Stay open, stay soft.

 

 

I did a self practice today, packed with deep heart openers, and long forward folds. This version of Bon Iver's Beth/Rest kept me company, and the combination of soft music and strong movement helped me open, release, and still. Moments like these remind me why I love the practice, why I love to teach, and why, no matter what excuse my monkey mind can muster up, I return to the mat. When all else fails, when it seems like no one is around, I know I have that. I am never alone. Heavy mitted love and shadows are always with me.

I met an amazing woman the other day. She told me that intimacy requires vulnerability. And vulnerability requires self love. Mid conversation, I had to interrupt her, and write this down. She was a complete stranger, but that day, I was open to her and what she had to say. Someone else could have said it, and I may not have heard them. No one and nothing is mere coincidence. 

It struck a rich and thick chord. Strength, maybe even the illusion of strength, is a type of defense mechanism for me, a faulty fight or flight response. I know how to "be strong" and how to "act strong", but it doesn't always make me approachable, and it doesn't always harbor a space for long lasting and meaningful relationships. Most importantly, it isn't always my truth.

This week my boss/close friend asked me to consider the "vibe" I give off, insinuating that the person that I am is not always the person that people get to meet. And after asking Lionda, my sissi, some advice on matters of the heart, she laughed and pointed out how great my intuition was in every area of life, except for when it comes to that sphere.

So my question is: how many heart opening poses do I have to do to become more in tune with this side of myself? [Just joking. Maybe. Sort of.] The work ON the mat sometimes seems so much easier than the work OFF the mat. But that is my work. That is where I need to go. That is where I want to be.

The sweetest fruit is out on the limb.

 I will stay strong, and at the tip of my strength ...

... I will learn to melt and soften.

The Tortoise and the Hare

This past Wednesday, practicing, and warming up for my Enerji Fitness class in Tustin. 
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 8:45am www.enerjifitness.com

I've been home for two weeks.

Getting back into the swing on things proved to be quite the challenge for me! Desynchronosis, commonly known as jet lag, was of course no help. Bloody crazed with new-found glorious inspiration, I wasn't doing myself any big favors either. Feeling ridiculously high*, I naively took on a rather generous amount of classes, worked late hours at the office, and played a rather mean game of social catch up.

Needless to say, I wasn't even half way through the week, when it was all disrupted. I found myself on the studio floor, holding back tears, wondering if I was even okay to drive home. How was I already so burned out? A cocktail of feelings spilled over me. The base of this bittersweet drink: slight disappointment. The modifying agent: slight relief. I am not superhuman, not even after my beautiful, life-changing experience. I had to slow down, or I wouldn't make it to Friday, let alone reach my new-found goals.

Now I am not entirely surprised by my own behavior. I have a long history with balance ... or should I say the lack of. I can balance in bakasana, and on a good day I am even pretty stable for a few breaths in my pincha mayurasana. But in life, I can get pretty wobbly. I have a huge tendency to over-jam my schedule, spring-clean, and then re-over-jam again. Even after identifying this pattern, it's been difficult to break. But I am working on it, and this month it is my main focus. Slow and steady wins the race. 

Updating my blog is a part of this work. I enjoy writing and sharing my experience, but frequently don't make time for it. Now while I wait for my car to get serviced, instead of answering work e-mails, I am doing this, and I feel quite relaxed and proud of myself. And while I ate lunch today, I simply stared out the window. That was fantastic, too. No phone, no book, just my food and my surroundings. Sometimes it baffles me, that after so many years of practice, I still need so many reminders and have to do so much work to slow down. I guess that's why we call it practice and not graduation. Keep on keeping.

I will never be the same.

The natural progression of understanding the Universe, the world, and myself, spontaneously carried me 8,000 miles away from the shore that had become dauntingly familiar to me. I stayed fairly quite and perhaps to some it seemed I left quite abruptly. Since I've returned, I've been faced with many questions. I feel only this can answers them all sincerely: it is quite simple now.

 I will never be the same.

And that is probably why it had to happen the the way that it did. Thank you to all my students who were understanding about my absence, and additionally, thank you to the studios and amazing fellow instructors who showed support, helped cover my classes, and allowed me this quest. I am extremely grateful, and equally curious as to where this is all taking me...

 I am open.

So excited about this!

Yoga Today proudly welcomes Mona Godfrey from Yoga Today on Vimeo.

FUN Q&A with Yoga Today!

Yoga Today is so excited to introduce our newest instructor, Mona Godfrey. I sat down with her off camera to ask a few questions so we could all get to know her a little better …
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Click to watch a video introduction by Mona Godfrey

…

First day on set, nothing but excitement!

Let me shift gears and dive a little deeper into who Mona Godfrey is, day-to-day.
Deeper? I thought the other questions were already pretty deep! Ha ha

Mona, you’ve left our Yoga Today crew with endless smiles. Your personality radiates directly into your methods and teachings. We are so excited to have you as a part of our team and look forward to many more days of filming!
I am SO excited and grateful to be a part of Yoga Today! The whole Yoga Today team rocks – all of you have made a strong impression on me and I am so grateful to have this be a part of my life experience!

