I had a beer and ate 9280349820394 hot dogs wrapped in bacon wrapped in crescent roll. I will say though, after four vegetarian days, my stomach did feel a bit upset about that. We all have our bad nights, and after beer, I'm doomed =) At least today I was a bit better and did a 6 mile hike!
I did want to share one more thing about Ally the amazing yoga instructor. I read her bio on the yoga page, and I really liked a lot of what she had to say, so I wanted to share it all with you. Enjoy!
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There is usually a reason people come to the mat. I started practicing
my senior year at Columbia University when I found myself at a real
crossroads in my life. Without going into too much personal detail, a
series of events forced me to look carefully at the choices, the big
choices, I had been making. I realized with some alarm that none of them
had anything to do with me, at least not in any real way. I had been
making decisions based on other people's needs, mostly, or on what I
thought I should do, but I had no real understanding of what I wanted. I
was an adult, but I did not really know myself. Just the basic things,
even--what makes me happy? What do I need, or want? What am I here to
do?
I took my first yoga class with Dharma Mittra at the Dharma Yoga Center
in New York City, where I grew up. At first, I kind of kept sticking my
toe in the pool, practicing once or twice a week. It wasn't an
instantaneous lightbulb experience, it was just that little by little, I
began to realize that my moments of clarity, of awareness, of feeling
really myself, were happening on the mat. And so my practice became a
sort of lighthouse, a beacon, it just kept drawing me in, and soon I was
practicing six days a week. My stairmaster collected dust, became a
coatrack, and was eventually put out with the trash. I had no desire to
go to step class, or an abs class, or to lift weights while listening to
my walkman. I did not want to plug in, tune out, and focus on
aesthetics, I wanted to tune in and find out who I was. I have always
been blessed with phenomenal teachers, people who have shown up at the
perfect time. I do not believe this is coincidence. There is the saying,
"When the student is ready, the teacher appears"; I have found this to
be true, both as a student, and as a teacher. The best teachers I have
had have taught by example, just by the way they lead their lives. At a
certain point, my practice kind of took hold of me, and began to fill
more and more of my time, and the deeper I went, the more I committed,
the more there was to learn. And every time I looked up, there was
someone there to illuminate something else for me. Some of my biggest
influences have come from Dharma Mittra, Bryan Kest (at whose studio I
taught for over 5 years, and for whom I will always feel enormous
gratitude), Jorgen Christiansson (I began practicing Ashtanga yoga with
Jorgen in 2001, and eventually assisted him), Baron Baptiste, Max Strom,
and Saul David Raye.
The gratitude I feel for my teachers surpasses anything I could write,
but truthfully, the practice itself is your best teacher, just showing
up on the mat. In 2009 I felt moved to open my own space, and fill it
with amazing teachers. It wasn't part of my long-term plan, but
sometimes the universe gives you a huge kick in the ass (which is
usually preceded by several smaller ones you may have ignored), and as a
result, Yogis Anonymous and my daughter were born on the same day. They
joined my then almost three year old son. So I had a plethora of
teachers arrive all at once. Any yoga practice begins as an internal
journey, and often students ask about this. It's true, you have to turn
your attention inward.....my breath, what is happening in my body, in
each and every moment? The most amazing thing, though, is that this
internal journey will eventually lead you back to your connection with
everyone and everything else. There are countless benefits to any
regular yoga practice, one of which is just getting comfortable in your
own skin, both physically and emotionally. What is the truth? Not what
do I want it to be, or what do I think it shoud be, but just, what is?
This is a practice that has Eastern roots, and here I am, this
Westerner. We live in this hyper-commercialized society, where so much
value is placed on the external. How things look, very big in this
country, and if you are reading this in Los Angeles, VERY big in this
town. And there's so much to support that. Three minutes of commercials
is all it will take to convince you that you don't look right (you
should try this diet), you don't smell right (better buy this
deodorant), and apparently, you don't feel right, either (better call
your doctor to get this medication, quick). And so many people suffer as
a result. Always in search of those external factors to make things
right--"I'll be happy when I lose 10 pounds, find my soulmate, have that
giant house, or new car, or better job, or fill-in-the-blank", and
there will ALWAYS be something else, and happiness will be this
hummingbird, always in sight, but just out of reach. It takes so much
energy to fight the truth, whatever it is. We grow up, and even those of
us with the most loving parents are told, "Don't be sad", or ,"Don't be
angry", and so we are taught that only certain feelings and behaviors
are all right, are acceptable. And little by little, we lose the ability
to even identify what we are feeling, let alone sit with those
feelings. I have a vague sense something is wrong...let me, quick, turn
on the television ("you don't look right or smell right or feel
right!!!!), or the internet,(Facebook, anyone?) or pick up the
phone,(maybe I have a friend who's worse off than me? or someone I can
pull into my misery? is there someone I can gossip about?) or race to a
movie (where I will likely be convinced that if I could just find my
soulmate, I'd be happy), because I don't want to FEEL anything but good,
and here comes life with all it's ups and downs, and I just don't know
how to deal with feelings of loneliness, or rage, or boredom.
And so we fight the truth of what we're feeling with distraction, or
just a refusal to even acknowledge it, whatever it takes to push it
down, make it go away, but this takes SO much energy. And suddenly
everyone's exhausted and there's a coffee house on every corner. It's
possible that all of our so-called advances have actually set us back.
There are so many awesome facets to a yoga practice, and one of them is
just that. Identifying the truth of the moment, even if it is
challenging, confusing, confrontational, even painful, and being all
right with it, learning how to breathe through it calmly, with
compassion, staying grounded ,centered. This morning I am in Ardha
Chandrasana, and I feel that I could hold it forever. Tomorrow, I am
falling all over the place, convinced someone has replaced my mat with a
surfboard. So be it. This is the truth of the moment, and either way, I
am breathing. So many opportunities, microcosms on the mat, and little
by little this stuff starts to seep off the mat and into your life. I am
in love, the sun is shining, the birds are chirping, I am breathing. I
got dumped, it's freezing out, and those same birds just crapped on my
shoulder, I am still breathing. The truth is, there is no way to control
anything. Great things will happen, sad things will happen, things I
want to happen, won't, and things I don't want to happen will, and this
thing, this happiness of which we are all in search, is nothing more and
nothing less than just steadiness through it all. Inner peace,
serenity, wisdom, gratitude, call it what you will. They cannot bottle
it, and you cannot buy it. But you can absolutely find it, have it and
hold it, and the best and only place I've found to start is on your mat.
