Instagood

prAna pants / tulips season / not so happy hour / fond memories / hello!

Dreams Come True Wedding

Vancouver Explorations

delicious baguette from finch's tea & coffeehouse

my fantastic tour guide!

nood

i love lamp.

boneta from the street

Ambiguous Utpoia with Bert & Ernie

These crazies make me giggle. They shoot in the loveliest of Portland places.

"Who are they? Are they going out? Are they friends?"

"Its very much about our friendship. Its a way for us to hang out that seemed normal. Because we weren't in a romantic relationship but we were flying all over the country for each other. And so, if you're not, like, romancing someone, you better be working on a project, otherwise its really wierd for them to just show up at your house"

Where it all began...

http://www.thunderant.com/

Hipster Food

chickpea mag.
the cover is adorable too.
brought to you by
hipsterfood

Renegade Forest Wedding

Now that I am wearing this...

captured by mr. puckett

I find myself Gathering, Simmering, Dreaming...

michellepullman.blogspot.com/

Definitely creating a forest wedding. And a bike parade. And a dance party. Mr. P and I set the date. Tomorrow. To set the date. We need to make some phone calls, write some lists, and maybe even Mod Podge a notebook collage. I'm not really sure how to make all this magic happen, but I trust that it will go beyond my wildest dreams. 

Enjoying growing my wedding blogroll... What are your top sites? I considered submitting an engagement story to A Practical Wedding, just read it the other day when my awesome boss shared her wedding graduates post. 100 Layer Cake makes me drool on a daily basis... my tumblr is full of very pretty things these days... pretty much is turning into a wedding planning blog. hopefully only for another year or so! 

High Alpine Bliss

I'm back.

And ready to share. Today is another long day to cap off a week of wilderness trekking, summit hiking and hot springs wallowing. After teaching two yoga classes today, Travis and I head to celebrate the wedding of one of the owners of the fabulous Breakside Brewery. But tomorrow I have all day to blog, do laundry, and share.

So here is a little teaser to share with you. I fully intend to process all my pics and get them up to Flickr. I need to do a better job of photo management... iPhoto is kind of a mess when trying to organize, access & backup your library {please discuss!}. I just recently backed up & deleted over 12,000 photos! And that is only from 2008. My oh my. I've inherited the documentary bug from my dear Dad.

Have a beautiful, safe holiday weekend!

take portland

The always hilarious and spot on east side bride gushed over Take Sunset with such enthusiasm that I couldn't resist visiting the site. Immediately I wondered if such a thing existed in my dream city, my rose city, Portlandia.

{mountains. misty, magical mountains} :: sharedworldblog

I love this site's description of the inherent attractiveness of hand drawings:

"There is something compelling about hand drawn architectural work. Tracing paper sketches, plans, diagrams, renderings of all kinds. They all keep the human presence up front in a way that computer generated work doesn't. Plus there is a "thingness" about them: they become works on their own. They're nice to look at."

{video slideshow - portland modern }

YinSights

The yin aspect of yoga brought me head over heels into my practice. My initial once-weekly yang practice introduced me to the transformative power of yoga, but when I found my first yin teacher, I truly fell in love with yoga. [hmmm i think i am overdue some yin yoga photos... pretty much all yang]

Dealing with friends/family/students with a variety of skeleto-muscular issues, I constantly strive for more comprehensive knowledge of anatomy. Yoga Therapy is the way of the future. In Portland, Yoga Centers almost rival the ubiquitous coffee shop on every corner. One day, that type of knowledge and self empowerment could be as easy as a daily cup of jo. I truly believe that health is the next aspect of social revolution. Jesus and Buddha initiated religious transformation with the concept that every individual is capable of self-enlightenment or realization. When every person has control, or at least comprehensive understanding of their own true health, insurance companies will not be able to continue the type of stranglehold they maintain today.

