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01.11.12 Ego vs. Ahimsa

2012-01-11T14:09:00.000-08:00

It's so nice to be back after the longest blog hiatus of all time (okay probably not the longest but, you know what I mean)! I hope all of you had a wonderful, happy, love-filled, and healthy Holiday Season and a Happy New Year!

I was gone since September because I was completing my Yoga Alliance Teacher Training. My teacher training at Revolution Yoga proved to be one of the best, most fulfilling, challenging and fun experiences of my life. My day job was the busiest it's been all year, 11-18 hour days every day for the duration of my training. I spent most nights awake doing homework and studying to have everything ready for our classes over the weekends. It was SO worth it, I enjoyed every moment with all my heart, including the challenging ones.

I finally had the urge to write today, since the New York Times article meme, and all the responses to it (check out YogaDork and elephantjournal). The concept that Yoga "will wreck your body" is not what I want to get into, because we know as yogis, it won't wreck your body if you practice without ego and without force. There's Tapas (determination or that "fire" inside that propels you to your goals, or what keeps you in Utkatasana for just one more breath!) in your Yoga practice, but that has to be balanced out by Ahimsa (non-harming in thought, word, and deed).

Sounds like a safe bet: Don't let ego and ambition get in the way so much that you try to force your body into something it just doesn't want to do in that moment.

Well, this week, even with all of the reminders from the Media, I kind of lost track of that balance and ended up feeling super sore, and super sorry that I did not listen to what my body was telling me, which was: "Please, for the love of everything that is good in this world, just go home and relax."

Although I was feeling tired and weak physically due to ladytimes (I don't think I need to explain), I felt the need to make myself go to a yoga class on Monday night. I simply had to go. 1) Because I made a pseudo-resolution to myself that I would practice asana every day in some capacity, and 2) because it was the first time in months that I was able to leave work in time to attend a group class—Lord knows that that was going to be the last day in history that would ever happen, so I couldn't not go. Also I hadn't practiced asana for more than 45 minutes since sometime before Christmas, so my body was itching to go to class, even in its tired state.

I felt great after class of course, but the day after my shoulders were pretty sore from all the Chatturangas the night before, I also only slept 4 and a half hours so that wasn't helping my body to recuperate. And wouldn't you know it, I got out of work an hour early again that following day (yesterday/Tuesday)! Even with my four and a half hours of sleep, sore shoulders and ladytimes in full effect, I still decided to go yoga class last night. On the train on the way to class in my head one voice was saying "You should really just go home and practice for maybe 45 minutes, your body needs to gradually come back to where it was, this is going to be too much, especially this time of the month." Then another voice was saying "Oh, you're young, don't be a baby, you can do this and you're strong so it's not going to hurt you to go two days in a row, you know how to take care of your body in class, it'll be fine." So, I went, trusting that my ego knew what it was talking about (because I was half-right, to be fair, I do know how to protect myself from serious injury).

I felt strong in class, I kept my knees down in Chatturanga and Plank to take the pressure off and I took frequent Child's poses. My body felt good after Savasana, but even modifying my practice to be a little more gentle than what the teacher was offering, a few hours after class my body felt like it was hit by a truck. Thank goodness I have an awesome boyfriend that massaged my aching muscles until I fell asleep last night.

Today I have the opportunity to let Ahimsa win this time. There's probably a chance, since it's slowed down a bit at work, that I could get off early again in time to make it to class. But, in an effort to practice Ahimsa toward myself, I'm going to make myself go home and relax. If I feel the need to practice asana, it will only be a restorative practice at home today.

Yoga is not about asana, it's about practicing Yoga. I would not be practicing Yoga wholeheartedly if I forced my aching body onto the mat again today.

I challenge you, dear yogis, to notice, without any judgement, when you've lost this balance in yourself. If you do notice you've lost this balance, I challenge you to take it one step further and let your ego take a back seat. "The ego is the world's biggest despot." so how can you/do you tame it when its demands are out of line with practicing Ahimsa toward yourself (or someone else)? What does it feel like to not give your ego what it wants? Hmm, I feel an idea for a visual meditation to cope with this creeping into my mind, more on that after I try it out for myself I will definitely share it with you all.

