Slacking on the Blogging.

Hard to believe how fast a week goes by. This is especially true around the holidays.I spent most of the past weekend shopping for Christmas presents, and dealing Casino parties. I dealt a wonderful party in Paradise valley on Saturday evening. A large palatial home with all the amenities. The Hosts of the party were very gracious, and the party went smoothly. I enjoyed dealing blackjack. I am usually called upon to deal poker. The party was very upscale, and the larger than normal tip we dealers received was appreciated. This party was in direct contrast to the party that I dealt poker at on Sunday evening. It was a corporate affair held at Dave and Busters. The players were friendly, but definitely not upscale. The play was slow, and the players had unlimited access to play money. This makes the dealers job infinitely more difficult because half of the time is spent calculating side pots and changing play money for chips. I endured the three hours, but was not particularly pleased about it. The owner of the company said that he would be sending a tip to the casino company which we, as dealers, will in turn see, but unless it is a fairly large tip, I will not take this job next year.

Shopping, on the other hand is something that I enjoy. This is especially true when it comes to shopping for my family. I love to buy them stuff. Not just any stuff. The stuff that they want. I try not to get caught up in all the materialism espoused by the media.

I have been thinking about all the materialism in our culture, and at one point decided that next year our Christmas card should read " Merry Materialism" and " A Prosperous 2009" The picture on the card should have the whole family grinning and holding up cash in our hands. The bills fanned out for easy visibility. I abandoned this folly, and wrote it off as a reaction to my temporary frustration at the importance our society places on material possessions. I decided that a better card for next year would simply be a card that reads "Peace" with a picture of the family seated in full lotus in a calm meditative state. I think that a positive message is more clearly stated in that type of expression. I do not consider myself a Christian, even though I attended Catholic grammar school and was forced to attend church every Sunday until I was 18 years old. Without religion, what is Christmas..... "Materialism" This is where most people are in the world. People are "all about" the acquisition and consumption of material wealth, and possessions. Now, I would not have a problem with this if it went hand in hand with the acquisition of Spiritual wealth as well. I do not want to sound negative here, but I am not getting the feeling that this is largely the case.

I like to use this time of year for reflection The end of the year is always good for this. It is a time to be grateful for the life experience that I am having.

Yoga is good. In my classes I am joking about what level class it will be in terms of how many Sugar cookies you will be able to eat afterwards. Some classes are 2 cookie classes (not very active or difficult. Not many calories burned.) Other classes are 6 cookie classes. I am basing this loosely on Sugar cookies. (for those of you who were wondering).

Oh! nearly forgot...... Last Friday evening, I was taking my wife out for her belated birthday dinner. Beforehand, she took us to the Wellness Center. It is a business where you go and they place you in a room for a half hour, and you experience Light Therapy, Aromatherapy, and Sound therapy while seated in a relaxing chair with neck and lumbar supports. I really enjoyed it. I think the concept is great, and I vowed to let my yoga students know about it. Here is the web link to it.

www.wellnesseffect.com

I have been giving out complimentary passes, but the first experience if free, so if anyone is interested, just go to the website and make an appointment. Let them know that you received the information from me. Anyway, a very worthwhile experience.

The good news is, all my shopping is complete, so I can relax the rest of the holiday season. relaxation is good. I suggest that everyone try it. The only minor stressor in my life is the fact that I am experiencing some electrical problem with my new hot tub, and it is not working. I am still waiting for a repair person to come out and look at it. I had become somewhat attached to my daily sessions in the hot tub. This is obviously a lession in non- attachment. It will be rough, but I can survive......
Enough of my ramblings for now. More later.....

Rain in the Desert

It was a busy weekend. I dealt Casino Parties Friday night and Saturday night. All day Sunday I ran a Poker Tournament. It has rained on and off all weekend. It took me over an hour to drive to my dealing job on Friday evening. This is a ride that without the rain and rush hour traffic would normally take half an hour. I used the time to relax and practice patience with the other idiots, I mean drivers, on the road. The rain has persisted into today. I love the rain. It gives me a chance to play my Monsoon Mix of music in my Yoga classes. All the songs have something to do with rain. Rain is either in the title or in the lyrics somewhere. I am always looking for new songs to add to the Monsoon mix. If you have any ideas, let me know. Here are the songs that are in the play list as of now.

