Saturday, October 30, 2010

Saraswati

saraswati

roots

red leaves

wild thing

Its back to rain jackets and waterproof boots, but I can't help but fall in love with Portland in the fall all over again. Saturdays after teaching a class at noon, I usually have some time for a leisurely ride home, camera handy for a yoga photo-op or candy colored leaf pile.

Friday for Halloween at my work, the kids all dressed up, as well as most of the teachers. When I was asked why I had a red dot between my eyebrows, I responded that I was a "Yogi!" They asked what is that? I stood in tree pose, held gyan mudra and closed my eyes as I chanted: OMmmmmmm

Before leaving for work, Travis shot some pics of me in the backyard (on the sunniest day we had this week) and I photoshopped the bloody bones out of it!

Sarasvati (Sanskrit: सरस्वती sarasvatī) is the goddess of knowledge, music and the arts.  Saraswati is considered to be the "mother of the Vedas.
Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge and arts, represents the free flow of wisdom and consciousness. She is the mother of the Vedas, and chants to her, called the 'Saraswati Vandana' often begin and end Vedic lessons.
Saraswati is the daughter of Lord Shiva and Goddess Durga. It is believed that goddess Saraswati endows human beings with the powers of speech, wisdom and learning. She has four hands representing four aspects of human personality in learning: mind, intellect, alertness and ego. She has sacred scriptures in one hand and a lotus – the symbol of true knowledge – in the second.
With her other two hands she plays the music of love and life on a string instrument called the veena. She is dressed in white – the symbol of purity – and rides on a white swan – symbolizing Sattwa Guna or purity and discrimination.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Night Flight

Uhhhh.... want to know what's fun?





Funstuff. Now that is what I am talking about!
After I get a couple sessions in, I'll bring a camera.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Fancy That

{giant turnip}

I harvested my final root vegetable. (I think there are some carrots sprinkled under the swiss chard canopy with no hope for sunlight.) The end of summer turnip became a kashmir curry. Now the kale remains to accompany the brussel sprouts and broccoli into early winter. Fall is drizzling through Portland, allowing bright shiny moments to pop in here and there. Green tomatoes still hang in wild bundles, poking out of orderly fences, crying for help! For sun! For summer!

My life is settling into routine, with a new addition! This week I will begin a part time office job with Street Yoga, an organization I have volunteered with for a couple years now. I look forward to this new chapter in my career, focusing on yoga with my professional skills being put to use for a great cause.

Starting a kids yoga program is one of my new dreams, as with all things, I just need to make it happen. Plan the plans, keep dreaming the dreams, making contacts and putting myself out there. I love working with pre-school and younger kids, and "playing" yoga with them would just be the best.

I am gearing up for my fall cleanse, trying to find a combination of days that don't coincide with my yoga teacher moving to Bali (!) or a monthly book club meeting with the promise of cookies, or my darling Trav's birthday!

 Here is where I get my info. Ayurvedic science recommends a simple cleanse using the detoxifying powers of ghee, combined with whole seeds and healing spices, split mung beans and rice for fast elimination which allows the digestive system to rest, renew, and restore.


The guiding principle of Ayurveda is that each person has the power to heal themselves. Now that my life is beginning to find some cohesion professionally and personally, I will be combining my loves for health, nature and life all together on this blog! Want some yoga sequences? You got it! I take requests.

love!

Friday, September 24, 2010

Happy Weekend!

I have been hard at work all week!
Ok not really. But I made this.
At least I am trying to work everyday. Its hard with this adventure junkie making the most delicious breakfasts, and planning hiking trips every other day... But just sitting down, doing some work for myself, freelance gigs, and helping out a friend or two. Then I go to my other job and play with dinosaurs, monkey bars, and daydreams.

My portfolio site is getting all buggered-out (meaning I am finally putting all the pieces together), and growing truly enthusiastic about putting myself out there and finding some truly inspiring work.



The kiddos at my day care school are AWESOME. They are truly changing me. Their unabashed honesty, uncensored level of communication... so inspiring. Adults always say "Think before you speak" but for an over-thinker like me, I need to let go! Just say what is on my mind, and not worry what people will think of me. I recently ordered a Kids Yoga flash card deck and I can't wait to start playing around with the little buddies! Lots of big dreams swimming around in this head...

