My bon voyage to KK

My bon voyage to KK
I have a really good friend leaving to live in New York in less than a week. I have thought a lot about how I feel about his moving away, and I will miss him so much. My friend KK has a really dry sense of humor, and we do on average see each other every week. Our friendship has evolved over 9 years, and he really means a lot to me. Now his move will alter our social plans, but I wonder how it will affect our friendship as well.
KK hates talking on the phone, so I have been calling him during the week to see how much conversation he can handle. I have him up to a whole 10 minutes max, and this is pulling teeth. This really doesn’t bother me, because when I spend time with him we hang for hours. Once he moves I will not get that hang out time, so will we be as close? Will our friendship evaporate into the vortex of lost connections? I don’t know.
What I do know is no matter what we will always be able to drop and pick up right where we left off. Our friendship has evolved into that type of interaction. The unknown is what happens after he leaves. Now I have every intention to go and visit, but what if he stays there? This is a real possibility, and if he stays I will hardly see him, or talk to him except for the 10 minutes I am allowed on the phone with him.
I think at this age it’s hard to watch friends you have known for years go on a path that leads them away from you. Every relationship has an ebb and flow, but when you know a person may be gone forever it’s sad. My life will go on one yoga class at a time, and the space I hold for him will always be there. However, his life completely changes the second he gets on that plane.
A different friend went back east for grad school, and had every intention to move back here after he graduated, but due to the economy he was not offered a job here. He was offered a really amazing job opportunity in D.C. He is still in D.C. and I miss him. I wish he was here. This altered our friendship forever. He comes back once in a while, but it’s not the same as actually living here. People have to go down their own path, and it sometimes alters relationships around them, but opens new doors, and opportunity they need in their life.
Like in my case I never had any intention of going back to school, and it did alter my friendships with many people. However, it is the best decision I have made in the last 4 years. Just like my friend’s decision to go and try something new. It is the best idea, and it will bring about the change that is needed.

Family in Rare form.
My mother has a phobia. She believes if she gets onto a plane it is going to crash and she will die. Needles to say this has been a major reason she has never gone to Europe. However, my cousin is getting married and she decided to go. As long as there is ambien and valium there is a way for her to relax enough to get on a plane despite the terror she feels. A few days before she takes her trip she makes plans to see her immediate family, because she has to see them before she dies on the plane.

This time we met at our favorite Chinese restaurant Genghis Cohen. My brother and his girlfriend were late, because some jack ass hit his girlfriend’s car while he was driving on the wrong side of the street. This gave my mother ample time to drink. First we shared a bottle of cold sake, and then she had her own. We ordered some appetizers and waited to order the remainder of the dinner until my brother showed up.

When my brother arrived at the table he was wearing a brand new digital camera around his neck just like a tourist. The camera he had gotten as a birthday gift from his girlfriend, and it was the same camera he used to take pictures of the accident. He was very excited to show us all how crystal clear the images were. As he sat he ordered iced tea and his girlfriend ordered sake,and then decided to order a martini mostly because she needed it.

The drinks arrived, and we ordered the remainder of the dinner when all of a sudden in mid sentence my mom turns her head away from our table, and burps really loud towards the table next to ours. I was appalled! I said mom you just burped on that girl behind us. She could have cared less, and as a matter of fact she started to laugh and continued to drink. Our table continued on eating and, talking louder and louder.

Then from nowhere my brother belches so loud that the table next to us that my mother already burped on could no longer hold their tongs. They were disgusted at my brother, and us in general, so they started to mock him. My brother mocked them back and said something like take a picture it lasts longer, or mind your business. I have no idea, but I was laughing so hard out of embarrassment it took a good 5 minutes for me to stop. Needles to say the table next to us left shortly after , but that’s not the best part.
The best part was the woman sitting at the table next to us was actually seated at a different table. She insisted to be moved. The universe works in mysterious ways, and I am sure they both deserved my family for the evening. Ohm shanti shanti..

Release.

