wanderlust or bust

the countdown begins!* we leave thursday and return to stratton mountain, VT, for our second time wandering and lusting.

i'm excited to not be a newbie. to return to this wonderful festival as a practicing yogi, a teacher with almost a full year under my belt, a person who has pushed her practice further than she ever thought she could. my mom and i will walk onto that mountain top with all of the confidence in the world, because this time, we will have a map. this time, we will have our schedules. and this year, we will know where to park :)

last year was definitely a learning experience, as most adventures tend to be. yoga wasn't the only challenging part- figuring out where to go, getting lost between classes, running from tent to tent so you could get your mat closer to Rolf Gates than the hundreds of other yogis- was all very overwhelming.

i'm excited to see my mom try new poses and find out how far she can push her own practice. to spend time just relaxing, talking, and trying new things with her.

i'm excited to be a wanderlust sophomore. i wont be as cocky as a junior or senior and walk around like i own the place, but i might just have the balls to strike up a conversation with a couple of teachers that inspire me, like Seane Corne and MC Yogi.

i'm nervous AND excited to take the amazing classes i got into this year. handstands? paddleboard yoga?!? YES PLEASE.

i promise lots of photos and a recap that puts last year's recap to shame. wanderlust or bust- here we come!


*technically, i've been counting down since the day we got back last year...

peep this

so i wanted to give a little peek into what was, and hopefully will be again, my weekly sunday yoga class.

after about a year of training with my yogi teacher, i taught my first class in september of 2012 to a pretty decent-sized intermediate group. susan had built up a following and most of them were kind enough to give me a chance :)

i made a playlist that looked something like this:
eyes- rogue wave
sunrise sunset- we are trees
skinny love- bon iver
the thoughts that give me the creeps- hello goodbye
vcr- xx
whole love- wilco
fidelity- regina spektor
heart it races- dr. dog
animal- miike snow
prophets- a.c. newman
tightrope- yeasayer
if there's love- citizen cope
dead sea- the lumineers
how to love- lil wayne
amazing eyes- good old war
the wooden sky- the wooden sky
*(fyi-all of my yoga class playlists are available on my spotify account)

i created a formula that would be 'my style'- a frankenstein-ian creation of all of the classes i had ever taken and loved. i would take barre, pilates, and yoga classes throughout the week and jot down notes if i liked something different that the teacher did. then i would go home and do p90x, or insanity, and incorporate moves from those programs, as well (sphinx push-ups, anyone?). when asked, i called it ashtanga vinyasa, but i was later told that my students referred to it as 'katie's yoga bootcamp' :) i would pick one or two peak poses in the same sort of category (hip-opener, arm balance, back bend, etc...) and build a class that would prepare them for those poses. starting out slow with stretches and small balance postures, moving quickly into sun salutations and vinyasas, pausing in between the flow to focus on a pose that would give them the confidence to fly later on. i wasn't sure if this was how to teach, but it felt right. after a few weeks, my students started telling me that i not only prepared them physically, but mentally for those challenging poses, most of which they had never been able to get into :) (did i mention how much i loved my yogis?)

i tried to come up with my signature closing (you know that thing that teachers say at the end of their class and it always sounds so effortless and all encompassing when they say it? like they just summed up everything you were thinking, and everything the person next to you was thinking, and now you can go in peace and just smile for the rest of the day...?). my teacher used to say the most beautiful phrase that began with 'may all beings be happy', and immediately i would go to a place of quiet content. after my first class ended, i looked out at my students and just said the first thing that came to mind- thank your body for what it's done for you today and thank you for allowing me to practice with you. namaste. it's really very simple, but now that i think about it, it's the core of ahimsa. be nice to yourself. thank you for being nice to me. go in light :)

a routine malaise

i've been keeping a secret and it's become relevent to my yoga practice so i think it's time to share. the boy and i decided to start p90x'ing in february- we busted our butts for 90 straight days and graduated in may with pretty awesome results. while joey lost an amazing 19 pounds (uber proud of him- i cant stop bragging about it!), i shed a few pounds myself and i've never felt this strong in my life.

we took one week off to be lazy fat kids and immediately missed our workout routine, so we began our next p90x session soon after. this time around, we changed our nutrition habits to include more protein, and i am really starting to notice a difference in my yoga practice. i can hold my balance poses longer, i feel more flexible and i have a lot of energy. i started to attempt poses that i never thought i could do like 8 limbs, firefly, side crane, and scorpion! i dont care how silly it sounds, i was so excited when i figured out a new pose that i would hold it, make joey photograph it and send it to my teacher. she calls them my "party tricks".

i haven't been training as much these days because life got a little cray cray, but i've been going to the weekend classes religiously and taking the boy with me. he even lets me teach him balance poses now and he recently conquered crow during a low-key saturday class. i was so giddy for him, i think i started clapping...

god, i love yoga.