Rod Stryker's article in the Summer Yoga International magazine sits with me daily this month. His reflection on dharma, and the goal of bodilessness as true health is truly piercing. I shared a quote with my Street Yoga clients last week, and I took it as a good sign that one of the students pulled out his pocket notebook and jotted down notes after class. Whether is was regarding asana or philosophy, I don't know... but I hope I aided in some clarity.

Points of Practice
Destiny and Desire | The four aims of life offer each of us a blueprint for fulfilling our unique potential in this world.
By Rod Stryker

*the article isn't available online, but I plan to recap my thoughts soon....

I have been subbing for my friend and fellow yogi, Leigh Drake as she completes Paul Grilley's 100hr Yin Yoga Teacher Training

This article looks particularly helpful, as just sitting in vajrasana is quite difficult for me. I don't experience any discomfort in my daily life (yet) but when I sit in this posture, I experience very uncomfortable sensation. I love the final closing of the article, "Remember, no pain, no pain!"

Love & Light

Allow Me to Introduce My Friend,

My dear friend Saraswati. We haven't spent as much time together as I have been tight with Lakshmi and Durga the past couple years, but Saraswati is a friend that is always understanding and available when you are ready for her presence in your life. (I did dress as her for Halloween!)

When a yogini asked me for more information about Saraswati, I was overjoyed to share what I could recall from my many reads of Shakti Mantras by Thomas Ashley-Farrand. I tried to share the convoluted tale that introduces Saraswati's homegirl, Gayatri. I realizes that this beautiful divine feminine principle has been with me from the beginning of my Portland journey, as Travis and I memorized the Gayatri mantra during our cross-country road trip up to Oregon for the first time. (I think we found the time during one of our 8 hour driving days across Eastern California desert land.

I don't feel that it is a coincidence that today I feel her influence stimulating my creative impulses! Registering for a Thai Herbal Massage workshop... finding a Parkour gym in Portland... Blackberry bush hacking... and then as I was cleaning out the shed, I came across a lovely sqaure of plywood and decided I would start painting with acrylics. Jai Saraswati!

Saraswati is the Goddess of learning, knowledge, and wisdom. The Sanskrit word sara means "essence" and swa means "self." Thus Saraswati means "the essence of the self." Saraswati is represented in Hindu mythology as the divine consort of Lord Brahma, the Creator of the universe. Since knowledge is necessary for creation, Saraswati symbolizes the creative power of Brahma.

In Her popular images and pictures, Goddess Saraswati is generally depicted with four arms (some pictures may show only two arms), wearing a white sari and seated on a white lotus. She holds a book and a mala in Her rear two hands, while the front two hands are engaged in the playing of a lute (veena). A swan is Her vehicle. There is a peacock by Her side gazing at Her. This symbolism illustrates the following spiritual ideas:

• The lotus is a symbol of the Supreme Reality, and a white lotus also denotes supreme knowledge. By sitting on a lotus, Saraswati signifies that She is Herself rooted in the Supreme Reality, and symbolizes supreme knowledge. The white color symbolizes purity and knowledge. The white sari that the Goddess is wearing denotes that She is the embodiment of pure knowledge.
  
• The four amms denote Her omnipresence and omnipotence. The two front amms indicate Her activity in the physical world and the two back arms signify Her presence in the spiritual world. The four hands represent the four elements of the inner personality. The mind (manas) is represented by the front right hand, the intellect (buddhi) by the front left hand, the conditioned consciousness (chitta) by the rear left hand, and the ego (ahankara) by the rear right hand.
  
• The left side of the body symbolizes the qualities of the heart and the right side symbolizes activities of the mind and intellect. A book in the rear left hand signifies that knowledge acquired must be used with love and kindness to promote prosperity of mankind.
  
• The rosary signifies concentration, meditation, and contemplation, leading to samadhi, or union with God. A rosary in the rear right hand representing ego conveys that true knowledge acquired with love and devotion melts the ego and results in liberation (moksha) of the seeker from the bondage to the physical world.
  
• The Goddess is shown playing a musical instrument that is held in Her front hands, which denote mind and intellect. This symbol conveys that the seeker must tune his mind and intellect in order to live in perfect harmony with the world. Such harmonious living enables the individual to utilize acquired knowledge for the welfare of all mankind.
  
