I’m enroute to a college graduation in Virginia, how wonderful to be able to celebrate the milestone of undergraduate education. I hope you are enjoying milestones, both big and small. That superfull moon last Saturday night was a reminder of the bounty and fullness of our lives as well as the inevitable cycling. From the current Shambhala Sun magazine:

Change isn’t just a fact of life we have to accept and work with, says Norman Fischer. It is enlightenment itself, manifesting moment by moment in time.

And another picture at the finish line in Big Sur, a smile for you and cheering you on!

As Albuquerque makes its inexorable slide to those high summer temperatures we are still enjoying a bit of coolness and there’s still time for a cleanse, if you so desire. I was speaking with a gorgeous yogi the other day (aren’t all yogis gorgeous? this brings to mind another point about beauty which I will address below) and she was asking for my recommendations for a fast as a cleanse.  So I offer up here my strategy this time around, planning to embark on the cleanse when I return.

I’ve done many fasts and cleanses over the years as an acknowledgement that my body (and heart and mind and spirit) occasionally need a wipe-down, do-over, erasing the slate, time off from food for good (or bad) behavior. There are countless reason to take a break from the usual eating routine. Some yoga scriptures advise caution with fasts while others heartily recommend it. I’ve simply found from my own experience that careful fasting between seasons helps me maintain good health. Other benefits I’ve reaped include, mental clarity, heart opening, the sense of connection to all living beings, especially those who don’t have ready access to food, and general euphoria. So here’s my plan (and I’d be delighted to hear yours)

• Plan 3-5 days of juice fast, mostly vegetable with some fruit to make it more palatable. I do about two juices from my kitchen a day and then supplement with commercial varieties easily found now, no added anything, just the vegetables and juices
• Daily warm oil massage (abhyanga). You can do this in your bathroom with any of the organic oils like sesame or sunflower tho lately I’ve enjoyed castor oil
• The physical yoga practice, asana, is a bit quieter and restorative, not so much jumping and floating
• No long runs or over exertion during this period
• Plenty of time for journalling
• Daily, if possible morning and night, meditation

Give it a try and let me know how it feels. The other side effect is an inner peace, which reminds me of this Ghandi quote I saw at an  exhibition at our own Peace and Justice Center.

Sending Wishes for a Wonderful Week, Weekend, & Wild Abandon into Your Life,

Meet you on the mat next on Monday at St Mark’s on the Mesa. Belle will be teaching this Sunday at Keshet as I make my way back to the Land of Enchantment,

Meta.

Still standing 26.2 miles later, Big Sur Marathon

It took time, but happily I crossed the Big Sur Marathon finish line on Sunday April 29, 2012. Here’s a pix on the right with my buddy, who crossed the finish line earlier. I’ve received support and warm greetings and love from so many of you, and I so appreciate it.

At 10 am Albuquerque time I was running by the 14 mile marker and thinking of the ongoing Sunday morning class beginning. Each mile had a graphic which was inspiring or sort of uplifting in some way. Mile 14 marker was laughing at our speed or lack thereof, and of course some of us were not exactly zipping along. And yet, I know I wasn’t the only one grateful to be alive and on that road. I know because we chatted as we moved along the open road and I also heard snatches of conversation. The sign was perfect in its humor as my running pack knew we were no where near the front and, seriously it didn’t matter, we were running our own race, just as we practice our own yoga. In fact, we all run our own race as metaphor for life.

My favorite sign was mile marker 25, okay it was favorite because I was near the end of the distance, yes, but also the message just made me remember. …The End is Near. But of course it is, for us all. We work and we play and we practice yoga and we love and we cook and we worrying and we imagine great things and…we all know the end is near. We don’t know when of course, and near is an entirely relative concept and yet, if we can remember that the end may indeed be near, we may be encouraged to live our our lives more fully, with more zest.

I’ve talked with students struggling at the end of the semester to get all the assignments completed and study for finals, and friends working on difficult projects, and yogis working with a tough pose and, well, we all have work that requires that extra effort, that push that you didn’t even know

for sure we were capable of. And that’s the reason I like challenges, I think. It’s that each time I do something I find challenging I get to a place where I am tempted to give up, maybe it happens many times, during trainings and during the run. But I keep going and in that pushing through a wall (see mile marker 20, the marathoner’s proverbial distance wall) I discover something new about myself, and usually I have an inspiration or receive clarity that I’m quite sure is related to that push.

So, yes, I’m so glad to have crossed the finish line, but now, I’m planning for the next challenge, the next “wall” that will appear. I definitely know it’s not easy, but I also know the rewards are, well, priceless.

Thank you to the yoga teachers who subbed for me while I was away: Allegra on Sunday and Belle on mornings and Monday eve. I know they were splendid classes. I look forward to seeing you again beginning tonight,  Wednesday 5:45 pm at Healing Gate

After the race, now that's happy.

A last picture taken as we were driving away and finally, I’m sitting down! (And the amazing film-maker Kimu, along with Kenji are seen videotaping, more about that later).

I bow to each of you and your challenges. May your personal marathons bring you closer to yourself.

Sending love and gratitude,
Hope to meet you on the mat soon,

namaste,

Meta.

