doubting my teen parenting abilities as I’ve watched my fabulous friends struggle with their own teenagers. Over and over, it seems that teens throw their parents all sorts of surprises and angst and drama.

Brandon is now 14. He towers over me at 5′8″, his voice is deeper than his dad’s now, and he’s in the midst of puberty big time. I keep waiting for the drama and heart-ache and mood swings and obstinance. Maybe it’s yet to come, but as of yet my teenager is just a charming and fun person to be around.

When I found out I was pregnant with a boy I was thrilled and nervous. All I knew of boys (I had all sisters) was what I had heard from other moms: they’re loud, physical, destroy everything, have tempers as teenagers and eat you out of house and home. It’s all a big scare tactic. Brandon is a quiet soul. He has this sweet, amicable personality and is always willing to pitch in and help. He’s a great babysitter and gets the kids to bed better than I do. The friends he brings over are all great kids. He’s wicked smart, so smart that he plays lawyer with me and calmly dismantles all of my rules and regulations. So smart that he sees through the insanity that is public school and refuses to play the game of turning papers in on time and freaking out about projects and tests. If we have drama around these teen years, it’s all in the school work and trying to teach him that it’s important to play this game of “the system”.

What does a sweet, hard-working man-child dream of?   Turns out, he is a bit of a seeker. For Brandon, it’s all about the next laugh, technology and finances. He loves cartoons, comics, you-tube humor, and hilarious animation. He dreams of technology, software and creating things like videos, websites, animation.

I needed help with housekeeping this summer so my solution was to hire someone. I told Brandon that if he could learn to clean as well as a professional, that I would pay him to do it instead. Turns out, Brandon is fabulous with the bathrooms, the mopping and the kitchen cleaning. I’ve loved my clean house, and he’s had something to do when I’m at The Dog. He doesn’t complain, he works hard, and my house is looking pretty good! The best thing? He has been able to work toward a goal:

Nope, it’s not about girls yet – but look at his sexy I-mac G5 that he found for an incredible deal on Craigs List. I think Brandon had as much fun shopping for it as he’s had using it. I’m telling you – it’s great to see a kid follow their passion, work toward a goal and achieve it. And, with all of the hilarious media around him, it’s great to hear him laugh.

So no, don’t believe the hype. Teens are the best – if you don’t have one in your life you really should run out and pick one up for yourself.  Lord knows, it will feel like tomorrow when he’s packing his bags for college. (god wiling) Until then, I’m trying to soak my first born up like a sponge and enjoy every moment.

I still want one

Lisa thinks it will be hard to develop a WHOLE class based on this thing. Something tells me I’ll never get bored with it.

Vacation is over

Dear kind yogis and yoginis,

Uhm. If you haven’t heard, vacation is over. You’re not allowed to travel anymore, and in fact – if you’re out of town, ya really need to come back. Not only is your yoga practice deteriorating as you sip margaritas on the beach, but I really want to pay those Cosmic bills this month. So come on back to town before your practice has regressed back to square one, and bring us a little of this while you’re at it:

…..because when it’s all said and done, we like having extravagances at the studio like, say – uhm, electricity and yoga instructors!

Love and guilt trips,

Your favorite crazy bhakti,

Laurie

dinner

I don’t know why this makes me laugh…

Me: What should we have for dinner?

Kieran: Something healthy.

Drew: Olives!!! I want olives for dinner. Wait… I want bacon. Bacon for dinner.

Reminds me of last week when Drew went to Trader Joe’s with me and insisted on carrying the bacon home with her cradled in her arms like a baby. It’s the only meat she’ll eat and she asks for it all of the time. We don’t make it often, so it’s a huge treat. I think she’d rather have bacon than chocolate. Is she really my child?

—-

A few weeks ago, my body was craving meat. I started eating better and my body still craved meat, my BODY was asking for it. So, a little bit of chicken here and there has made my body much happier for now. It’s interesting to try to listen to intuition and just honor what my body asks for without morality judgments. It definitely feels good to not have to worry SO much about what to serve for dinner to please everybody.

Something healthy with olives. And a small side of bacon for the princess.

