Saturday, October 30, 2010

Happy Hall-ohm-ween!

Haven't had a blog post in such a long time.  Sorry my friends, life has been about teaching junior high, settling into married life and family.  Two days a week I dedicate some service to my parents and grandparents, cooking and spending time with them.  One night I teach Yoga.  Another I go to a playwriting group or work on my writing.  So doesn't leave much time to write on the blog but today I promise to get back to once a week.  This is the place I can look at what is going on in my life and see if I'm keeping the balance-- if I'm actually living the Yogic life.  Right now I'm a little out of balance and it has manifested in headaches and a tight back.  So please let me know that you read the blog, for that helps me to get to the computer to write it.

In fact I have another contest:  Which Yoga Girl Logo design do you like best?  It will be printed onto a T-Shirt as Yoga Girl's official costume.  My new mother-in-law, Bruna designed them.  Aren't they fun?  It is backwards so I can print it out on an iron-on transfer.

Pick A) Purple with gold lettering


B) Gold with purple lettering

or

C) Black and white

Everyone who replies to the blog with his/her answer is entered to win a chance to be interviewed by Swami Cat for the upcoming new show "Inside The Yoga Studio." 
 

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

A few suggestions from Swami Cat

Dear Loyal Readers,

Here are a few of my new favorite things…

1. CATKU: What Is The Sound of One Cat Napping?
I must give a warm thank you to Reverend Janaki and Reverend Jaganath for finding such a funny book of haikus which are an almost too truthful look at the world through the eyes of a cat.  I don’t think I could write it better, although these cats did not find the peace and joy that Yoga can bring.  Even the animal kingdom falls prey to all the trappings of a large ego, such as “feeling superior than the dog species” and obsession with a tin can of food.

2. Special thanks to KC for bringing my attention to a new wonderfully enlightening program entitled, "Speaking of Faith." She knew I listen to many of NPR’s fine podcasts as I do my nightly walk along the picket fence and she suggested I download episodes of  “Being” hosted by Krista Tippett.

There is one from this summer that has an interview with Matthew Sanford, a Yoga instructor and author who has been paraplegic since he was thirteen years old.  What insight he has into the mind-body communication.  He eloquently explains that there is a subtler level on which to feel, that is accomplished by listening deeply to the body.  One description he shared is so vivid I can not stop thinking about it.  He explained being fully alive in his body, completely sinking into it, letting go of all tension– it is like a hug from someone you love.  How beautiful.  It must be like when my mother picked me up by the scruff of the neck when I was a young kitten and I became limp and yet utterly comfortable. 

This has inspired me to purchase his new book, “WAKING Mind and Body.”  I look forward to snuggling up with this new book while sipping ginger tea on the cooling Autumn nights.

3.Well, I thought I was alone in my unique feline focus on the Yogic arts but I stand corrected.  CL sent me a link to what I just have to say are the most flexible companion pets I have ever seen.  dhttp://yogadogz.com/cats2010.html

I hope you all continue to send me new and exciting Yoga tidbits that you come across.

And remember the Yoga life is not a purrfect, it is a practice. 

Om Sweet Om,

Swami Cat