I hope you are all enjoying the change of seasons and new growth all around us. It’s a great time to begin your garden, tend your garden as we say.

Tending to our personal inner garden is definitely an inside job. As many of you know, the natural world is an enormous source of nourishment and inspiration for me, especially that Grand Canyon. When I was last camping and hiking there in August, I received the inspiration to run a second marathon, repeating the Big Sur that I ran in 2007.  I knew it was a daunting task and I also knew it would take hours of training and lots of ups and downs, but somehow I was inspired to run that ridiculous distance again.

Partly I wanted to work on that intention I set when I turned 50 years old, to be fitter at 60 than 50, but also I believe it was a yen for a challenge and the journey it would require. At first I had the grandiose idea of running the marathon faster at 56 than at 46, but I’ve been disabused of that notion. Now, I just want to enjoy it more, savor that wild and bedazzling ocean slamming against the shore, the ice plants flowering along Highway 1 and the great expansive sky.

There have been so many ups and downs since that August decision: injuries, illnesses, exhaustion, overwhelm, and finally radiant joy of just moving along the open road. Many times I wondered what the heck I was thinking, but then I remembered, I wasn’t thinking at all. The notion came to me as if from a dream.

However the run goes, I am grateful, for the chance to run along that ocean with no cars, for a body that continues to chug along even with the audacious requests I make of it, and for you, the community that supports me every time we step on the mat together and even just when I think of you.

So I urge you to follow your dream and take on a challenge, if you haven’t already. Could be…more yoga, more of a sport you love, maybe even…yoga teacher training. Whatever you choose, bet on yourself!

Sending love and gratitude,

Meta.

I hope your day of celebration was just right in this land of enchantment with the warm sun and dry earth. Classes continue at YogaNow on the Move and tomorrow I’ll be giving a free “Lunch and Learn” at UNM Hospital on “Integrating Yoga Into Our Daily Lives” at 11:45-12:45 (in the Bill & Barbara Richardson Pavilion, Room 1500; If you enter the front of the building (facing north), you will past the information desk and the sitting area, and it will be the room to your right (1500) right before the elevators.)

If you have already earned the 200 HR Registered Yoga Teacher certification, this is your chance to earn the highest and most esteemed 500 HR RYT. Beginning in June 2012 YogaNow Advanced Teacher Training Apprentice Program begins. This is a flexible and individualized apprentice program for a small and select group. Check out the web information and call or stop by a public class. In my years of teaching yoga teacher trainings I have been witness to monumental transformation and the blossoming of inner joy and peace. There is no experience quite like it. But make no mistake, it requires time and commitment. So if you are ready and open to a journey of astounding depth, apply now.

May your day be filled with moments to savor and smiles for no reason whatsoever,

many blessing and much love and gratitude,

Meta.

So much gratitude to those of you who helped move out of Gold and gratitude to those who showed up at our new locales, partaking in the moveable yoga feast. Here’s a small token of gratitude, shark love – check out the upside down end: 333Nina Salerosa

Join the yoga party this Sunday 10 am at Keshet….drinks on the house…and meet you at St Mark’s on the Mesa on Monday 545 pm, Healing Gate Wednesday 545 pm and day time classes t/th at Keshet. Have a suggestion, option? Lemme know. We’re on the move together.

Pansies smiling in recent snow fall.

I’ve been thinking about imagination lately as I prepare for a presentation at the Qualitative Research in Management and Organization Conference at UNM, put on by YogaNow yogi Ann Cunliffe (okay she’s also a full professor of management). Always fun to review the ancient literature and consider the practices for today.  Imagination or vikalpa in Sanskrit is one of the 5 types of thinking that the Yoga Sutras identifies. There are ways to use imagination that are not so helpful (like worrying) and ways that can be helpful (like imagining the opposite of a difficult situation, pratipaksha bhavanam). So may I offer this off the mat practice:

Next time a troubling feeling or situation arises, take a breath, pause, close your eyes and imagine what the opposite of that feeling or situation is. Imagine this in as much detail as you possibly can, no limits. The opposite can be completely impossible and unrealistic, don’t be concerned. Just let you imagination fly and see what the most outlandish opposite could be of your current dilemma. Then, perhaps, smile, take a breath and open your eyes. How does it feel to travel from the inside?

Have a beautiful weekend full of many fanciful travels.

sending love and hoping to meet you on the moveable mat,

Meta.

Meta’s last class at 215 Gold is tomorrow, March 30th, Friday, 5:45 – 7:15 pm. We’ll invigorate with flow and core for about an hour and then drink it in with restorative yoga for the last 30 minutes. Join me Friday eve to usher in the weekend.

Sending love,

Meta.

Meta at the end of the Grand Canyon, south rim. Inviting you to play.

As the month draws to a close I am so grateful to you all for your continued support and community. I feel a great sense of excitement for the new beginnings of our journey together on the yoga path, now in different locales around town and around our glorious state of New Mexico. I invite you to join the celebration of birthing the new cycle on moving day, March 31st, at 1 pm. We’ll have champagne to toast and anything that hasn’t sold yet will be offered at even lower prices (is that possible?).