I want one

Ego-Play

I grew up in an interesting world of paradox. I had 3 sisters, no brothers and one father who adored having all girls. One would think that we would be up to our ears in “girl stuff”. Not so. My mom, being very spiritual in her own right, and having feminist leanings, encouraged us to read, go to college, play in mud piles and constantly boosted our sense of intelligence and encouraged our creative pursuits. There were piano lessons, basoon lessons, string base lessons, violin lessons, dance lessons, a bit of girl scouts, lots of gardening and yard work and my favorite ( probably because they were just for ME) – horse back riding lessons. My mom’s most memorable phrase, and one that really sunk into the fabric of our development was – “it’s what’s inside that counts”, and she was always quick encourage inner development.

I think she was brilliant in this way. I can’t remember her commenting much on our looks. As I grew into a teenager going through those very narcissistic years, it became a bit of a problem. I was a girl with a tremendous self-esteem. I knew who I was, that my possibilities were limitless, that I was smart and talented and capable and independent. But – I didn’t have much self-confidence in how I carried that out in the world. Part of that was, wondering – am I even cute? My big sister and I tended to fill that in for each other. As we got to the end of high school, and past our years of so much in-fighting, we started sharing clothes more (me sharing clothes with my almost-six foot tall sister? Ha!) and complimenting each other and helping each other figure out a bit more self-confidence. Thanks Carrie!

I’m of the belief that ego is important to self-development. Yes, we should know that we are more than our self, our accomplishments, our appearance, etc., but at some point – having a HEALTHY ego is a great tool as we learn to navigate the world.

Yesterday, at scout camp Kieran was SO hot. He’d been growing out his hair “medium” so that he spike it up cool and do fun things with it. Two hours into the hottest day of summer though, and he was begging for a buzz. We came home and zoom – off came piles of hair. He’s been upset ever since. “I’m almost BALD! My friends are going to hate it and make fun of me!” He let me take this picture, and said it could go on the blog as long as I didn’t tell his friends about it. He is wearing a cap to scout camp today.

"I can't believe my mom did this to me."

Ah, there's a smile!

Drew was jealous of his baseball cap, and his cowboy hat – which he almost wore. (anything to hide that hair, I guess – even going cowboy) I remembered my box of vintage hats that I inherited from my eccentric and fun-loving aunt Millie. There’s nothing like playing Dress up Drewbie at 7:30 AM. TOO cute:

I realize that you can’t “give” your kids a sense of self-confidence or choose how they see themselves. I can tell Kieran how gorgeous he is til he’s blue in the face and he still is mortified by his adorable buzz cut. Drew is happy with her looks even if she’s running around dirty and naked (her favorite!). As a mom, it’s so interesting to try to strike that balance between teaching the kids about their insides and their outsides. I try to make the outsides about fun and play and creativity, rather than conforming or being proper. We’ll see. One thing I’m confident about? I’m sure to screw the kids up in one way or another. I hope they survive DESPITE their well-meaning mom!

And here I am as a kid, playing in the same hat collection....don't you love my "Heidi" dress?

From Adyashanti

Adyashanti wrote:Life itself is nothing but relationship. In the ultimate view of things, it’s the relationship of the One with the One, of Spirit with Spirit. Then there is the appearance of this relationship — the dance of relationship, the dance of life. And in this dance, it is absolutely essential that we not hide from anything.

If you do try to hide from something — if you are in a relationship that is dysfunctional or a job that is tremendously unsatisfying, and you choose not to deal with it — the consequence of that denial is that you will not truly be liberated. You won’t ever be capable of being fully free, because any area where we choose to remain unconscious will ultimately have an impact upon us, as well as upon others.

The call to come out of denial is not something that is imposed upon life. It may sound that way; it may sound like I’m saying, “Here’s what you need to do, here’s what you’re supposed to do, and if you do it, you’ll be a better person and have a better life.” It may sound that way, but it’s not at all the perspective from which I’m speaking. I’m simply saying that awakened consciousness moves in particular ways. It does not deny anything. It does not hide; it is not avoiding any part of life. That which we are, that which is fully awake, is also utimately fully engaged and fearless. It moves the way it moves, out of unconditional love and truthfulness. It is only the fear in the mind — the fear that constructs the illusion of ego — that causes one to recoil from this phase of the spiritual life.

I want to emphasize this. If you avoid those aspects of your life that are not in harmony, those aspeccts of your life where you may still be in denial, that kind of avoidance is going to hinder your spiritual awakening. In the early stages, it may not have much of an effect. But later, as we get into the more mature opening of realization, there is no more room for denial. This is something that a lot of people don’t count on. A lot of us think that somehow enlightenment is going to allow us to avoid dealing with those things in ourselves that we find uncomfortable.

