welcome.

the image on top is "Welcome Home Sweet Sugar" by Kelsey Brooks

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Starting off Shakti: Christi Christensen, The Jah Suns, Guy Douglas & Torkom Ji

Starting off Shakti.

Last year, I loved Christi's class. I need my power- my core- to be really fully present, and Christi brings that focus. She gets it, and when you walk out of that class, your inner fire's been awakened.

This year, Christi was joined by The Jah Suns. There guys are out of this world- in a great way. Total shamans, musicians and soul brothers.

This took a yoga class on an other worldly journey to a whole new land of Shakti.

Guy Douglas brought the magic of the singing bowls, a digeridoo, shamanic drums and GONGS. Torkom Ji, also of the Alchemical Fusion of Sacred, brought a 432 hz  synthesizer and played cosmic DJ. 

Christi's sequencing rocked; the flow so natural and divine, the challenge just right. She also brought the *fun*, high vibe energy; matched by Jah who went nuts with the shakers. 

We ended with a sound meditation in savasana. Which, in my opinion, is how every yoga class should end....in complete, and total return to source energy and compassion. Absolutely epic. 


5 Tenets of Awesomeness

Core values for business, love, friendship and every other kind of relationship you can think of.

1. Honesty

I majored in honesty. No, really, I did.

I'm not as much of a stickler as I once was about it, but it still makes it #1 on my values list. Life is much, much better when one is honest (to themselves & everyone else).

What is honesty? I'd say honesty is being an open channel communicating the thoughts & opinions that are relevant to the current experience. What is relevant? Generally, anything you are thinking & feeling about another person in any relationship is usually relevant to both or more parties. Why? Because thoughts are things, and people pick up on them. Honesty clears the air, and as a culture, I think we have an under-share our experience.

Don't be scared of telling people things. I can't vouch for how that will go for other people; but it's especially true for me. I am one of the most open minded motherf**kers I know. And I've spent the past 6 years in NYC & Venice. Being afraid to tell me something is absolutely absurd.

2. Integrity

Actions are fundamentally meaningless. The most well intended move can lead to unpleasant consequences and out-of-control outcomes & being attached to outcomes generally leads to insanity. There is no point to doing anything, really, with one exception;

If you say you will. Then it's a pretty good reason to do it.

In the grand spectrum of the universe, it doesn't really matter if you will get the proposal in by 5pm on Tuesday or 3pm on Friday, or not at all. But in the microcosm of your psyche, you'll build strength and trust in yourself if you stick to your deadline.

No one is perfect (I missed a coffee meeting on Monday) but building integrity is one the most wonderful experiences on the planet.

3. Courage

With the singular exception of bungee jumping, if something scares me, I'll probably do it on principle.

I may be confusing courage with stupidity, but I don't mind.

I've found fear is often a curtain for particularly wonderful experiences (think heights, public speaking, and letting someone know you find them attractive).

How nervous I feel is generally directly proportionally to how much I'm about to grow.

4. Creativity

Once again, actions are pretty meaningless. Everything we create is going to get destroyed in a big plasma explosion one day, if not sooner.

Yet humans tend to get off on it on creating things.

Making stuff feels awesome. So does growing, building and expanding. Perfecting, crafting, capturing the human experiences in joy, music and art...

Creating is being a part of the flow; in contrast, stagnation just feels bad. In some ways, being creative just means sharing yourself with the world. And sharing is caring; data, information, resources, and just about everything else.

As long as we admit that we enjoy creating for pure pleasure, we are going to have a lovely time here.

5. Compassion

Compassion is a super power. The most paramount emotion; the one vibration that can create complete and total change, that erases the past and brings in full recognition of creative potential in the present moment.

It feels like a stretching sensation in the heart. And at first it kind of hurts, but then it feels good, you know?

It is a secret weapon with the power to change any situation. And one of my favorite things. Ever. 

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Mythical Being

I want to be this perfect human that listens fully, then pauses, and takes a breath before she speaks.

When she does, speaks slowly; spins words of gold. I want to be this mythical being of divine communication & creativity, that brings vision to reality with each breath.

"Mythical.....But mythical people aren't real," he says, "They are mythical by definition".

"Well, maybe. I believe that I can change my way of being, and if I keep refining myself I'll eventually become a very impressive being. I want to be like Albus Dumbledore.....okay, that was a bad example because he's obviously not real-"

"-Yes. He's a character, and a symbol".

"Ok, fine. What about Hillary Clinton? Hillary Clinton is real?"

"But you don't know Hillary Clinton".

"No, but I bet you she has her game face on most of the time".

"You don't know that. She's a symbol. You see her from far away. Mythical people aren't real".

Maybe? I still want to be a mythical being ;)

Monday, May 20, 2013

Ecstasy, Solitude and Progress

There are three things, Saul says, that are absolutely essential for the Bhakti yogi....

The first is Ecstasy. On the Bhakti path, ecstasy is essential. Ecstasy lifts you out of ordinary life and shows you what is possible. It also shows the truth, the bliss, of reality and the divine and wonderful love of our being.

Ah, to always be in ecstasy.....

I cannot wait for the day when I say"Oh, wow, that was a mind-blowing ecstatic rush of joy! Amazing! Now, why don't I leave this ecstatic rush gracefully? I'll just release that beautiful thought, vision or experience and move into the present moment now.....".

I'm not there yet. I will replay that ecstatic moment again and again, only to switch and fantasize into the future. Once upon a time I thought, perhaps, I could open the eternal portal to ecstasy if I always lived in distraction, Douglas Adams style. But this brings me to Saul's next point. 

Stillness. Solitude; Aloneness. The Bhakti yogi knows the importance of going off by one's self and experiencing the stillness that precedes everything. S/he knows the power gained by taking this time, and the realization that comes of it.

I love this. This wonderful truth, this little life hack. When I find it difficult to be alone (my mind likes to keep me company), I turn to yoga to clear my thoughts and remind me; I'm at the center of my experience. And my experience is happening now. 

And lastly, Progress. Progress is knowing that all love ultimately resides within the self. As we intertwine our states of stillness and ecstasy, we, paradoxically, reach for and relax into this space.

May you and I flow favorably; may we all grow. 

With @SaulDavidRaye, @Shakti Fest (Bhakti Fest's Spring Immersion).




Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Analytics on my Mind

I would sell my soul to run analytics on my mind.

I want to know, truthfully, objectively, what the hell it is that I do with myself most of the time.

I'd like to know my top keywords. Maybe there are really predictable like "sex" "money" and "joy". I'd just like to be surprised by my research.

I want to know the 'sites' I visit most often. How much time do I spend there? Really? Because when I'm daydreaming, I'm not often holding up a stop watch.

How many 'visitors'? 'Uniques'? Maybe I'll monitor myself for a month and record the results.

How amazing would it be to see the aggregate, and the outliers?


Friday, May 3, 2013

Keep it.


I took class with Jerome Mercier this morning. Santa Monica already heated up at 7AM. 

His classes are silent, challenging & advanced. For a change, he asked us to move through another vinyasa. 

And he said, "Don't dance. Don't flow through it. Keep your awareness, meditate through it". 

My first thought, was, "Don't dance? Are you out of your mind? Is there another purpose of human life I'm not aware of?". 

And he says, "When you dance, you sometimes enter another realm, and energy moves outwards. You don't disperse your energy. You cultivate it. And then you keep it."

And it just stuck with me.