i love you & buddha too

so i kinda sorta had my first teaching experience back in May, but was hesitant to write about it because i'm not entirely sure that it counts. all of the signs of a yoga class were there (students, check. yoga mats, check. dimly lit room and rockin' music, check & double check.) but i fudged the second to last pose and literally instructed my guinea pigs to "hold that lunge while i check my notebook". i dont ever want to do that in a real class. ever.

plus, i only had two students- my very patient teacher and my very outspoken friend, who occasionally tossed out ideas like "why dont you throw in some arm stretching at this point? even a couple back bends...". actually, maybe it was more of a critique than my first class. yea! lets call it that.

ok, so my first 'critique' was 30 minutes long and included really basic poses. it started with a middle eastern tapping exercise to make sure everyone was relaxed and present, and ended with a very short savasana (mostly because i struggle with long savasanas due to my yoga ADD). my playlist went something like this:

Brand New Shoes by She & Him
Every Little Thing She Does is Magic by The Police
Go Outside by The Cults
If There's Love by Citizen Cope
My Doorbell by The White Stripes
Paradise by Coldplay
Right as Rain by Adele
Seperator by Radiohead

my teacher said my cues and 'flow' were really good, and flow is super important in 2 professions: rapping and yoga-ing. so that gave me a little boost of confidence as i began creating my newest sequence for a power vinyasa class. also, it made me want to listen to more kanye. "that shit cray, aint it jay? what she order? fish filet."

check, annnnnd check.

teach me how to use the love that people say you make

yoga training #9
So this training actually took place weeks and weeks ago and i'm slightly backed up, so i will attempt to take some blogging-metamucil and become slightly more regular with my updates...

hm. i just realized i make a lot of poop analogies. that's weird, right? one of my co-workers once told me that eventually, all conversations make their way back to boobs or poop and im starting to believe that.

anyway, our ninth training session was all about alignment and arm balances, which had me totally twitterpated. if i had to pick one thing that i would like for you to remember about me, it's that i am a huge fan of arm balances. also, i like fro yo. and puppies. oh, and the scratchy sound that old vinyl records make when you play them for the first time in years... but seriously- arm balances are such an amazing combination of strength, flexibility, and stability. maybe it's that feeling of victory once you nail an arm balance and hold it- i just get so excited! does that make me a yoga geek? i hope so...

we practiced our alignment for the first half of training and my teacher stressed the importance of using the 'knives edge' of our foot when in warrior 2 and other similar poses. for example, if you are in w2 with your left knee bent, your right leg should be straight out to the right side, hips open, foot pointing in the same direction as your hips, and you should be pushing off of the outside edge of the right foot. it actually takes a lot of the pressure off of your knees and helps with balance...

after alignments, we moved our mats up against the wall and practiced tri-pod, basasana (crow), headstand, shoulder stand and shoulder stand with blocks. it was glorious. and now im determined to do all of these sans wall... a good tip for attempting any of these inversions is to put a yoga block between your upper thighs and squeeze. this action helps you focus on your core muscles and isometrically pulls them together, which allows you to 'float' upside-down with ease.

and forget the fact that arm balances make you look super cool- they are good for you, too! my teacher explained how inversions have been proven to help depression, which makes a lot of sense- any time i am able to squeeze a downward dog into my day, i always feel much better afterwards.

after training, i was so pumped that i started attempting going into scorpion from several different positions and found that it was easiest for me if i came up backwards from bridge. i even held it for 4 whole seconds before i kicked joey in the face and fell on my rump. so worth it!

so the moral of this story is, find a crazy pose, make it your goal and go out there and nail it!

p.s.- remember on my last post when i eluded to a super special trip im planning? well, it looks like my mama and i will be heading to wanderlust this year in good ol' vermont!! so unbelievably pumped- 3 days of yoga and music in one of the crunchiest, loveliest states... more to come about that soon! *sigh

i get lost in the beauty of everything

yoga training session #3
for our third session, i got to devour all of the sanskrit my little heart desires. sanskrit is the classical language of hinduism, full of beautiful words and symbols. my teacher explained that it wasnt necessary to learn sanskrit because most people recognize poses by the americanized names these days- for example, what you might think of as mountain pose or standing pose is actually tadasana- but doesnt that just sound lovelier? i like to think of it as a grand announcement for when i stand up tall and throw my arms in the air- TADA! sana.... why wouldnt i want to say things like uttanasana, and savasana and even natarajasana (i'm still working on pronouncing that last one). the word asana means pose, so the first half of the title explains what type of pose it is. we went over pages and pages of wonderful asanas and i believe i've developed an undiagnosed yoga-centric ADD. i went through every single pose on paper and asked "whats this?", "whats that?", "show me!", like a kid in a candy store, while my teacher gladly obliged... it was heaven.

then i learned two very important things- first, i discovered that my teacher and i share a penchants for tattoos. secondly, and perhaps more importantly, you should NEVER ever tattoo the word or symbol for "om" on or near your foot. its disrespectful to the gods. so dont do it. dont even think about it. if you've already done it, have it removed or put an "m" in front of it so it says mom, because i bet your mom is a pretty awesome lady and you probably dont tell her enough and a tattoo would show her how much you appreciate her. problem solved. your welcome.

lastly, my teacher taught me a word that i will carry with me in my practice and hopefully will eventually flow over into my daily activities. shri. it means finding the beauty in everyone and everything. i hope you all find the shri in two thousand and twelve...


xoxo yogis and yoginis

happiness is...