Hope your weekend is fantastic, mine is filled with yoga. And some more yoga.

Recent work:



*click the images to see the websites! All customized by ME!

Monday, September 13, 2010

A Life Worth Living

yellow heirloom
{heirloom tomato from montavilla farmer's market}

Thank you sunshine! Summer tried to pretend it was over, making us think that the Pacific Northwest would officially have the shortest summer EVER. July 4 to Labor Day? Is that even possible? Fortunately this week has been gorgeous, however... I spent it all indoors! But if its for yoga, you know I don't mind :) Just head home and collapse into the hammock and thank my lucky stars that I have such amazing people in my life.

This was the last weekend of my yoga teacher training, and although we still have a few things to wrap up, it's sad not to have that 3 day weekend of yoga yoga yoga to look forward to. But it has completely changed my life, as you might have read about. This summer created a complete intolerance to staying indoors, chained to a desk for 8 hours at a time. My heart spoke so clearly, and through the journaling that my teacher recommended to track our meditations, reflections, etc. I was completely unable to ignore my true path any more.

Today I started my new job as an assistant teacher for an afterschool program! Its right in my neighborhood, the kids are adorable, and I love to be there. I also worked on my portfolio redesign this morning. I'm not ready for summer to end, but winter brings the space for hard work and that is exactly what I am ready for! Travis and I spent the last 2 years dreaming of our escape, to Thailand, India, farms and oceans, but eventually came to the conclusion: A live worth living must begin at home. We quit our desk jobs and started dreaming in our daily lives. Who knows what adventures await us! Its only when you open your life to opportunity, that fate can lift you up and carry you away.

bolted endive
{my bolted endive rises above the leafy goodness}


how my zucchini vines
{can you believe this zucchini vine?}

massaged kale salad
{massaged kale salad}


pink sprite
{pink sprite. a clear winner in the shade garden bed}

Ahhh Jenny just brought me a tequila sunrise to cap off a long day's work in the hammock.
Thank YOU.
For we are all connected. We are never alone. We are never forgotten.
Namaste.

*As always, click on any image for more details!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Nom Nom Nom

Raspberry Bush
The raspberries have been eaten.*

sunflowers are coming!
But the sunflowers have arrived.

*My pictures of our berries did not turn out so well, so enjoy this alaskan's capture of what a berry bush should look like in high season!

Monday, August 23, 2010

Lovely Summer

Acro Yoga Jam

I {obviously} haven't been able to find the words to bring to this space. I've been lingering, limbo-ing, searching, working, and praying for my path to unfold. As I work with this guidance as it helps me find the way, some pushes in the wrong direction have actually made things much clearer. (Accepting a job I thought I really really wanted, then crying for 24 hours straight before declining the job...) After a melodramatic day I discovered a job posting for a part time teaching assistant at a Montessori inspired school. More specifically a small scale day care center for 2 year olds with a backyard garden, chickens, and art projects galore. Although my inquiries have not borne fruit, similar job postings have popped up on craigslist and I am determined to find the training to support my new goals!

My favorite job in college was at the First English Lutheran Child Day Care Center. The hardest part for me was understanding their policy of not drawing "with" the children, because they then want/need you to replicate your "better" drawing for them over and over again. The one time I did break the rules, I immediately regretted it after drawing about 14 angels. The best part of working with children is imagination. We would spend hours constructing adventure tales, usually based around toys or objects in the garden or play area. Tigers would fly across oceans, Dump trucks would make best friends with race cars in desert sand dunes and everyone would share, develop and make an epic tale. Together.

Learning about the Montessori and other play-based education methods has reignited a passion for the welfare of America's children. Naturally I am concerned for all the children of the world, but my work is here, in America (where I am legally bound to pay student loans for a long, long time...) and I really feel that there is a change sweeping our culture, a realization that allowing children to discover rather than conform is the healthiest way to create kind, well adapted adults to lead this country out of its abscess of the myriad chronic health problems we face.