Goodbye Blue Sky 2:48 Pink Floyd
Like The Rain 4:22 Clint Black
Rain 3:57 The Cult
Only Happy When It Rains 3:57 Garbage
Chicken Noodle Soup 3:21 Webster & Young B
Box of Rain 5:19 Grateful Dead
Rain 5:25 Madonna
Wish It Would Rain 5:28 Phil Collins & Genesis
Rain in the Summertime 5:15 The Alarm
Let It Rain 5:04 Eric Clapton
Love Reign O'er Me 5:48 The Who
November Rain 8:57 Guns N' Roses
No Rain 3:37 Blind Melon
Raindrops 2:48 Dee Clark
Rain 4:31 Dana Glover
Purple Rain 8:41 Prince
Fire And Rain 3:26 James Taylor
The Thunder Rolls 3:44 Garth Brooks
I'm No Stranger to the Rain 3:35 Keith Whitley
I Love A Rainy night 3:07 Eddie Rabbitt
When The Rain Falls 4:01 Zetta Bytes
Have You Ever Seen The Rain 2:38 Creedence Clearwater Revival
After The Rain 3:20 Ottmar Liebert
Rainsong 4:39 George Winston

Rain is a wonderful thing here in the desert. What is with the underline thing???? Hold on and I will try and fix it...... Not sure how to fix it. There is no U or underline control, just bold and italic. I must have dragged the underline over with the play list. Oh well. It is only mildly annoying.
Back to the rain... Rain is an unusual occurrence here in the desert. The monsoon season is in July. We usually do not see rain at this time of the year. Two full weekends of rain in a row is almost unheard of.

My yoga classes today were wonderful. Each in its' own way. Yoga 101 this morning consisted of an introduction of Yin yoga to the 22 students who attended. My Ipod was not charged, so no music....I charged my Ipod in the car on my way to Flow. Flow after that was energizing. I played the Monsoon mix, and got excellent reviews on the class and music. The rain prompted me to start the class slower than usual with some additional stretching, and a few extra Sun salutations A & B. Not as much core work as usual, but an active practice none the less. The afternoon Gentle yoga practice was relaxing. The play list that I selected was relaxing, and the ...... Cat on the lap makes typing difficult.... Cat feels that she deserves attention after the dog is away for the night in the kids room. She is trapped on the top of the refrigerator while the dog is downstairs. The dog chases the cat endlessly. ..... This is a particularly challenging blog. Wife is distracting me. She wants attention as well. Back on track.... and the poses were more passive than usual.... I arrived at my Yin class up north. It was foggy, cold, and dark, and reminded me of being back on the east coast. As 6pm rolled by, none of the regulars arrived. This is very unusual. I attribute it to the inclement weather. Just as I thought that no one would show up for class, the new girl whose doctor had referred her to yoga, came in. It was just the two of us. She has wonderful energy, and I was happy to see her. I know that she is interested in Yoga Philosophy, so I took the opportunity of going over the 8 limbs of ashtanga yoga with her, and at the end of class while she was in shavasana, chanted the sutras along with the recording that I have of Sanskrit Scholar chanting them. I referred her to Sanskrit Scholars monthly chanting workshop. I taught her the first Yoga sutra, and just like that, class over......... A dark and quiet drive home. I was going to stop and food shop on my way home, but it was raining hard, I forgot my shopping list, and my debit card expired, and I have not found my new one in the mail yet..... They are all really poor excuses. The truth is, I just didn't feel like going.. Tomorrow is the Wife's birthday. I took the Kids shopping for it last night. I will take her out on Friday night and we will celebrate... That's it for now. It is time to give the cat and wife the attention that they both so richly deserve.......

Weekend Seminar with Annie Pace

Contemplated in the hot tub, and decided to go to the seminar this weekend...I drove down to the Studio in downtown Scottsdale, about a 20 min drive if there is no traffic. I was delighted to find that Sanskrit Scholar, The British Director, and Donutzenmom (names borrowed from Donutzenmoms' blog) were all also attending the Seminar. VB guy also popped in for the Friday evening lecture... It was a small intimate group, and with a few exceptions, most of the participants were experienced astanga practitioners. The studio was warm and inviting, as were its' owners. The space was well designed. It boasted a mix of Thai massage rooms, a sitting and retail area, and a yoga area bordered with movable horizontal slatted screens that had an Asian, Feng shui kind of feel to them. .The area was bright and inviting, and the energy was relaxing and calm.