• Two swans are depicted on the left side of the Goddess. A swan is said to have a sensitive beak that enables it to distinguish pure milk from a mixture of milk and water. A swan, therefore, symbolizes the power of discrimination, or the ability to discriminate between right and wrong or good and bad. Saraswati uses the swan as Her carrier. This indicates that one must acquire and apply knowledge with discrimination for the good of mankind. Knowledge that is dominated by ego can destroy the world.
  
• A peacock is sitting next to Saraswati and is anxiously waiting to serve as Her vehicle. A peacock depicts unpredictable behavior as its moods can be influenced by the changes in the weather. Saraswati is using a swan as a vehicle and not the peacock. This signifies that one should overcome fear, indecision, and fickleness in order to acquire true knowledge.

- Bansi Pandit

bmacphoto.com

* This Goddess photoshoot orchestrated by my amazing AcroYoga teacher, Lila Donnolo
You can keep up with her Acro Adventures too!.
BMAC's Photo Blog & Portfolio is worth a click :) Many Portland yogis & artists grace his website. *

A thousand, a million words that create an intellectual understanding are not as precious as the one word blended with intuition that produces understanding in a flash: Saraswati.

Feelin' Good

photo: abbytryagain

My garden has exploded! I feel like the entire city just BLOOMED while I was away! What a week of 85 degrees temps will do. Now all the roses are showing their colors, my collard greens are big enough for me to notice slug attacks, and the weeds are so so happy.

After a long and energetic vacation back home, I reveled in a silent house this morning. Roommates all scattered at their various jobs, I had a rare few hours with just myself and a quiet, overcast morning. While cleaning the kitchen, I popped out into the garden, dug in the herb garden, fed the chickens a few wilted tomatoes. Something about cleaning the kitchen creates this amazing space for my heart to really settle. I am a homemaker at heart. Whenever my inspiring bloggers share their heart's desire to be a wanderer, I am reminded of my longing for a little farm. My visions of family include goats, chickens, honeybees, and all kinds of rural adventures.

Something about clearing space in my home create space for soulful expression either by movement, writing, chanting, or meditation. This morning, the writing bug caught me, and several topics arose.

Ego, Yoga and Feeling Good
Release attachments to the shapes created within yoga asana. Asana means posture, which reminds us of the emphasis upon the spine. Without a long spine, and comfortable breath, we are not practicing yoga.
Remove the link to the ego, or individual self.
The breath is a messenger to our infinite self, revealing the connectedness between each and every one of us.

Value Assignments
Most of us do yoga to feel good, or look good...
We know that we will feel good after doing yoga, and we know that we might feel bad while doing it, so bad we might want to quit, walk out, never come back.... but we don't. We Stay.
We have been told that "Pain is Weakness Leaving the Body"
Look past this conditioning. Remove the value assignments. There is no feeling good or feeling bad... Just Feeling.



That being said, I love this song:
My Brightest Diamond "Feeling Good"
Dark Was the Night Compilation

Acrotastic

I just can't get enough, let's see in the past week I have flown: my sister, my aunt, my uncle, two or three cousins, my best friends Kim & Dani... probably another random here and there! My awesome friend Lo captured some on video as we made a ruckus in the meditation room at the Cosmic Cafe (Dallas).


Alice Kim and Dani Do AcroYoga from lauren mcclure on Vimeo.


Alice & Dani Acro-Yoga 6/8/11 from lauren mcclure on Vimeo.

Beauty and Love

After an amazing week of family, friends and deep emotional time, I am quite out of things to say. Of course I can't seem to hold onto my camera these days, so there are no pictures of mine. But thanks to facebook, I can share some here.

My sister, me, Sarah, Julie, Curran & Elizabeth. What lovely ladies!

Dancing with Grandmama at the Bridal Luncheon!

The beautiful bride Sarah, with her twin sister Julie, our cousin Elizabeth, and mother of the bride, my Aunt Kathleen.