Please share your own stories of battles with your ego in the comments below, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Namasté <3

09.26.2011 - Stuck on the negative? You can blame, then TRAIN your brain.

2011-09-26T13:11:00.000-07:00

Hey kids!

This weekend at yoga school I learned so much about the brain, not sure if I'd learned it before in school and forgot or if I'd never heard it before. But your brain is biologically wired to remember stressful situations far more vividly than pleasurable memories.

In your brain, the Amygdala, responsible for the basic emotions like fear, anxiety, and desire, is nestled closely to the Hippocampus, which is responsible for memory and turning short-term memories into long-term memories. This was clearly developed for survival, back when we used to have to run from lions and bears. So, the first time we encountered a bear and it lunged at us, the senses activated in the moment are immediately seared into the memory (so next time this happens, we know whether to run away or stay and fight): the smells of the trees, the sight of the shiny sharp teeth and claws, the sound of the bear roaring (what to bears do...lions roar...bears...yell?? I don't know they are so scary yet they look so huggable), the feeling of the rocks and leaves under our feet running as fast as we can away from this life-or-death, fight-or-flight situation. You can feel the fear in your chest, and your heart pumping wildly inside it...the stress response is super-intense for a really good reason. But, now that we don't have to run from bears anymore, and modern life is all sorts of complicated crazy, this mechanism is actually destroying some people, leaving them stuck living and making decisions based in fear and darkness.

Love yer brain...even if it is a Negative Nancy by design!

I learned that teachers actually create stress for students, by giving ample homework assignments and pop-quizzes, because people commit the information to memory easily and permanently when they are stressed while learning. Obviously there's a healthy amount of stress required. I think if a situation is too stressful or traumatic, the mind will just repress everything about an experience other than the residual, visceral negative feelings that remain in the subconscious mind caused by the experience.

This explains that depressing statistic that when someone has a good experience they'll only tell 1-3 people, if they had a bad experience, they'll tell 9 people (I don't know the numbers, I actually got that statistic from The Office (UK) point is, people love to talk shit, it feels great...in the moment.) It's why it's so hard for people to "take the good with the bad" because, the mind is programmed to remember the bad stuff more deeply than the good stuff.

We know the mind is powerful beyond comprehension though, and can be controlled and transformed, if the will is strong and the work is done to make it happen.

Knowing this now, how can we train the mind to be as alert, and accepting to commit all the sensations of a positive situation to memory, as vividly as we commit a negative experience to memory? Is it even possible if this mechanism to remember stress is hard-wired in our physical brain?

I personally do not know the answer to this question, but I'm going to begin doing work on myself to see what happens and will most definitely share the results here. I know I have a very easy time taking myself back to a past negative experience and nearly re-living it, I can feel the pain in my chest and/or stomach the moment I think of it. Once something triggers a bad memory, and it can be as innocuous as a commercial on TV, my brain and body take me back almost immediately. I don't think this is something I will live with forever, because I know why my mind goes to a dark place. I understand and have forgiven loved ones that have hurt me in the past and have a great relationship with those people now. I know they didn't mean any harm to me, but I also know there's nothing they can do to take the residual pain away, clearly the forgetting part is harder than forgiving, and that has to come from me.

I'm going to try my own meditation "experiment" on myself to see if I can train my mind to feel positive memories as viscerally, if not more so, than negative ones. I've already done Biofeedback Therapy and I know the mind is completely trainable, it just takes time and practice. It's about finding a practical "exercise(s)" to re-train the mind. The other thing I learned in Biofeedback about myself was a little alarming: One day the therapist tried to teach me this technique called "The Heart Exercise", where you concentrate on your heart and feeling the warmth there, which is supposed to soothe. But, I found when I concentrated on my heart, all I wanted to do was cry, because I just felt sadness there. The therapist just told me not to do that exercise, she surmised I must have things I need to work on, but she didn't recommend continuing to practice that exercise, but to continue to manage stress in other ways.