Release.
A week or so ago I was teaching a class at Rising Lotus. Half the students were regulars, and the other half were new students. I teach a level 1 / 2 vinyasa flow with a 30 minute restorative portion. I like to think of the class as a flow and let go. Yoga was intended to get the physical body ready to meditate for hours on end, so marrying the two seems natural. However, the word meditation freaks people out. Meditation is just breathing deeply at times, shallow at other times, and letting go. Really that is all it is. I know some say empty your mind, but what does that even mean? That’s impossible; meditation can be simply counting the number of breath you take in and out. It can also be an image your brain fixates on, or an idea.

The second part of meditation is just being inside yourself or feeling who you are in space. I think someone who meditates, or takes restorative yoga classes would have a better idea of what I am explaining, so if this is weird go to yoga. I bring up this class because in a room filled with level 1 / 2 yogies any time I start to bring the room into the last 30 minutes of class there is a calm stillness that sits within each student. It’s truly amazing to watch. I believe to get any student to this mental relaxation they have to first be worked really hard. I do not instruct any swinging leg up and through the hands.

I instruct my students to bring the knee to the nose and then step the foot in between the hands. This builds heat, core strength, and concentration. The vinyasa in between poses are exhausting and beginner minds have to be exhausted to let go and relax. In a room that was originally 75 degrease six people made that room 82 degrees by the time we left. That is a lot of heat. By the time they started the restorative poses the students melted into the floor.

The regulars work themselves harder each class I teach. They check their alignment, sink lower into their poses, and move slower all because they know what’s coming at the end. The new students hold back a bit. I think because they are new, and because they aren’t as open to a new instructor. However, in the restorative poses everyone lets themselves go in the same way. They surrender onto the floor wanting to sip in all the oxygen they can. Letting go of all the stress they have. Watching this unfold is my favorite part of teaching. I get to share what I hold so dear with a group of strangers who want to feel this release. Namaste!

Read the description next time.

Read the description next time.
So I did that yoga sculpt class yesterday at Yoga Works and I thought I was fine, but that was yesterday. I AM IN PAIN TODAY. Muscles in my stomach hurt, my thighs, calves and butt hurt. I had no idea what I got myself onto yesterday. Holy Molly! I am sure I really needed the class, and believe next Monday I will be attending it again except I will go with water, and have a better idea of what to expect. It’s like circuit training met yoga and they had a baby.

However, I am the one whining like a baby today. Next time I will read the fine print, and go prepared to sweat, work, lunge, grunt and whatever else I need to do. I cannot believe how ditsy I can be at times. I had every expectation that I was going to yoga tonight until about an hour ago when I walked up my stairs and realized my legs hurt. Normally I would man up and go, but this type of ach is deep muscle pain. I refuse to go deeper tonight and risk rubber band leg syndrome tomorrow. Instead I will eat.

New Place and new yoga

New yoga classes.
I have no idea if it’s the idea of practicing in a studio, or the fact that I am trying a new place, but I am really happy I quit Equinox for Yoga Works. I loved Equinox don’t get me wrong, but my life became a series of scheduling my life around my favorite yoga classes. I guess that was no longer going to work for me. I love many of the teachers I took at Equinox, and some have become more than teachers. However, it’s not worth rearranging every bit of my day for just two hours. After a while it became annoying, and I was just using the gym for cardio machines.
I joined Equinox for the machines and the yoga not one or the other, because in my weird mind I find that to be cost effective. Just using the gym for a cardio machine seems to be a waste of money to me. Now that I mostly do yoga four times a week a broader schedule of classes was a better option and much cheaper option. I like the cheaper part. Since I am a full time student this is going to work in my favor. However, at a studio the classes are a little different and the clientele is a little different.
Yogies who practice in a studio are very serious about yoga, and you don’t see weekend only warriors. Last Saturday I was in a Level 2 yoga class, and the students were quieter, more relaxed, less stressed, and happier than my regular gym yogies. It was a nice class to take. The instructor could tell I had been through training, and he loved that I was in his class so he could adjust me. It was all in all a good first experience.
Today I did yoga sculpt class and it’s more like a strength training class. I thought it was cool, but for some reason I thought it was going to be more like an Iyengar class. Next time I should read the description of the class before I attend. Regardless of my blunder the class was effective, and I left “feeling it”. I was so in the mood to just stretch and flow, but it is always good to try new things. The instructor was upbeat, and she played Britney Spears, so I cannot complain. All in all my two new class experiences have been cool. I am looking forward to my next class tomorrow with a familiar face.

