pop culture stunted my growth

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~How Justin Bieber Stole my Summer~

Dear Diary,

The stillness has come. I was searching, and I think I found it. I have fallen in love with Yoga. The practice, the history, the philosophy and the sanskrit. I want to bundle it up and call it my own. This is my path. This is how I’m going to make a difference.

I spent four months schleppin’ my goods around Indonesia searching for something greater. I found it in the people, the music, nature and a yoga studio. With a 30 pound bag and Lonely Planet in hand, I set upon a journey to find The Truth.

After two years in the high tech world of South Korea, I was ready to fully embrace the island life. A place where cable and internet are considered luxuries and beer is the most expensive thing on the menu. It was easy to unplug and disconnect from the outside world, which was a welcome change which slowed me down, allowing time to sit and breathe and think.

I was happy. I drank less, read more and even gave up meat.

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we are all one

Murmuration

A chance encounter and shared moment with one of natures greatest and most fleeting phenomena.

Check it out!


Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

stretch and decompress

What do you do when you're feeling sore from too much yoga?  Do more yoga!

My body is sore and tired.  I've recently taken on more classes and yesterdays schedule kicked my ass.  I have a nice little mix throughout the week between classes and privates.   But yesterday was a day full of classes and it was exhausting.  When teaching a one-one session I demo here and there but mainly rely on verbal cueing, physical adjustments and gossiping during down dog.  Aside from the odd dry throat from yammering on, it doesn't take much out of me.

But yesterday I taught four classes, three of which were back to back.  These were core flow classes which is a mix between Pilates and yoga.  By the third class I had a serious case of the wobbles in warrior 1, by the fourth class I all but fell over.  These are beginner classes with people who have "heard" of yoga and want to give it a try.  They don't know their chaturanga from their vrksasana and don't seem to care.  They want and NEED the visual.

Having made the decision to pursue yoga as my "career" I'm thankful for any classes that come my way.  It's tough building up a full time schedule teaching yoga.   So when a clinic offers me 3 classes in a row, I take it.  I just might fall over in the process.

Here's a little flow I use to help stretch and decompress.

Moving slowly.  Flow in and out of each pose a few times before settling in for 10 breaths.  Stay longer if it feels good!  Take your time and enjoy!

waiting

Every now and then I read something that feels as though it flowed through me, like it could have been my words.  Something that resonates and settles deep within. I had a yoga class tonight and spent some time this avo searching for the right poem to close the class.  This is what I found:

“Waiting” by Leza Lowitz


You keep waiting for something to happen,
the thing that lifts you out of yourself,


catapults you into doing all the things you’ve put off
the great things you’re meant to do in your life,


but somehow never quite get to.


You keep waiting for the planets to shift
the new moon to bring news,
the universe to align, something to give.


Meanwhile, the piles of papers, the laundry, the dishes, the job—
it all stacks up while you keep hoping


for some miracle to blast down upon you,
scattering the piles to the winds.


Sometimes you lie in bed, terrified of your life.

Sometimes you laugh at the privilege of waking.


But all the while, life goes on in its messy way.


And then you turn forty. Or fifty. Or sixty…
and some part of you realizes you are not alone


and you find signs of this in the animal kingdom –


when a snake sheds its skin its eyes glaze over,
it slinks under a rock, not wanting to be touched,


and when caterpillar turns to butterfly
if the pupa is brushed, it will die—
and when the bird taps its beak hungrily against the egg
It’s because the thing is too small, too small,
and it needs to break out.


And midlife walks you into that wisdom


that this is what transformation looks like—
the mess of it, the tapping at the walls of your life,


the yearning and writhing and pushing,


until one day, one day


you emerge from the wreck


embracing both the immense dawn


and the dusk of the body,

glistening, beautiful

just as you are.

It was in that first line, You keep waiting for something to happen, the thing that lifts you out of yourself, that had me hooked.

~much love~