I found the seminar instructor, Annie Pace, to be engaging and intense. She was very passionate about the practice of asthanga. She was strict about the foundation and form of the poses, yet at the same time, engaging and witty. She had a wonderfully calm energy in a dynamically strong, slight frame. She spoke about Yoga philosophy, the eight limbs, intention, astanga tradition, her time with Guruji, etc. Saturday evening session we did a mysore style practice. When it came to the physical practice, she was all around the room doing adjustments. She was funny, and referred to some of them as "alligator wrestling". This is especially true when she assisted me into marichasana D on both sides. This is usually a pose that I cannot bind in. She got me into the pose. She reminded me a little of my first ashanga instructor Wendy Green. Wendy had the same intensity in adjusting. There was no question, or doubt, just the energy to assist you into the pose. At one point in the seminar, a girl asked what Annie had done to adjust her into supta kurmasana. It seemed a strange question, but what I got out of her answer was that, she did what was necessary to provide the foundation to allow her to move into the pose. I found this very insightful as a guideline for adjusting. As I hone my adjusting skills, I have found that my adjustments of my students have become more in depth.....

In reflection, I feel that part of the reason that I am not attending my regular morning Mysore practice is that I am not getting the depth of adjustment that I am in need of at this point in my practice. I need someone to twist me into marichasana D, and to assist me into supta kurmasana in a more traditional astanga method.

back on track...

I was impressed with the way that the practice went on Saturday evening, so I spent the money to take the oldest daughter to the Sunday morning led primary series. It was done in the traditional counting method. A method that I am not all that familiar with. Primary series is primary series however, and it is my friend. I enjoyed the slowing down of the practice to the instructors count. This was especially true in the lifting and jumping back. It was more mindful, and less of a blurring of motion. The count kept everyone together and breathing. At the end of the session, everyone sat around and chatted. Two of the participants were on holiday and lived in Mysore, India. They were friends of Annie's. We, VB guys students, comprised 4-5 of the 11 participants. As for the others, a few I think, practiced regularly at the studio. No sure though.
I was really tired Sunday afternoon. Arrived home, sat soaking in the Hot tub, took a nap, and then went out to deal a casino party. Home by midnight....

Awoke this morning to really sore shoulders and upper back. I really enjoy this experience. It is not often anymore that my practice makes me sore. I work too often and hard to get sore. I really enjoy the sensation. Taught my morning classes, and now am on break before teaching my 2 evening classes. I think a soak in the hot tub is in order, and then a light lunch..

As for my astanga practice. I feel more strongly now than ever that I need to find a strict practice of astanga. In the new year, I am going to finish my Yoga room and start doing a mysore style practice every morning. I will put the invite out to whoever wants to practice with me. It will be a good chance for me to delve deeper into my practice. I will have the older daughter help me with the adjustments that I need. I am going to also start attending the Friday astanga mix practice down at Inner vision Yoga with Jeff Martins. I will see what my experience is there. More later....

Friday

It is Friday once again. I have this love/hate relationship with Friday. I love the way that I teach all four of my classes by 12:30pm, and have the rest of the day off. I hate the fact that I have to begin teaching at 5:45am. I really shouldn't use the word "hate" That is much too strong a word. Inconvenient is a better word. In the summer, the early morning class is wonderful. The weather is warm, and the sun rises early. Now that the winter is here, it is cool and dark in the morning. I know that I cannot complain. Scottsdale, Arizona never really gets cold. I mean 45 to 50 degrees in the morning is cold here. It is pretty dam inconvenient to have to put on a sweatshirt and sweatpants. I know that there are darker and colder places in the world. I just choose not to live there.

Anyway, I am now finished teaching for the day, and still contemplating attending the Annie Pace seminar this weekend. It begins tonight. When I tried to call the number to the studio where the seminar was to take place to see if I could still register, the number was disconnected. I am wondering if this is a sign. This is the same studio that the oldest daughter and I went down to a few Sunday mornings ago for a Mysore practice, and no one showed up. There were signs then also. The full story is a few blog entries back..... So I am wondering if this disconnected phone thing is a bad omen.. It is also raining here. That is unusual. It very seldom rains here in the desert. I think that the rain total this year so far is 3 inches of so. So while rain in the desert can be construed as a good omen, it is never good for traffic. I don't even want to get started on my soapbox about how poorly people drive here in Arizona. I just don't want to go there. It is negative and not at all productive. Needless to say, it is worse when it rains. So the question remains as to whether I am going to attend this seminar or not. After I finish typing here, I am going to go and sit in the hot tub and contemplate it. I am leaning towards going, but am not 100% sure.....I will keep you posted....

Non - Attachment

Blue is such a cooling color. It is perfect for my thoughts on non - attachment.