I’ve been thinking about a moveable yoga feast and how our new yoga time together will be a model of how to create yoga community, personal transformation and love wherever we are, in different locales, environments, around town. Just as we seek to create community, transformation and love in our lives as they meander, so will our yoga classes.

Please join me this (and every) Sunday, April 1st at 10 am at Keshet Dance Company for our usual Sunday yoga party, which has been going on, for some of you, even before 215 Gold opened, at my home in 1999. So this moveable party continues.  Keshet is on the south side of Coal between 2nd and 3rd Enter at the Coal entrance with large parking lot and the door open, for you,here’s a map. I look forward to seeing you and at the other locations:

Monday 5:45 – 7:15 pm at St Mark’s on the Mesa, SE corner of Roma and Darmouth, one block south of Lomas, one block east of Girard, here is a map.

Wednesday 5:45-7:15 pm at The Healing Gate, 3212 Monte Vista NE, Albuquerque, NM 87106, corner of Monte Vista and Campus, 2 blocks North of Central, a truly lovely yoga space.
and …Daytime Gentle classes, T/Th 9:30-11 am at Keshet on Coal and 2nd.

Consider diving into yoga in a retreat setting, Ghost Ranch at the next YogaNow Teacher Training & Personal Enrichment Program.

With boundless love and gratitude to each of you, all of you, and all of us together,

I bow to you, (namaste)

Meta.

namaste in Devanagari script

I hope you are enjoying the Ides of March and drinking in this sunshine!

A television series is filming on Gold between 2nd and 4th this Friday, March 16, all day and the street will be closed. I understand they’ll be shooting stunts and crashes so, I think it’s best to simply cancel classes this Friday. It just doesn’t seem like a good use of anyone’s time to struggle to get to the studio. So, sorry to say but Aparna’s 930, Mike’s noon, and my 545 pm won’t happen this Friday, but will happen the next two Fridays. Maybe we should prepare for St Patty’s day instead, like putting green food coloring in our scrambled eggs (my family’s tradition) or in beer, perhaps?

The YogaNow Teacher Training & Personal Enrichment Program at Ghost Ranch is now detailed on the web, brochure out soon. Stop by the web and read about this delicious opportunity for diving into yourself in spectacular beauty in our home state.

Sending wishes for a fabulous Thursday…and a very green-ish and impish St Patrick’s Day,

namaste,
Meta.

I hope you are all staying warm and grounded in this cold and windy weather. My favorite remedy from our sister science, Ayurveda, for this potential ‘vata derangement’ is to rub warm oil on the feet and put on socks at bedtime. Wake up grounded and rested. More on home spring inner cleansing, panchakarma.

Winds and change are part of the outer landscape but we also have winds of change within our inner landscape. Yoga teaches us that it is always up to us how we interpret life events that come our way. One of the many practices offered that I personally enjoy is called pratipaksha bhavanam or imagining the opposite.  So for example, when I thought I’d lost my car keys a few years ago and was beginning to panic, I stopped, took a long breath and smiled as I thought of an opposite. What, for me is the opposite of loosing car keys? Well, it would be to have a driver and not need car keys. So I imagined first a convertible driving up for me, then an elephant and finally I began to laugh at all the ways to get around. Then I returned to the present moment and realized there was an easy solution to the immediate problem which was obvious but obscured while I was worrying.  So, what is the opposite of winds of change for you?  Can you use your imagination to think of something so opposite it is wild? Ride the wind, I say.

Tonight please join me for Flow and Restore at 5:45 pm. There will even be oil to put on your feet with you own socks, if you’d like. Don’t forget this Sunday is Spring Ahead so see you at 10 am on Sunday in the new time season. Hope to meet you on the mat soon.

Reminder: The Gong Bath is now Tuesday, March 27 at 7:30 pm. Bathing in the vibrations.

Also, the many studio items will go on sale this weekend. You can purchase and then pick up on Saturday 3/31 after 1 pm. You can also join us for the move with some joy and closing, more on that party soon.

Sending buckets of love and warm hugs,
and a note from a guy who liked wind, Benjamin Franklin:
Meta.

I hope you are all doing so well and enjoying the sun and even, perhaps the cleansing March winds. Perhaps this quote from Pema Chodron will support you:

REUNITING WITH OUR OPENNESS
Don’t worry about achieving. Don’t worry about perfection. Just be there each moment as best you can. When you realize you’ve wandered off again, simply very lightly acknowledge that. This light touch is the golden key to reuniting with our openness.

This is the beginning of the last month of YogaNow on Gold, and April will be the beginning of YogaNow on the Move, taking the classes on the move, to various lovely locations. Next week we’ll also have a list of items that are for sale at the studio (lots will go) that can be paid for anytime to reserve your choice and then retrieved on Saturday, March 31st after 1 pm. Details soon.

Quick schedule note – This Friday only, March 2, Mike will be teaching the Yoga Flow and Restore at 545-715 pm, the first hour is flowing and fun and the second half hour all about restorative poses with long breaths, a fabulous way to slide into the weekend.

May yours be sweet…meet you on the mat,

Namaste,

Meta.