This weekend though, I told one of my Yoga teachers (and the owner of Revolution Yoga) Amanda, about it, and she thinks (and I agree) that there's a blockage in my Heart chakra. My emotional pain in stressful situations goes right to my heart. I feel a deflating, crushing ache there, and I know most other people are familiar with that pain in their chest (which I believe maybe has something to do with the Vagus Nerve in the heart which is associated with the parasympathetic nervous system; just an educated guess based on what I've learned about that nerve this weekend.) I store all the bad feelings there, that's why memories bring that same sensation in my chest as much as something bad happening in-the-moment.

Amanda explained Samskaras (impressions/memories) and their effect on the subconscious mind by pressing chalk into a piece of smoothed out Play-Doh. Mom yelled in your face when you were 5: that leaves a permanent imprint; your first kiss, that leaves an imprint; losing a loved one, that leaves an imprint; seeing a violent movie, that leaves an imprint.

Long story short: a consistent meditation practice can help to "smooth out" and erase those impressions. One reaches Samadhi and finds peace when the Samskaras are removed completely.

I've come up with three things I can do every day to help cultivate lasting positivity in my mind; I think this could be applied for many people, so if you try it, please leave a comment and let us all know how things went for you! Here goes:

1 - Touch/See/Taste/Hear/Smell Memory. As soon as I'm aware (because we take a lot of little things for granted) that I'm having a positive experience, even if it's just listening to my favorite song while riding on the train and taking in a beautiful day, (if possible) I'll close my eyes, and focus my attention on each of my 5 senses one at a time. Feeling the warmth of the sun on my skin, the taste in my mouth at the time, the feeling of the headphones in my ears and the seat supporting the weight of my body, my breath traveling in and out of my nose and lungs, the sound of the music, the way it makes me feel, the colors of the train seats, etc. I'll then imagine these positive sensations as some kind of stream of light, wrapping around my heart and warming it from the inside out, really feeling the lovingkindness swelling in my chest, viscerally and emotionally.

If I can employ this in mundane situations, I could eventually do this with all kinds of positive experiences without even thinking about it or concentrating on it. Eventually, my hope/inference as to what the result will be is that when something good happens, my "heart" feels uplifted and warm, as intensely as it feels pain when faced with negative stimuli; and also when this positive memory is recalled, the lightness/warmth I felt in the heart at the time can be immediately felt again days, months, years later; the way my heart can feel a depressing feeling when I recall a negative experience. Which brings me to the second part of my practice:

2 - "Tar Melting" (visualization) When faced with a stressful situation, I need to find a way to protect my heart. I know shit's going to happen and my heart's going to hurt at one point or another no matter what I do, that's life. I'm most definitely of the mind that one doesn't appreciate goodness in life if they haven't experienced pain; and that the bigger you love the deeper the pain is felt when the heart has empathy for another or is hurt by another. Here's where it's tough because it's hard to do visualization meditation when you're in the thick of an argument or something. As soon as I feel the sensation of pain there, I have to remember that the situation is transient, and more than likely is a bazallion times less scary or upsetting than I assume it will be. As soon as I can get a moment to myself, I'm going to try visualizing the pain I'm feeling as black tar around my heart. With each inhale, I'd imagine my heart beginning to swell and glow underneath the tar, and with each exhale, the tar begins to melt and drip away. I think by continuing my first exercise, I can use the physical sensations I've recalled from my positive experiences to help myself really fell the positive-warmth from the inside of my heart that's temporarily being blocked out by this "tar" of negativity.

3 - Nadi Shodhana, or alternate nostril breathing. This isn't my own idea, obviously, but the practice I think will physiologically help create balance in my mind/brain and body. Well, I don't think, I know it will create balance physiologically because that's what Nadi Shodhana does. Science says so. Your Right and Left nostrils are connected to your Right (creativity, spatial perception) and Left (reading, writing, speaking) brain. Quoted from the linked article:

EEG-measurements of participants on the three month courses (1986-91) showed the same improvement of the R/L ratio. The measurements then, however, were not done in connection to any meditation practice, but during ordinary rest, before and after the course. This result indicated a permanent long-term effect (see Bindu no. 5).