Yesterday I was contemplating some of the Yoga classes that I teach. I am definitely giving up my Thursday evening 5:15pm class. It has no energy, and no following. Different people show up all the time, and I am always supplying all the energy for the class. This is usually not a problem, but it is my 3rd or 4th class of the day, depending on the week. I get tired. My wife's new job requires her to work late into the evening 4 nights a week. It is better if I am around to keep an eye on my kids.

I began to think about giving up my Tuesday 4:30pm class. This is a class that I really enjoy teaching. It has lots of energy, and wonderful regular practitioners. I was tweaked though, because last week I got a note from the club manager that someone complained about the content of some of the Hip Hop music that I was playing. My first response was anger. I was angry that someone would just report me to management. I transcended that ego driven feeling, and thought about the issue. I really have no attachment to the music, and on a deeper level to the class in general. I decided that although I enjoyed teaching the class, maybe it was time to let it go. On my way driving to the class yesterday I decided to let the universe decide. If the class had attendance of the normal 12 students or less, I would give it up. If it was well attended by more than usual, I would keep the class . When I walked into the class there were a room full of students. I was warmly greeted by all the regulars, and felt a warm welcoming energy. When I finally got around to counting, there were 18 in attendance. I was energized by the class and led them through a vigorous Flow Yoga practice. I felt really peaceful after the class. I made a special effort to thank everyone and let them know how much I appreciated them allowing me to share the version of my Yoga with them... For now, I am keeping the class.

I am still not motivated to once again take up my regular morning mysore ashtanga practice. I practice throughout the day, and am physically strong, flexible and balanced, I just cannot get my focus back into the practice. As I was explaining it to someone the other day. I feel like " I was practicing for a game that was never coming." On a deeper level, I know that it is about the journey, not the destination, and that the practice of Yoga is grounded in the present. Intuitively, however, I knew that I needed to move my practice deeper, and that on some level, the physical practice is holding me back. I am guessing that it has to do with ego, or my natural competitive nature. I am not sure. I will return when the time is right. I am considering going to the Annie Pace seminar this weekend. I am not sure though. Origionally I was going to go and take The oldest daughter with me. The cost is a little prohibitive however. It would be $500. for the 2 of us..... We will see..

Gratitude

Gratitude seems to be the buzz word around the Thanksgiving holiday. I spent the two day prior to Thanksgiving Thursday decorating holiday trees and offices for the Florist that I have been freelancing for. Decorating a great way to get into the Christmas spirit. I still managed to teach most of my Yoga classes, and the intention was gratitude. I was surprised that my Wed. night class was not cancelled, seeing how it was from 6-7:15pm the evening before Thanksgiving. Most of my regular students expressed that they would be out of town. I had one student, and took the wife to class with me... It was a relaxing, stress relieving practice. Afterwards, we went to Blue burger for a veggie burger.....

We started Thanksgiving with a family hike nearby home. I plugged into my Ipod, and tried to focus on all the blessings that I had to be grateful for. The new puppy was a little unruly, but that is to be expected until she is trained properly. We had an early dinner which included Tofurky, yams, veggies, etc. It was relaxing, and because the weather was so nice, we ate outdoors. We made the obligatory phone calls to family with Thanksgiving wishes, and were done with that.

I spent Friday morning teaching my usual early morning classes. As I expected, they were poorly attended. 1 in power and 3 in Yin...... My 10:30am Power class was better attended however. I began the class by reminding everyone that although the average adult diet should consist of 1400 -2400 calories a day, and on Thanksgiving day, the average American adult consumes upwards of 3000 calories. According to the article that I read, it would require a 30 mile walk, or 8 mile run to burn those calories... I asked the class if anyone had done either of those after Thanksgiving dinner... No answers, just giggles. That was my justification for making the class particularly challenging. We did an unusually large number of sun salutations, and difficult transitions from Sun salutations.... At the end of the practice, I assured the class that we had not even come close to burning the 3000 calories that we all needed to burn, but that it was " a good start." Yoga classes ended at 11:30am. I zipped home, showered, and headed up north to do a Christmas decorating job for the Florist that I freelance for. Home by 5pm. It has been getting chilly in the evenings, and the family wanted to try out the new fire pit. We bought some wood and marshmallows and fixings for S'mores, and off we went fire pitting. I spent part of my time in the hot tub, and part of my time in front of the fire. It was a nice relaxing evening.. As the evening wore on, it became very windy outside. We have a cold front coming through. At 3am, I went outside to make sure everything was battened down. A few cushions were blown off chairs, but the cover was still on the hot tub, and the gazebos, furniture and TV were all secure...I have the TV and gazebos lag bolted into the concrete. A hurricane could not move them.... It did disrupt my sleep however.