"Feeling unlimited in her flow..."

Teaching at Lululemon at South Coast Plaza this Sunday was fun. I met up with Bobbi from Lululemon on Wednesday and she had me try on a few new items, and strike some yoga poses in the über comfortable clothing for their newsletter! I had just visited the doctor about my chest, as I've re-aggravated an old rib-injury, and was a little nervous about doing yoga in front of the camera, but the room was warm, the process quick, and after a few deep breaths I felt relaxed and at ease on my mat.

Thank you to SCP Lululemon Athletica for having me. Special thanks to Bobbi. I will be back on Sunday, February 17th, 9:30-10:30am!

my beautiful vibrant friend

There are few people in the world that offer my as much inspiration as Lionda does. In the midst of any adversity, you will find this little nugget smiling bigger and wider than a man who just won the lottery. And it's genuine. She's got some massive spunk and when life kicks, she kicks harder, and even though she's almost two heads shorter than me, in many ways, I look up to her.

Over the years I have become very close to Lionda, and we share a mutual passion: health and fitness. Lionda is a trainer at "The Perfect Workout" - a slow motion strength training specialty gym. No one has broken me down the way she has: sweating bullets, laughing, groaning, more laughing, more animalstic groaning - thankfully this ridiculous kick-your-butt-cheeks workout only lasts 20 minutes, and thankfully I have the best trainer in the world.

I also went on my biggest running adventure with her: 18 miles along the Santa Ana River, from Yorba Linda to Huntington Beach. Even though her knee was beginning to hurt about 16 miles into it, she was the one encouraging me as we paced ourselves towards the blue crisp line on the horizon. "Just close your eyes, and imagine you are sitting on a big comfortable couch, feet kicked up, drinking a glass of wine..." I felt like I could barely smile, but she managed to make me laugh. She knows I love my wine.

Most recently, she managed to talk me into a cleanse. No processed foods, no processed sugars, no dairy products, no meat (which we both already don't eat), no breads, cereals, potatoes, and the list goes on... (I know, right? Sounds like we can't eat anything - ha ha). As we were negotiating the terms of this cleanse via text, I found my monkey hungry indulgent mind resisting. Why do this? I already eat clean and healthy, and even my indulgent moments are fairly mild. Why put myself through this ... torture. Why put so much thought and energy into this? Why obsess? My thoughts were lashing out.

I was trying to wiggle myself out of this one. Why is my beautiful vibrant friend challenging me again?

"What about wine?" 

The negotiation room went silent. This was the deal breaker. Wine and health is an issue of considerable debate, and in my head I had already begun to defensively prepare a deliberate speech on the pros of wine consumption. Wine drinkers tend to share similar lifestyle habits - better diets, regular exercise, non-smoking, etc. ( P. Mansson "Eat Well, Drink Wisely, Live Longer" Wine Spectator, Nov. 29th, 2001). That's US! Hello! We love to share a glass of wine together! Wine is probably a contributing factor to the strength and divinity of our friendship :)

My phone buzzed. "One glass of wine per/day."
She knows I love my wine. I smiled. 
"Okay, I am in."

In my head I told myself that these glasses could accumulate, like sick/vacation days at fancy corporate jobs, and at the end of the week I could drink the whole damn bottle if I so pleased. I had to tell myself this, even if I never took my big vacation to Cape Coast.  

We originally agreed to the cleanse for 30 days, but after doing some research on www.psychologytoday.com, I was the one that insisted we do it for 66 days. Lionda agreed immediately. An extra month didn't seem to intimidate her, and she barely asked for any rhyme or reason to my suggestion. The rhyme and reason? Recent studies show that it takes anywhere from 18 to 66 days to create a good habit. There is a lot of variation - among people as well as habits. Some people are simply "habit-resistent", and some habits are just more challenging to create. I wasn't sure what we were up against, but if we were gonna put all this effort into it, I wanted to do it right, and leave absolutely no room for error. To be sugar-proof, we needed to do the full 66 days.

Today is DAY 11. 

We log what we eat on the "My Fitness Pal" application. It's easy to use, and a simple way for us to reflect on our day and stay on track. It's not really necessary, but it helps. She's my only friend on there, and I am pretty sure I am her only friend, too. We occasionally comment on each others progress. Not that we don't already know what the other one is up to. We picture message each other the healthy delicious foods we love and are enjoying, and on rare occasions the yummy and not-so-healthy things we see that we are missing a little. We also workout and cook together. She is a better cook than me (well, everyone is a better cook than me, ha ha) but when I get really bored of the salad routine, I run to her for ideas and comfort. 

I would never have finished those 18 miles without her, and I certainly would not have gone 11 days (and still going strong) without my favorite little breakfast burrito at The Lost Bean. I am so grateful to have a friend like her, constantly motivating, challenging, and encouraging me. Her love for life is contagious. If it's not with my own will that I complete these 66 days, it will be with the help of hers.

I will continue to blog and share about this adventure that Lionda and I are on, so tune in! To find out more about The Perfect Workout visit http://www.theperfectworkout.com/why-is-the-workout-perfect/  Lionda  Liepiņa works out of the Anaheim and Tustin locations.