Breathe, RELAX, Let Go and DANCE!!

So much going on this weekend! The perfect kick-off to the week started off with another installment of 1810 Yoga. While I enjoyed spending time with everyone who came out to the event, the only photos I took were of this frog:



I was especially grateful to see fellow New Times freelancer Alex Rendon and his wife, Catalina, attend for the first time. His unofficial review via Facebook message stated:

"Just wanted to drop you a line and say thanks for being such a great yoga sensei (don't know the yoga jargon.) My wife and I had a great time. We had been so stressed out for a multitude of reasons that a little relaxation was just what we needed. It was a blast. You made a believer out of me."

Thanks again to everyone who attended! YOU are helping me to manifest my vision of creating a space for artistic minded people to re-connect and focus on their internal source of power and inspiration. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

So after a little relaxation, then what? Live your passion!! I've been told many times that people enjoy watching me take photos because I look like I'm having fun. Clearly I can't hide the truth :) Tonight is going to be a very fun night of dancing/photography/awesome music! That's because of this event going on at the Orange Door. View my photos from the last event there of a mix of some of the same bands.

While I'm not shooting this event officially i.e. getting paid, they def deserve the attention as it promises to be an amazing night. Oh well, nights like this help to keep my blog pretty and where else can you let go and dance on a huge orange and white checkerboard floor??

FYI there's always the option to click the little "Donate" button if you feel so moved to help me along my journey of documenting the South Florida music scene....the truth is, I'm going to do it anyway. BUT we could all use help along the Way!!

Another event deserving of press is the Top Five Records line-up going on tomorrow in downtown Lake Worth. Unfortunately I won't be able to see some of my favorite local acts as I'll be covering the Record Store Day celebration at Radio-Active Records in Ft Lauderdale. Here are some photos instead of the most recent Invisible Music show at the Bamboo Room, to help you get your John Ralston fix.

Lake Worth's Musical Savior...

Seriously great music. Dan Bonebrake and Tiffany Jezek.

With Jeff Snow on drums!! Download Invisible Music's "Let Me Be" single to support the Snow family with their son's road to recovery :)


If this isn't enough, check out a great review by Arielle Castillo with images by Ian Witlen from the Further Seems Forever/Legends of Rodeo show here.

One of the bands performing tomorrow at Radio-Active is the Jacuzzi Boys whom I last saw live on the Bruise Cruise!! Here's a Polaroid I took of them with an SX70.


Really looking forward to this weekend....see you on the dance floor!

Path to Peace: A Meditation

My is heart is weighing heavy right now. I've been watching updates of Japan's earthquake and tsunami this morning, while also watching my reaction to this news. I can't help but to feel sorrow for those whose lives have been tragically effected. I recognize in my own journey it's easy to have the tendency to push pain away. Instead, the invitation through the practice of yoga is to just be with what you are feeling. It is a practice of expanding your capacity, despite chaos and disruption. To share peace, I must feel what it is like to be peaceful. To help others find peace, I must share EXPERIENCE of how I myself learned to move from distraction to peace, many times over. It's a path after all. There will be days when sharing peace seems like the last thing possible, and on those days when your heart feels heavy, instead of pushing the pain away, I hope you find a welcoming space to allow yourself to just feel. Allowing yourself to breathe, relax and let go. Let go of the need to DO anything. Simply be present with peace, as it's manifesting through you, with each breath.

In addition to this I wanted to post again about Baby Snow. He was one of the "Love Music" babies from the triple maternity session I did months ago. There's been a fund set-up to help him and his family along their journey to peace. Please help if you can.

5th Annual Yoga Day USA: January 22, 2011

This is an amazing yoga event for practitioners of all levels. Plus, it's FREE! Click here to learn more.

See you there...after I get done teaching at BGI-South, of course!

Featured Teacher

I am honored to be featured by the Amrit Yoga Institute.

Here is a link to the article. Once there, click on the "August 2010" Newsletter.