The Flow

I am forever grateful to my amazing teacher Denise of One Song Yoga and her love for Mudras. They bring such positivity in my life, and a new one always seems to pop up right at the perfect moment. For this week, I have adopted Pushan Mudra, named after the God of Nourishment.

The science of Mudras is based on the principle that "The root cause of disease is the imbalance and improper co-ordination between these elements and proper balance between these elements is the secret of good health." The secret of health lies in hands, fingers and Mudras, which can be performed with the help of fingers.


The human body is composed of five basic elements and the five fingers of our hands represents these five basic elements. Ancient Sages discovered the knowledge of Mudras. By touching of hands to each other or folding fingers in a particular way, we can cure any disturbances in these five elements with the help of our fingers, we can keep the five elements in proper proportion, any disturbances in them can be balanced. So that our body become healthy.


This week I began my detox for the 40 Days to Transformation. I chose the Kitcheri cleanse over the fruit fast, considering I am much more familiar with this cleanse, as I do it seasonally, and I have all the supplies. Cash flow is a bit low this month! I also dedicated to a new mantra, which I will share later this week. Japa Meditations is the most effective way for me to direct my mind to that higher source of consciousness and sit for 20+ minutes. However, the following mudra I take with me throughout my day, and it provides such lovely affirmations.

Right hand: The tips of the thumb, index finger, and middle finger are on top of each other; the other fingers are extended.
Left hand: The tips of the thumb, middle finger, and ring finger are on top of each other; the other fingers are extended.

This mudra symbolizes accepting and receiving with the gesture of one hand and letting things flow, giving, and letting go with the gesture of the other. Both should be coordinated with each other in digestion. It influences the energy currents that are responsible for absorbing and utilizing food, as well as helping with elimination. It intensifies breathing and therefore the absorption of oxygen and the release of carbon dioxide in the lungs. It has a relaxing effect on the solar plexus (the area of the stomach, liver, spleen, and gallbladder), regulates energies in the autonomic nervous system, mobilizes energies of elimination, and detoxifies. It has an excellent effect on general or acute nausea, seasickness, flatulence, and that sensation of fullness one feels after meals.

During inhalation, take in energy in the form of light. During the pause in breathing, give it the time and space it needs to spread within you and become transformed. During exhalation, let the expended energy flow back out of you. With every breath, there is more light and clarity in your physical and mental-emotional realms.

Affirmation: thankfully accept everything that is good for me, let it have its effect within me, and release everything that is spent.

Breathing through This Day

Hello. Today is a hard day for me. Forgetsies, Dropsies, grumpy pants. These days happen. Fortunately I can remember what it feels like to be bright, confident and assured. Fortunately I have incredible teachers in my life that I can look forward to breathing with, and absorbing their wisdom. I plod through a frustrating day, and feel completely ineffective, poor, and lost. While I read about my adventurous Acro Yoga teacher rock climbing in Spain, taking coastal trains and delving into markets, cafes, parks and rooftops, I wish for a bit more freedom. But then I see an email about Northwest Herbalism training. Which costs money. And what about Ayurveda? What am I supposed to do next? But I can't even keep enough cash in my checking account to pay for the next local yoga workshop I want to take. And so on.

This is all just chatter. The fluctuations of the mind. So I breath in and calm my body, I breathe out and smile. I truly believe that the physical act of smiling creates the corresponding emotion in the mind! Which is why its so nice to cross your eyes at yourself in the morning as you brush your teeth!

The past few weeks I have been participating in a workshop led by my fellow teacher, Kiara Boch called 40 Days to Personal Transformation. I came into the workshop without a strong sense of committment, just my usual easy going nature to try it out, learn something new, and have fun. Well its not fun. Transformation is hard. The level of awareness that I am opening up to is quite challenging. The old, self-defeating tapes grow louder as I begin to recognize them, and try to change them. Have you every noticed that? Every time you try to break a bad habit, it seems to cling to you with increasing strength?

Om shanti shanti shanti