....cheez-its. lots and lots of cheez-its. more specifically, a large amount of cheez-its in a variety of flavors.

i am finally done with my 14-day, 'no gluten, wheat, dairy, sugar, caffeine, or alcohol' cleanse, and i have missed cheez-its more than anything else, so my dear friend melissa has agreed to partake in a cheezy smörgåsbord this evening.

i know, i know- why even do a cleanse if i'm just going to celebrate with a buttload of processed garbage? because it was a challenge and i feel better than i have in a long time. because it was crazy hard and i deserve it. but mostly because one night of cheez-it debauchery aint all that bad...

*update*
cheez-it night was a success! the proof is in the pudding. aka, the picture below:

i am happy to report that 'four cheese' held up against our favorite 'cheddar jack',
however, 'parmesan garlic' was a waste of $. we are serious about our addiction.

...day 11

today marks the 11th day of my adventure on the be well cleanse and it's about to get a whole lot harder, with a wedding tomorrow and a bachelorette party on sunday. oy.

but... here are a few things i've learned over the last eleven days:

1. when fro yo, cupcakes and chips are no where to be found, watermelon bubblegum can almost serve as dessert.
2. grilled chicken can be made anywhere at any time of the day/night at any restaurant in any city.
3. im starting to hate grilled chicken.
4. after 11 days without it, i dont miss/need caffeine.
5. the variety of gluten free products at the local grocery stores is amazing
6. it's really hard for me to follow rules, exactly...

so yes, i've had to tweak the cleanse to fit my lifestyle and what's best for me, but that's sorta recommended. they have health coaches if you need to ask questions and i've been in touch with them all aong, making sure that i am still benefitting from the cleanse. the first couple days were really difficult and i was frustrated because i didn't have a good understanding of what i could do with the 'allowed' foods, but after pushing through day 5, i felt a lot better. i've tried to be more open minded and eat things i never would have ate before (hellooooo, garlic and oil quinoa!) and i feel like i have more energy than i have in a long time. plus, i'm not relying on a mid-day coffee to make it past 3 pm, so i'm excited for my afternoon workout.

i know it's not over yet, but i had to remind myself of all of the positive benefits of this cleanse before the weekend comes and i'm tempted at every turn... so close!

...day 4

question.

is it ok to eat an avacado every day?

i just found out that they are included in the 'allowed food options' during this cleanse, and in my current state of hunger and restlessness, i am now craving them all day long.

jumpstart my kaleidoscope heart, day 2

this cleanse is f-ing hard. just sayin'.

jumpstart my kaleidoscope heart

tomorrow i begin a 14 day cleanse and i can't figure out if i'm more nervous or excited about my upcoming challenge... i took all of the necessary steps to guarantee my success, which went something like this:

1. researched the crap outta this cleanse
2. threw out any and all snack-tastic distractions
3. ordered the cleanse
4. made one ridiculously long, organically-focused, grocery shopping trip
5. dragged my lovely friend, melissa, along, and asked her (often) 'can i really do this?' to which she replied, everytime, 'yup, definately.' (love her).

and so, i am determined to make it all 14 days, following the directions exactly, while not cheating at all. not once. not even at the bachelorette party i am throwing for my friend next weekend, when everyone else will be eating sushi and i will be drinking a yummy protein shake, pretending to be super happy with the choices i've made and not at all pissy about my horrible overlapping of cleanse vs. bachelorette festivities. not even then.

the cleanse is called "Be Well" and it was created by Dr. Frank Lipman, who works with regular folk and celebrities alike. i may or may not have been influenced by gwyneth paltrows testimony-but if i was, can you blame me? have you seen her lately, on-board steven spielbergs yacht, all "i'm 40-something, i have two kids and i stillllll look better than you could ever hope to" and what not... so yea, don't judge. i'm only human.

but- the main reason i'm attempting this great feat is because i was recently diagnosed with hypothyroidism and it's scary and overwhelming and i don't really know what else to do with my nervous energy right now. annnnd, again, it wouldn't hurt to look like good ol' gwynny.

so now the plan is, balls to the wall, i'm going to get as ridiculously healthy as i possibly can, and i'm hoping this cleanse will be the jumpstart i need. i'll keep you posted on my progress this week!