MahaMondo

Brazilian Soul

Brazil & Soul : I'm there . I'll be in Ipanema next week, catch you all back in an energized 2009 -

Yoga Means Union : Yoga to the People NYC

Time Out New York's Holiday Hookups issue has this suggestion : " We know ladies - you thought yoga classes weren't a great place to meet dudes. The exception to the rule is @ YOGA TO THE PEOPLE , which has an impressive amount of testosterone in regular attendance. Try the 90 minute class at noon, or go all out romantic at the candlelit 60 minute classes at night. Downward dogs are far sexier without overhead lighting ." ( www.yogatothepeople.com) Hari OM, and they do look like real peeps @ YTP NYC . No LALA botox, flakes or wannabe YAWs : Yoga instructress, Actress, Whatever hah hah -

Conversation with Lonnie B. : Paying Attention

Lonnie Butler was a little camera shy at our breakfast this morning at Le Pain Quotidien, so she had to snap one of me with her Iphone. It probably shows the effects of Saturday's marathon office year end meetings plus the subsequent company holiday dinner @ Campanile on La Brea.  What a long day & night; but I am grateful to have been blessed & cited with honors from my colleagues for a MAHA job in 2008 , so 2009 is looking bright.

Lonnie has been a follower & supporter of the blog for several years now. Her feedback & aromatherapy suggestions have been invaluable. She has been unable to attend class for several months as a result of surgery so it was a great time to see her before I left for Brazil.

We got to talking about meditation & the  current class experiences . It seems that with the new uncertainty & economic order, there has been an increase in attendance at our donation based studio. Yes, yoga does relieve that stress. But there does not seem to be a corresponding or related upsurge in basic education for all these new practitioners.

Case in point being Lonnie's own personal experience. She never thought that drinking gulps of water during class was putting out the proverbial "yogic fire or heat " , until a teacher, bless his soul , sat the class in Virasana , and explained why drinking water was not such a good idea in the middle of vinyasa or asana. And it was only until she really PAID ATTENTION to the teacher & listened, did she understand why yogic tradition calls for staying DRY, heh heh, until class is over -

Full Moon : Chandra Bhedana Pranayama

I have been fighting the flu for the past couple of days . A comment    ( albeit tongue-in-cheek ) from an associate at work today made me think , as it went like this : " You're not really a good example for yoga & vegetarianism if you are getting sick ". And when I thought about it some more, yes, why am I getting sick ? I realized it was a result of my being on planes a lot the past several weeks with all that regurgitated air, and bouncing from wet , bone chilling Vancouver to a chilly, cold spell beset Miami then a hot Palm Beach.

So I made a major effort to attend my asana teacher, Jerome M.'s class this evening. He has been in Bali for several weeks on a surf trip & I wanted to catch him before I leave for Ipanema in a couple of weeks. It was great seeing him and hearing about Southern Bali surfie breaks and points in  Nusa Dua, Uluwatu , Padang Padang, etc. And his class ended up challenging me on a physical & mental level ; noticeably enough for Jerome to ask  , " No juice tonight ?" , heh heh.

This evening being a full moon , he concluded class with CHANDRA BHEDANA pranayama. This pranayama is also known as left nostril breathing as while doing this pranayama, the inhalation is done solely through the left nostril. When the breathing is done through the left nostril, your body gets cooled & it quiets the brain. Tune out that monkey chatter.

Jerome, I won't forget to bring back the escapularios from Rio -

Equanimity & Receptivity

My trip last week to Miami & Palm Beach was pretty grueling as it was crammed with daytime meetings & then a lot of moving around in the evenings. Mosi from ILY Miami , please accept my apologies again for not making it to Suzanne's class and passing out Tuesday evening.

Because of the schedule , it was challenging to maintain equanimity, what with the appointments backing into each other & the crazy Miami traffic. But since it is the capital of South America, most people in Miami were cool about our meetings running an hour late.

So with hardly anytime to even practice on my own @ night, the 2nd best thing was to meditate 1st thing in the AM on the terrace facing the ocean. I would utilize my teacher's favorite ANAPANA , for about 2 minutes, closing my eyes and unburdening the mind; just observing the passage of the breath through the nostrils.

Then I would segue into PRANAYAMA as espoused by Sri Dharma Mittra for around 2 minutes, breathing in joy & light , exhaling negativity & stress. ( Be receptive ! as Sri DM says ) It truly worked in recharging & balancing. The only other assistance I needed to get through the days without time for lunch were a couple of shots of Cuban cortadito espresso con azucar from La Carreta Miami.

It took a lot of this practice to maintain equanimity when I almost missed my connecting flight from Palm Beach to Atlanta on Delta . Thanks to Toni for the pic by the Fontainbleau SoBe Ultralounge -

Vytas B. : Birthday Blessings

Liese & Alonzo E. are senior members of Vytas Baskauskas" Saturday PM Sangha ( yup , that extremely challenging class , heh heh ) . As I have mentioned in previous posts, it is always GOOD VIBES when they bring their energy to class. Here are more wishes for Blessings & expressions of Gratitude to our teacher of several years now. Big ups & thanks Vytasji for all the guidance , motivation, inspiration & audio playlists. And since I am still feeling Miami , have a MAHA " Feliz Cumpleanos "