This morning, I slept in. I was not up until almost 9am. Then it was off to teach my 10am class. A good challenging class that was well attended. After class, some philosophical yoga talk with a few of the students, and then I was off to finish the decorating job started yesterday. Finished in no time, and back home by 1pm. Spent the rest of the day outside reading and watching college football....Well, there it is then....... You are up to date....

Let's Forget Sunday......

First though, Saturday....or better yet Friday night. I was supposed to deal a party (Poker) on Friday night at a house in Grayhawk. When I arrived, they did not have me on the list to deal. The owner of the company had made as mistake.... I was fine with going home....My wife was having a "girls night" at the house with three of her friends, so I made myself scarce.... They were loud and funny, and were drinking wine and eating pizza. They were in and out of the hot tub. I stayed up in the bedroom and read and watched some tv. Women drinking wine do get loud though, and I could hear the laughing and carrying on. It was about 11pm when the last friend left..

Now to Saturday. Taught my regular Troon class. I had a nice talk after class with the girl who frequently sub for me there. I will refer to here as "Flexi". She is a wonderful Yogini and person. Flexi is good name for her because she exhibits hyper flexibility. She has a wonderfully calm disposition, and although she is a vatta, she has a strong, almost pitta style practice. Her energy has a very calming and nurturing effect... I mentionedto her that the daughter and I were going to a seminar on Sanskrit given by Sanskrit Scholar, and she was excited to attend as well.
I popped home for a quick shower, and then off to the Starbucks of Yoga Studios (SOYS) for 3 hrs of Sanskrit instruction.. Sanskrit Scholar is a wonderful instructor. It does not matter what subject that she is teaching. She is thoughtful and humble, yet knowledgeable and direct. Many of the things covered I was already familiar with, but I always learn something new from her seminars. Towards the end of the seminar, VB guy came in. I had not seen him in a few months, not since I chose to stop doing Mysore in the morning in a group setting. He was the same with the exception of him letting his hair go grey. White would be a more accurate description. It looked good on him.... I was asked where I had been, and if and when I would return to mysore practice.... "When I feel that I am ready" was my reply. I am just not feeling it right now.....

Let's forget Sunday....
Sunday morning, up at 6am. Get the Oldest daughter up at 6am. We are going down to a Yoga shala in downtown Scottsdale to try out a mysore practice there. It is from 7am - 9am. I am figuring, new instructor, new place, new energy....We stop at the Mac machine for $$$ on the way. My card will not work...No $$$. Ok, maybe this is a sign.....Ignore it of course.... Put on the cd player in the car so that we can listen to the cd of Manju Jois chanting the Vande, and the Radio dies. Dead. No apparent reason. A sign perhaps. Pay no attention... We arrive at the place 15 min. early. It is dark, no one there. We park and wait. We chant the Yoga Sutras. I reach for my Ipod to listen to the yoga sutras while we chant them. My Ipod will not turn on. It is frozen.... 10 min go by. Another person pulls up and parks to wait. 10 more min. go by. No one arrives at the studio. The other person waiting leaves. We pull around the back to see if there is a secret entrance to this mystical practice. Nope nothing. Disappointed, we head for home....It has been a rather strange morning, to say the least. No $$$$, No music, or Sutra, No practice..
We risk stopping at the food store on the way home to pick up a few groceries, and some things for breakfast. I was praying that there was not a problem with my credit card as well. As it turned out. That was fine...... Out of the food store, turn on the car, radio is working fine. Get home and plug the Ipod into the computer, and it works fine..... Go to get $$$ from the mac machine Sunday afternoon, money miraculously appears......

Soo, being a person who does not believe in coincidences, I can only surmise, that for some reason or other, We were not meant to practice yoga in that place on that morning. All the signs were there. I am good with that. I strive to never allow small setbacks in my day to effect my life in a negative way. Life is this wonderful adventure. Boy would it be boring if it played out exactly as we planned it. I love the little unexpected post its that the universe sends me. I am even more appreciative when I recognize them.

Speaking of appreciation, it goes hand in hand with gratitude, and that is what this upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday should be all about.... Unfortunately, I always get the feeling that gratitude sometimes takes a back seat to Gluttony and Football. Don't get me wrong, I love to watch football, but it is not the whole focus of the day......more later.......