These positive changes were found in all instances in regions of the brain that are closely linked to the limbic system, which is the seat of our emotions.

On the basis of our results we therefore conclude that Nadi Shodana, if it is done regularly over a longer period of time, has a favourable influence on the balance between the brain halves and thereby an emotionally stabilising effect on the individual.

Pretty cool, huh? You can learn how to practice Nadi Shodhana properly/safely in this video:

Check out this video for the energetic/philosophic explanation as to how Nadi Shodhana works:

If you try any of these techniques for yourself, or have your own methods that work for you, please share them in the comments below, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Everyone experiences things differently, not every technique works for everyone, so the more unique ideas shared, the better it is for everyone :)

Namasté!

09.20.2011

2011-09-20T11:47:00.000-07:00

Hey yogis!

The whirlwind that will be the next three months is now starting to pick up! I can feel the excitement in my chest!

Last weekend was my first weekend of Yoga teacher training at Revolution Yoga. I'm so happy that RY offered this training when they did, the teachers are all amazing, inspiring and fun people. Amanda, the owner, is such a thoughtful teacher, (she even gave me some tips and ginger beer to help ward off my cold that I'm still getting over hehe) and I'm honored to be training with her and the other women in the group. Everyone is excited to be there, eager to learn and have fun. This weekend was a lot of introduction, including being introduced to our resident Anatomy/Physiology expert (and massage therapist!) Vanessa. I'm really glad that our anatomy studies will be from the perspective of someone that has a very deep understanding of the human body, and she's also as hilarious as she is knowledgeable. I can't believe how much I've learned in the last weekend, and how much more I'll want to know when I'm done with the 200 hour training altogether.

©Hope Harris @Etsy

I also had the pleasure of trying belly dancing for the first time, there was a workshop going on at the studio and Amanda asked if we would like to attend and I said "YES!" before she could finish her question to the group. It was not what I would have thought the class would be, it wasn't instructional, the woman who lead it, Kismet, just kind of put on the music and told us to watch her, she would do it slowly 2 times then do it fast to the music. She said "Don't worry if you can't see me or don't think you got it, just do what your body wants to do and go with the music!" Also I couldn't stop laughing because she kept doing shoulder shimmys and pointing to her "girls" with a giant smile on her face to remind us to stick out our chests haha. Everyone had a huge smile on their face the whole time, even when she asked us to "dance our sadness" and "show someone how sad" we were in our dance, everyone couldn't help but giggle. It was really cool how a lot of women there had never done it before, yet they took to it immediately, no inhibitions, just dancing like no one's watching! I think a lot of it had to do with Kismet and her amazing disposition that just disarms you and makes you feel comfortable, right away. I'm convinced I've met Kismet before, but, maybe she just has a familiar soul, because I can't figure out for the life of me why she looks so damn familiar!

I've been having trouble focusing on my blog and Etsy store, being that I'm looking for an apartment, working insane hours and also doing homework for YTT as well as making sure I attend at least 2 classes a week (plus I have to observe 8 classes before I graduate) for my YTT, plus I've been sick all week...it's been challenging. I don't want to let my blog get too quiet, so I'll aim for at least one entry a week.

That's all for now kids, I may have some more insights later about my training once I get into my homework and have a clear head. Today, the "monkey mind" is all kinds of hyper, maybe after a day back in the swing of things I'll be back to "normal" hehe.

Aloha!

09.08.11

2011-09-08T10:02:00.000-07:00

Aloha lovelies!

First off, let me just say that last night I got 100 followers on Twitter! I'm super excited for all the love and having "met"/found such awesome yogis, artists, movers n' shakers, that continue to inspire me on my own path as I watch them travel on their respective paths.

I don't even know who Michael Wex is,
but this picture made me giggle.