Clearly I am not spending the same hours on the internet, reading your stories, sharing beautiful images. But since I am living life much more fully, I will try my best to document the highlights, and share my reflections on the low times.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

while you are reading this

learning:
how to plant bearded iris
a picture of an iris i can doodle in my notes

choosing:

intending:
river procurement
designinga new portfolio. a new flow. shifting boundaries

om

Friday, August 6, 2010

while you are reading this

My feet are pedaling through the backroads of outer southeast Portland
The sun is shining (perhaps behind a few clouds, keeping the temperatures down, near, oh I  don't know... 65?)

I am on my way to...



Camping, dancing, hammocking, harmonica-ing, drinking brews, hula hooping, brewing tea, chomping on trail mix (with  copious chocolate chips and dried fruit, naturally)

Pickathon!

the woods watching you

Shire Yogi

Namaste!

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Hard Work

my poppies

We've dug up dead grass clods, escaped armies of ants, cuddled with a furry friend, spoiled some feathered fatties rotten. I am working on my disc golf throw, tasting summer rye micro brews, practicing yoga in the dappled shade and loving every minute of my dreamy escape.

can you see her?

Today I actually sent out a couple resumes, designed some custom invitations, signed up for a new street yoga gig, harvested some vegetables, cleared way for the winter crop of cruciferous vegetables.

front yard bed

Perhaps my roommates just want to pay me to garden, cook and clean? Think of all the delicious, healthy meals we would feast upon in the verdant garden...

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

wordless wednesday

tillamook cheese

leaning tower of ocean rock

barnacles and friends

flying

river day

Friday, July 23, 2010

Get Dirty



That's what time it is indeed... mountain biking tomorrow, plus some berry picking, river swimming, yoga-ing, horseshoe tossin, bbq grillin. Then repeat it all the next day! and the next, and the next...

I'm teaching yoga in the park this weekend, join me!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

A place to lay my head

distant peak

a place to lay my head


cracked wood

the hammock heaven
path into enlightenment
sacred destinations

Travis took captured these lovelies. I uploaded to his flickr.
A day off for my adventure buddy involves driving through the local stratovolcano's foothills. Hiking as far vertical as possible. Hang a hammock. Read a book until nodding off under the whispering cedars.

This evening after work my roommate remarked that she enjoys spending when we all spend evenings in the backyard, candles lit (bug spray out), hammocks hung, slackline slacking. She feels relaxation makes her doubly efficient when taking care of other chores. I agree.

Here are more of Trav's beautiful pictures, these being from the polar opposite time of year...  the Arctic Blast of Winter 2008. He's quite the photographer.

Snowy Cityscape 2

MLK blvd

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Someday I'll Fly Away


However, this week I will be working on my roots. Friday is my last day at work. Making the decision to leave my job has been the most exhilarating, scary, reckless and amazing decision I have ever made. Every move I have made in my life thus far always involved a calculated safety net. This time however, is different.


I have no job lined up. My portfolio is pitifully out of date. I can barely look at my resume before getting fed up and stomping away from the computer. This would explain the dearth of posting here, my inability to upload photos of my garden, adventures, and fun fun things. Everything in me is rebelling, trying to escape the 17 inch glowing screen. My body wants to open, not sit: stagnant for hours upon hours. Freelance is a possibility, since that would hopefully open up my office to hammocks and sunny parks surrounded by my fellow goofy Portlanders who can't stand to be inside during our glorious summers.



That is why my only gig lined up is teaching yoga! (Which you already heard about of course)

I want to get my hands dirty. Play in dirt all day. Brew some coffee, smile at children.

I believe that if I take this leap of faith, my dreams, my passions and desires will flower. Opportunities will present themselves. And I will have the freedom, the space, the grounded roots to be able to accept.

So this week I am grounding down. Finding my source of strength. Then flying free.

images via weheartit
*that first image reminds me of a fellow yogi friend's work: UpRoot by Stevee Postman

Monday, July 19, 2010

Yoga with Alice

Tuesday and Thursday nights 7:30pm, I will be teaching Vinyasa at Yoga Bhoga!


I am so honored to join my beloved teachers in this space. 
A huge wall of windows let in amazing summer sunlight, and the studio is so serene.

Portland, Oregon 97214



More details coming soon.... check here for yoga related bits!