The weirdest interview ever.

I will spare the establishment’s name, but I have to share this story. Now I was told about this position from a family friend, and through this family friend I was given a phone interview. This phone interview scored me an actual class audition. When you interview for a yoga teaching you have to do a 15 minute class, or a recruit may come a whole class if you are already teaching. I am already teaching, but this was a 15 minute class instruction. I will say I interviewed at a country club, that my parents are now members of.
In the phone interview we did talk about the fact my parents are members, but I am not, and I am not part of the age group that would be attached to my parent’s membership. The manager of the fitness club did tell me she would need to discuss this with her boss, and would do so before our interview. I sad fine and we scheduled an interview. For the record I was really excited, because this was my first actual interview.
Upon my arrival I was given a tour of the gym and the yoga studio/ circuit training/ pilates mat studio. At the time of our scheduled interview there was a circuit training session in the room already going on. Somehow the manager had double booked the room, so I was asked if I would not mind just teaching her while this training was going on. I said fine to be accommodating, but it was weird. The two guys that were circuit training were running in place, grunting, and throwing a weighted ball back and forth. Granted this was really noisy.
We started and the manager could barely hear my instructions I had to keep repeating myself, the noise from the other two men in the room was distracting, and in the second series A she had to go and talk to a member. The manager came back, and was pulled away again, and then again a third time. This all went down in less than 10 minutes. I asked if she wanted me to come back at a better time, but she insisted we finished a broken up sequence. I was asked to supply a song list so I obliged. During this whole interview I did not even feel bad for myself.
The manager was not staffed to handle any of her work related responsibilities. She was checking members in, talking to teacher that were already hired, and putting out fires left and right. Yes, normally I would have been insulted, but I actually felt bad for the manager. She had no support in a gym that she was left to run. It also made me realize I did not want to work at this facility. During the second part of my interview I was asked to fill out a questionnaire.
A 200 question survey to be exact, and just before I started the survey I was told she had never spoken to her boss about the possible conflict of my parents being members, and me being a possible hire. I did the survey anyways, because I had already entered my personal information. As I read through the questions I realized there was no way in HELL I would ever be working for this country club.
Since my parents are already members it would be a conflict of interest. The questions asked in the survey were very skewed to find out how much of a team player a possible employee would be. This being the case it would be unprofessional of the country club to hire anyone who was or is related to any member. I knew there was a strict division between being employed, and being a member.
It was a weird interview, but then again I come from the fashion industry. One of the last interviews I went on for a production position was cut short when the owner, (who was and is still married), asked me out on a date. That was unprofessional and disgusting, so in the scheme of things this was a weird interview, but not the worst, and not the last.

Lately I am just thankful.
I can say without a doubt the last month and a half has passed very slowly, but very fast as well. Yes, that could be considered to be an oxymoron. However, there is an explanation for these terms to be placed together. A family member had open heart surgery. This person made it through, but two days later suffered a major stroke, and can no longer really move the left side body. No arm movement and hardly any leg movement.
With physical therapy and occupational therapy some of the movement in the leg may come back, but that is not a certainty. Long story short I am grateful this family member is still alive in any capacity. Every day at the hospital I wondered if this was the last day I would see this person, the last time I touched their hand, or told them I loved them. Every second was more important than the last, and the moments passed so fast I wanted them all back. At the same time it felt like an eternity that I was in either the ICU or a regular hospital room spending time with my family.
Every day I am happy I can talk, see, and visit as often as I like. This brings me to my point. Life can change at any given moment, and it’s just so important to be thankful and grateful for the small things I have. More than ever my yoga practice is that much more important to me. Every day I take walking, and chewing my food for granted. Not anymore. Every day I think about how lucky I am to be able to move both my legs and both my arms. What I am most grateful for is I know how lucky I am to still have this person in my life. I can hold their hand and tell them I love them as much as I want.