Thank you to Daniel Millay for the yoga photo of me performing the "wheel" pose.


If anyone is interested in more information about hosting a yoga party please ask!

One of the voices I hear in my head....i.e. An Amazing Instructor

Senior Amrit Yoga instructor Eric Walrabenstein or "Yogi E" has been an inspiration in my ever expanding yogic journey. Please visit his website after you read these words of his that I found inspiring:

"Zen Master Dogen once said: “Practice as if saving your head from fire.” And in this, he was half right. The unfortunate truth is that for many of us, we practice ardently and with the best of intentions, all the while making strident gains in the wrong direction. The problem is that the ego stands perpetually ready to co-opt the practices that were originally intended to set us free—digging us deeper into the pit of the sense of a separate self.

I practice diligently; I am a good meditator, I am at peace, I am compassionate, I am humble, I am pure divine bliss, I, I, I, I, I. To become free, we must get clarity regarding who or what this “I” is—and not just intellectually, but experientially. Our practices were not conceived to make us calmer, more compassionate, or more pleasant; they were created to ultimately set us free from that which is capable of being calm/agitated, compassionate/greedy, or pleasant/irritating. They are offered for the purpose setting us free from the ego, not to spruce it up making it the shiniest, friendliest, and most spiritual ego on the block. In other words, it’s about freedom folks."

While at the Amrit Institute I was fortunate to be taught by Yogi E. The clarity in which he describes the practice of authentic yoga allows me to focus my intention of connecting with my Truth, so that I may teach others from this experiential space. His teachings inspire me to stay present with what is and let go of the rest, allowing my Self to be revealed which is the greatest present that I could ever (but would never) ask for.

Other Side of the Camera

Photos: Daniel Millay

I asked fellow photographer and friend, Daniel Millay to take some photographs of me practicing yoga. As with most photographers, it's rare that I'm in front of the camera, but this was a great experience! Please check out some of Daniel's work when you have a moment.

I'm really enjoying this journey of merging yoga and photography as there are so many ways in which my creativity is effected by yoga, and vice-versa. Possibly because when you are dropping into the "zone" as it is often called in sports, you are connecting with your higher state of being. Your greater Self.
You lose all track of time and therefore let go of self-imposed barriers and filters. You become enlightened from the burden of stress and get lost in the creation of BE-ing.

Let the world know you as you are, not as you think you should be, because sooner or later, if you are posing, you will forget the pose, and then where are you? -Fanny Brice

Great (short!) Video

Please enjoy this video of my Guru, Yogi Amrit Desai. I can almost perform the posture flow he does but am still working on bringing my feet into lotus while in headstand. Keep practicing!



The first part of the video takes place in Salt Springs (Ocala) Florida where I had the pleasure of attending for my teaching certification. Here is one of my photographs taken while meditating on the beautiful Lake Kerr.


"The Quiet Choice" by Monica Kustra

KARMA Yoga

Here are a few words of GRACE from Gurudev, Yogi Amrit Desai:

Grace
This non-reactive way of being is living in the "fire." It takes great courage to sit still and surrender. Meditation helps. That quiet approach to constantly alternating positive and negative experiences is the ultimate, invincible defense. Sitting in that fire is the real surrender of ego. When the ego burns, grace showers. You are taken to the unified field of all creativity - Self-sourcing. In this surrendered state, all evolutionary expressions and actions spontaneously and effortlessly emerge. In this grace, your highest desires are fulfilled without having to strive for them. Such desires are founded not in separative consciousness, but in the field of unity and integration. When intelligence is rooted in the field of unity consciousness, you are grounded in Self-sourcing, and can act with maximum creativity and efficiency. The action itself is self-fulfilling rather than the end result. Instead of reaction, there is only Reality.
Yogi Amrit Desai is a world renowned teacher and author on yoga and consciousness. Originally from India, he has based himself in the United States for over 35 years.

From the Trans Quarterly, Spring 1997, Volume 12, No. 1, Page 11-12.