As some of you may have noticed, it's been a little bit quiet on my end. I'll tell you why, with the "dramatic" details omitted because they'd just detract from the whole point of this post. Basically, I've been stressing about something I won't really be able to do anything about until October 1st. I know, how incredibly efficient. But, I promise I will connect how Yoga (and cleaning my room that was starting to look like my room when I was 15!) helped me out of this funk by the end of these few paragraphs, so please bear with the kvetch, because I totally have a point!

My roommate wants to move out because she just got a job in the city and thinks the commute is a bit much (I've dealt with a much worse commute for 8+ years so, it's nothing to me, I still make the commute myself but I understand why someone used to a 5 minute drive as their commute would have a problem with being on a train for 40 minutes plus 20 mins on the subway). She has to do what she has to do, I can't be mad at her about it, if the situation were reversed I would hope she would extend the same understanding. I will admit that I am pretty frustrated at the inconvenience of having to spend upwards of $3000 moving with the first month's rent/broker fee/security, on top of having no weekends between September 17th and December 10th (except the program is off on my birthday on October 8th for Yom Kippur! Happy Birthday to me INDEED!) because of my yoga teacher training. So, moving is going to be...fun...at this juncture. But, the good thing about it happening at such a busy time is that it will be like pulling off a band-aid...it'll pull out a buncha little hairs and it may hurt a bit but it will be really, really fast.

Our lease is up November 1st, which is why I can't do anything really until October 1st in terms of looking for a new place.

And the reason why this is not going to be a typical move for me, to make a ridiculously long story short:

I'm not really sure of the security of my job (and not just in the sense how everyone's job is kinda iffy, I mean there's a danger of layoffs and/or paycuts since we're only bleeding money, not making it, ever since last year's lay offs) so I'm not super keen on finding a new place, alone or with a roommate, for fear I may have to break the lease. I don't have someone that can just move in with me here to save the hassle and ridiculous cost of moving by November 1st. I don't have someone I can just stay with in my family and pay a little rent to save money for a few months before I go it alone again. If I could do that, then I'd be able to save enough dough that if I did get a new place after 6 months of living with said family member, and I did happen to lose my job, I'd still be able to pay rent for at least 8 months before finding gainful employment again. (I'm hoping by the beginning of the year I will have some clients/gigs as a yoga teacher and can start to build that career for myself.) If my 9-5 job situation weren't iffy, I wouldn't be concerned in the least about moving to a new place. I was hoping moving in with family could at least be a last-resort option, but, it's not even an option at all. So, without a back-up plan, I'm feeling a little nervous.

That's the reason why I was so quiet, I was doing a lot of thinking...and admittedly quite a lot of kvetching, about things surrounding this situation that I know will not change. I wasn't going to post anything because I couldn't think of any way to express how I'm feeling about this and then spin it into a positive.

After ruminating and sulking for a day, I got off my butt, cleaned my room up nicely like a responsible adult, made space and did some yoga.

"Serenity now serenity now serenity now...!!"

During my first truly present practice in days I remembered/realized a few things: Most of the time, you don't get a "back-up" plan in life, sometimes shit happens and you have to figure it out on the fly. I also remembered one of the Yamas: Self-surrender to God, or in Sanskrit, Isvara pranidhana. I know some people are agnostic or atheist, so you can take God to mean whatever you want it to mean for you, but the concept of Isvara pranidhana is still universal: Have faith and find some peace knowing that things will always be as they should, in challenges and successes, if you do your "work" in life wholeheartedly with love, compassion and no ego, everything somehow falls into place. Very similar to the whole "God grant me serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference", thing. Even as an atheist, one could agree that you have to come to this conclusion that you must accept things as they are and just do your best in life, or you'll drive yourself insane sweating everything that happens, taking life's challenges personally.

