With Apologies to Willie

On the Mat Again

(To be sung to the tune of Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again")

On the mat again, I just can't wait to get on the mat again,

The life I love is doing yoga with my friends, and I can't wait to get on the mat again.

On the mat again, doing poses that I've never done, feeling  things that I may never feel again,

Oh, I can't wait to get on the mat again.

On the mat again, like a bunch of hippies we do Salutations.

We're the best of friends, believing that the world is more than Nations, than Nations.

On the mat again, breathing in and breathing out again, 

Vira Two to Trkonasana is fun, and I can't wait to get on the mat again.

(musical interlude)

(one more time, with feeling!)

On the mat again, like a bunch of hippies we do Salutations.

We're the best of friends, believing that the world is more than nations, than nations.

On the mat again, I just can't wait to get on the mat again,

The life I love is doing yoga with my friends, and I can't wait to get on the mat again.  

And I can't wait to get on the mat again.

(Yee-ha!)

For the real thing, try this: http://www.youtube.com/embed/1TD_pSeNelU

Open Up!

You know how I love my computers.  Instant access to information; frequent, succinct messages between my daughters and myself; the fun of getting email every day!  As a yoga teacher, though, here is my warning:  Sit up straight! 

Computers, phones, mp3 players, and all our other fun and exciting devices have our whole society curling forward.  We hold our smart toys at waist height and round our shoulders as we click away.  We strain toward the computer monitor and lose our perfect posture as we melt toward the machine.  This brings us into a protective stance, curving our bodies inward and making it difficult for our heartspace to beam out the way it wants to.  Our breath becomes constricted, which puts our nervous systems on high alert:  I can’t breathe, why I am protecting my vital organs; what’s happening to me!!!

Open those shoulders.  Raise that iPhone to shoulder height. Put a timer on your computer that alerts you to pay attention to your posture.  Use a lumbar pillow.  Learn some chair yoga (hey, the computer’s right in front of you -- Google it!).  Join a yoga class. Shine that heart out and notice the vitality that flows through you even when you’re hard at work.  

Don’t let your devices drain your batteries!

Happy St. Valentine's Day

Love your neighbor as yourself. 

This brings up a couple of questions:  1)  Who is your neighbor?  2) What if you don’t love yourself all that much?

Here are the answers:  1) Everyone is your neighbor.  2) You are lovable and loved, so jump on the bandwagon and show yourself some love!

Picture the person you love the most.  You want the best for this person.  You want this person to feel love, to experience kindness, and to live their best life. You want to be instrumental in bringing all this wonderfulness to your beloved.

Of course, we all know that you cannot give that which you do not have. If you do not honor yourself, love yourself, and take care of yourself, you are cheating your loved one.  By not turning the qualities of love to yourself, you cannot shine these qualities on another.  The one you love the most is missing out on what only you can give.

We are all created equal (Hey, Tom Jefferson said so in the Declaration of Independence – it must be true!).  We also have free will.  So decide to love yourself as you love your neighbor.

I love you!  Happy Valentines Day!

Computers Are So Cool!

I love the computer age.  Internet, email, Google; all these make life so much easier, simpler.  In just five minutes I can get store hours, coupons, and directions to get there.  That catchy tune playing on the radio?  I’ll find and download it in two minutes.  If the kids want enchiladas for dinner, I can get three recipes in seventeen seconds.  I am connected to yoga teachers, meditation gurus, my church congregation, and cousins I haven’t laid eyes on since before the days of sunscreen.  Woo hoo! It is exciting and fun to have such unfettered access to people, things, and facts.

Tovie prefers hardcover books.

Yeah, I know it can be a time-suck.  One Shiva Rea YouTube video can lead to an hour of vinyasa viewing.  But hey, as long as I’m getting the laundry done and enough sleep at night, what the heck!  I even like these new-fangled Nooks and Kindles.  A book is about the story, not the delivering medium.  If you like the feel of paper, then by all means read from that; the convenience of twenty books in my purse makes my Kindle a treasure.   I don’t have a smart phone, though, and I may never go that way – but only because the screen is too dang small and I’d have to start wearing a magnifying glass on a string around my neck! 

I’m going to skip the cautionary tales and horror stories of stolen identities and lost electricity, because there is a shadow side to everything and you’ve heard it all before.  So blog me a blog, find me a find on eBay, catch me an eCard; I’m just gonna throw the laundry in the dryer and I’ll be right back!