Happy Thanksgiving!

We're hanging out in Kauai catching some rays and waves! It has been quite the crazy month/year...! This year I got married, switched careers from engineering to yoga and photography, and met some amazing fellow yoga teachers and students too. Then we made a bitter sweet move from Seattle to Visalia (I didn't think I was going to be sad about it, but it was harder to leave than I expected.) In fact, we moved last week and then had Joey and Danielles wedding this past weekend and then took off for Thanksgiving in Kauai.

I love Thanksgiving because it is a time that encourages us to think about the things that we are thankful for. I wish that I remembered to make my "I'm grateful for list" every day. I wish I remembered to be more grateful for everything that I have. I wish, I wish... why don't I just do it? Do I not have control over how and what I think about? Isn't that why I am doing this yoga stuff?!!

Tame the mind. This is the greatest challenge before you. It rushes here and there, swifter than the wind, more slippery than water. If you can arrest the flights of the mind to your will, happiness will be assured to you.

The wise man takes great care to guard his thoughts. They are very subtle, very difficult to perceive and slip out of control at the tinniest opportunity. A well guarded mind brings happiness.

We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.

To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one's family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one's own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks oracts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.

-Buddha

Moving and Goodbyes

I've been preparing to move to California and as I sit here now I realize that I've probably gone beyond preparing and entered the phase of moving. We leave tomorrow morning when the sun comes up. I've been teaching all of my yoga classes this week. It's been a lot as I'm overwhelmingly busy with the move, however, it has also been a blessing because I've been able to get out of the house, step away from packing and cleaning, in order to do something I love.

Teaching my classes this week has also been a blessing because I've been able to say goodbye to my students and I have been able to feel the sadness that comes with leaving. Yes, I cried after I left the VA where I taught my last class to some amazing guys! I have some amazing students that I will really miss because of all that they have taught me. I thought that my excitement for the new phase would overpower my sadness of leaving much like it seemed to when I left home for collage or left collage for my new career in Seattle. Perhaps its different because those things were bound to happen or I had planned on them happening way in advance. Perhaps it is different because of the amazing year that this one has been for me, all of the life changes and new friends... or perhaps its just different because it's different... after all, the more I learn the less I know!

Farewell Seattle, here goes nothing....

My brothers from another mother!

Their words, not mine, my "brothers from another mother" have been a huge blessing in my life. I teach at the VA and it is often the best day of the week. As a person who wants to know my dharma, who wants to feel like I am making a difference in there world, you can imagine that there is nothing like hearing about how yoga is helping my students deal with their various life challenges.

One of my favorite (am I allowed to have favorites? what if they are all my favorites?!) students showed up to class and it was immediately apparent to me that he was having a bad day. (We all have some of those...) By the end of class it seemed like he was feeling a bit better. We discussed for a moment the benefit of showing up even when you don't feel like it and then just allowing yourself to be in the group.

I can toast to that! Cheers to "showing up!" And cheers to partnership, the group, the people that help us out just by being around!