I should not even be scared of the "what-ifs", I pride myself in my ability to be resourceful and find solutions under pressure, in life and in work situations. And really, no one needs to be scared if they don't have a "plan" to deal with one of life's surprises, things just kind of work out when you just do what you have to do anyway. Not to mention I've been blessed with amazing friends and family, and, worst case scenario, if I were to lose my job and couldn't live alone, I'd just end up in a less-than-ideal living situation with one of my family members that live really far away. I know I won't starve or have to live on the street no matter what happens, so what am I really worried about anyway?

I was getting into a psycho cycle (say that 10 times fast!) of getting angry with myself for being angry about a situation that I can't control and not getting anything done. (I know, I have super efficient thought patterns). But, I'm done being ridiculous now, yay! I know right now I just have to do my work and wait for October 1st to arrive to take action...unless, if you're a responsible lady that would like to move in with me by November 1, please let me know!

So, if you read all that, you're a trooper, and thank you!

I'm so excited to start school next weekend...I can't even contain myself. I know these next 3 months are going to fly by so fast I won't even know what happened! So, with a deep breath and a long exhale...here goes the fastest 3 months of my life. Annnnnnd GO!

Namasté you guys!!

09.05.11 Look What I Made Monday Volume 9!

2011-09-05T08:47:00.000-07:00

Happy Labor Day everyone!

I hope you all are enjoying the three day weekend having fun, and spending time with your favorite people! That's how I spent my weekend...plus I made a little something new this week:

My Newest Etsy item: Day of the Dead kitty skull!

I think it's super-cute, I hope you do too! I had fun making it, I also will be making a 1-color made-to-order, T-shirt of this design and will have that up on Etsy in coming weeks in time for Day of the Dead and Halloween!

Starting on September 17th I'll be going to my Yoga Teacher Training 9:30-5:30pm every Saturday and Sunday. I really can't wait! I've already started reading some of my textbooks to get ahead. I also need to practice teaching Surya Namaskar A, I have to be able to speak clearly and succinctly while doing it myself by the first day of class and have English and Sanskrit translations of the poses listed. Piece of cake!...I hope! haha, somehow I have a feeling I've been doing the transition from Chatturanga to Upward Facing-Dog "wrong" all these years...no one has ever said anything to me but upon studying it so closely, I'm having doubts haha. I just have always noticed that I don't have as much of that forward motion of the chest when I roll over my toes and come into Up-dog as compared to other yogis. huh. I'll have to work on that...unless I don't have to. I guess I'll find out the proper way in teacher training!

Check back later this week for some long-overdue Etsy purchase reviews! Enjoy the rest of your Labor Day weekend!

xo!

09.01.11 Happy National Yoga Month!

2011-09-01T14:06:00.000-07:00

Aloha yogis!

Guess what today is? The first day of National Yoga Month! Wooohoo!! Check out www.yogamonth.org to get all kindsa free Yoga this month!

In the spirit of National Yoga Month, I just wanted to share my yoga playlist from this morning, it got me super pumped for the day, so I thought maybe this would work (it goes on for a little over an hour) for some of you rockin' yogis out there, too!

You can check out my other playlist and how to create your own mindful-yet-kick-ass playlist here!

Tusk - Fleetwood Mac
Planet Telex - Radiohead
Cellphone's Dead - Beck
Fresh Feeling - Eels
Listen Up - The Gossip
Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground - The White Stripes
Venus - Shoking Blue
Who's That Girl - Madonna
Amazon - M.I.A.
Lovegame - Lady Gaga
Shockadelica - Prince
Strange Magic - Electric Light Orchestra

Rain - The Beatles

Houses in Motion - Talking Heads
Walking on the Moon - The Police
Pressure Drop - Toots and the Maytals
Never Never Gonna Give You Up - Cake (covering Barry White)
Book of Right On - Nomo (instrumental Joanna Newsom cover)
Shoganai - King Crimson

Look What I Made Monday Volume 8

2011-08-29T11:31:00.000-07:00

Hey Kids!

Well, between new weird work hours, readying for yoga teacher training, and a hurricane this weekend, I've been neglecting my blogging duties and I apologize!

