I cannot believe how long it’s been since I’ve attended to my website. As always I am grateful for it, knowing that I can always refer people to this page and rest content in all the work and time that went into putting it together just as I wanted it.
Recently I took part in a workshop taught by the magnificent Stephani Lindsey, bhakti yogi extraordinaire, whose level of practice and knowhow are matched equally by her sweet and open attitude as well as her continued devotion to bettering herself. It was, as she termed it, a “sane and sober” practice, one which through deliberate, slow, thoughtful approaches to the practice resulted in deep, grounded opening and exploration. In short, I left inspired.
A couple of years ago on a trip back from San Marcos where we went to study with our teacher Christina Sell, Stef and I were talking about missing immersion-style intensives, where you just do yoga for like 6 hours a day. We were bemoaning the lack of teachers available to put these on in Tucson now that both of our primary teachers of that sort had moved into different aspects of their own teaching. It became apparent through discussion that if we wanted these intensives to happen, we were going to have to make them happen ourselves.
That’s one of the amazing parts of this practice. It’s why there are so many freakin’ yoga teachers. You get caught by the practice. It entices and ensnares. It beckons you deeper, and the deeper you go, the deeper you want to go. Sharing that with others is practically a compulsion at a point. Where you go from there, who knows?
The past few years since becoming a yoga teacher I have actually spent a fair amount of my time at my MMA gym. I am often asked incredulously how I blend these two parts of my life. And yet, in some cultures yoga itself is considered a martial art. Indeed, the focus and endurance that I have learned in yoga, the ability to stay calm amidst waves of intensity, helps me immensely when I’m training and fighting. Conversely, the strength, carefully wielded power, movement awareness and continued inspiration that I sow through MMA lends itself beautifully to my yoga practice. I mean, one of the most sacred yoga texts, the Bhagavad-Gita, takes place on a battlefield just before a brutal and bloody fight.
There is a sincere beauty in consensual fighting that is unlike anything else I have experienced. Two opponents testing their skills against one another, each determined to bring their best to the exchange, an exchange that pushes them to their limits both physically and emotionally, it is so very pure. It takes all the drama and anger away from just simply hurting someone else due to anger or pain. It’s clean.
Recently I put my best efforts into applying to several graduate programs to further my education in the psychological aspect of health and wellness. Several of the programs accepted me, and one did not. This last was a program that I very much wanted, in many ways a long shot. The rejection itself was not difficult. I put forth my best effort – I had several chances to make my case as to why I would be a good choice for them. In the end they determined I wasn’t. I have to trust their expertise. Amazingly to myself, I was not sad because of the rejection. As Don Miguel Ruiz says in The Four Agreements, “Always do your best.” I did. So no regrets. My sadness had more to do with the dream, the plan. In my mind and heart I was already there and it was already in motion. Having to change everything around and “settle” for a different plan was the hard part. I’m still working through it, reorienting the momentum of my energy in a different direction.
Again comes both my yoga practice and my MMA practice to save the day. Plenty of times in a practice or a fight, things shift and it is necessary to move with it. Sometimes the body is limited. Sometimes the mind is limited. Either way, the plans only take us so far. My east coast acculturated self has had a lengthy reeducation in this since I moved to Arizona 8 years ago. East Coast = you make a plan, it might as well be carved in stone. Nothing but death will keep me from it. West Coast = Plans? What are these ‘plans’ of which you speak? (Say it a bunch of times. It will start to sound foreign. Plan plan plan plan plan plan plan planplanplanplanplanplan)
Anyway, point being, life is humming along. I have a new class I’m teaching on Wednesdays at 12:15. I intend to be teaching a LoveYOBody class soon as well. And grad school looms shortly ahead.
Come take some yoga. Come get a massage. Tell me about your life changes!