Awakening can be the ground from which we meet every person and situation. It can be the ground from which we relate to all the circumstances of life. But this takes a lot of courage and a lot of fearlessness. It also takes something I continue to emphasize: a very simple sincerity. This kind of sincerity arises from that which loves the truth and sees that the truth is the greatest good.

To be anything less than real, to be in avoidance of anything at all, diminishes our experience of who we are. As I often say to my students, to be less than truthful with the people and situations in your life is to withhold the expression of who you are. In the end, we must come to see that truth itself is the highest good, that truth itself is the greatest expression and manifestation of love. Ultimately, love and truth are identical; they are like two sides of a coin. You can’t have truth without love, and you can’t have love without truth.

meditation on sunscreen

We love the sun at the Gallagher abode. It’s all about the beach, the parks with water features, and the sprinklers. Poor baby girl has that gorgeous pink toned skin. You know the kind that my mother-in-law and my mom have? Both my MIL and my Mom have had skin cancer removed from their face and it isn’t fun so I’ve vowed to protect my kids. I have sunscreen in every form: the spray is killer for the fast pit stop at the park, the coppertone sport and all of it’s generic forms soak in fast and easy. I have oil-free expensive sunscreen for our faces and I even carry the sunscreen glue-stick in my bag for emergencies. None of it though is easy to apply to faces. Drew especially, is sensitive and if I get it too close to her eyes, or don’t rub it in well enough and she goes in water, it will cause her eyes to swell up and she’ll spend the next 24 hours in a rash. I know, TMI, too much (boring) info.

Well, long story shorter, I’ve taught my kids to suck it up and sit still or we don’t go out. The kids have mastered relaxing their faces so that I can rub in that protection adequately. Last week while on vacation at the beach, I was hurrying them out the door, applying sunscreen on hoards of children like a mad-woman, and when I told Drew too sit for her face and relax, she did. How does a proper 4-year old yogini relax for her dreaded sunscreen?….

Pacific Ashtanga

Yesterday, I thought I would jaunt down the street to Pacific Ashtanga. What could be better than yoga directly across from the bay at Dana Point? Plus, there’s something completely decadent about having a yoga studio within walking distance. Not that I walked.

Surprisingly, I wasn’t in the mood for the predictable Primary Series, so I chose a class called “flow”. Sounded nice and, well, “flowy”. You know – the sort of class one might want to take while on a beach vacation after just completing over 100 chatarunga pushups with Geo the Pokemon Yoga Master the day before. Yea, Flow sounded great.

Well, I”m glad t say I don’t know what the hell I really want after all.  Had I known what I was in for, I never would have gone to class, even though it was exactly what felt delicious, adventurous and was exactly what I needed after all. I went to class and to my surprise, at Pacific Ashtanga, “Flow Class” really is code for: Ashtanga’s Primary, Second and Third series on crack. Mmm Hmm… it was that addictively good.

Class was taught by Diana, the owner and there were only 5 students. We proceeded with the regular deliciousness of the Primary warm up: 5 Surya A, 5 Surya B. I was on auto pilot when I heard: the sequence go: Utkatasana, bakasana, Mukta Hasta Sirsasana (tripod headstand), directly to chatarunga, urdvha mukha, adho mukha, a bunch of warrior variations, vinyasa, then jump from down-dog to bakasana, back to tripod headstand, back to baka, and through the rest of the vinyasa… crazy! We did that 5 times and Diana proceeded to add fun variations, headstands, and such craziness as peacock in lotus (which I got!!!!), and Crow pose in Lotus (which I almost got). We did delicious backbends, drop backs, mukta hasta sirsanasa to eka pada bakasana, and all sorts of variations. We sang the Patanjali invocation and the Ashtanga closing chant.Diana’s practice is insanely advanced and she is a really great teacher.

I reveled in the Indian lineage that permeated the studio. After coming from Yoga Works the day before and enjoying class immensely, wandering into Pacific Astanga was like adding the frosting to a cupcake. The studio is presented with so much devoted attention: the altar with photos of Guruji, the beautiful statues, the candles and lanterns, the chanting, and the sheer dedication of the instructor to her own personal practice, was a cut above anything I could ask for. If you’re ever in the OC… do yourself a favor and check out Pacific Ashtanga. They also offer Ashtanga Prep classes if you’re not craving a little Ashtanga on crack like I am…

Today, reveling in my Ashtanga drug of choice from yesterday, I’m reminded of the words of Lao Tzu: “There are many paths to enlightenment. Be sure to take one with a heart.”