I've been getting distracted scheming, as I mentioned in my last entry, I realized I need to narrow my focus for the moment while I'm in teacher training. But, since I do have a few weeks before it really starts, I'm squeezing in a few more "Look-What-I-Made-Mondays" (also, any suggestions for a better name? It sounds kind of like "lookitmeee!" when I'm making these things to share with everyone, not for me to strut my stuff, I just like to make people smile; "Look-What-I-Made-Monday" doesn't really give that message clearly.) I will of course post any art I happen to create in the meantime, but unfortunately, with my crazy work schedule and full days of yoga school during the weekends, LWIMM probably won't be a weekly occurrence.

This week I've got a new item up on my Etsy store. It's a piece from a children's book I made in college, now available as a digital print! Woohoo! I'm hoping to one day have the book for sale on my store. I want to bind it myself but I've yet to figure out an efficient way of doing that, I will more than likely have to have it bound as a board book, which is quite expensive. I want it to be affordable for parents since we know how toddlers manhandle and destroy these kinds of books, but I can't just print it on paper and saddle stitch them because they'll never last. Oh well, I'll figure it out someday!

Valentina Design

Also I've created a new Etsy Treasury today, in the spirit of feeling super lucky since I was spared the brunt of Hurricane Irene, this one features lots of good luck charms and imagery. My favorite piece is this here elephant by Valentina Designs. She makes really lovely animal illustrations, I love all the mini patterns and spirals she uses, her hand is so whimsical, LOVE it! Check out her shop!

That's all for now lovelies! I've been stalling on reviews for CurlyCuffs, Bellaroma Boutique and Shovava, so, check back later this week for pics and rave reviews on these rockin' Etsy sellers!

08.19.11 Red Treasury!

2011-08-19T08:55:00.000-07:00

Aw...it's the last of 7 in my ROY G. BIV Treasury series :( It's okay I'll still make more Treasuries, but this was fun! Now I'll have to get more conceptual with my Treasury themes hehe.

Annie Rodrigue/Moonlight Whispers

Nicole Kristiana Studio

I love this Red Riding Hood interpretation by Moonlight Whispers, it's so cute yet creepy hehe. Lil' Red here reminds me of an older, girl-version of Squee for some reason (maybe it's just the dark circles around the big eyes, dunno) hehe.

Nicole Kristiana Studio have some really beautiful animal illustrations. Everything is so whimsy and colorful, this lil froggy was perfect for my Red Treasury.

And this lovely cardinal illustration seems like it's not the typical (anything but typical, I really LOVE that piece!), more illustrative/conceptual work of The Gorgonist. It's really a gorgeous little watercolor.

I mentioned last week that I had ordered from CurlyCuffs and Bellaroma Boutique (whose Strawberry scrub I included in this treasury because I love it so much!...and it's red!) and I wanted to review them with pictures. I ordered a new, much better quality, camera this week, and I figured it would be best to take better pictures and then write my reviews. So, I didn't forget, next week, that's what's coming!

Sorry blog's so short this week, I've been a little distracted. My Yoga Teacher Training is getting closer and closer and I'm realizing more and more I will have to focus on one thing at a time. This week I heard a quote that kind of woke me up: "The man that chases two rabbits catches none" or something to that effect. I've chased 2 or 3 or 4 rabbits for many years, I'm passionate about a lot of things and hate to think I have to compromise and pick one. I have this ridiculous will to do everything at once as though I'm never going to die and have 3 lifetimes to "master" all of these things. But, I know I will never be the best I can be at anything if I don't give one thing all of my focus and attention. It's a known business fact that if you want to be successful, you have to have a narrow focus. You're allowed to do more than one thing, but you have to "master" one thing at at time.

Action leads to clarity, and in the last month or so of blogging and creating things for my Etsy store and getting more involved in the yoga community (online and locally), I keep getting pulled more toward yoga and focusing on teacher training. Every time I intend to find a new Etsy artist or blog, I get distracted by something on Elephant Journal and get sucked back into a yoga vortex (in a good way!)

I realized I will be working full-time, plus every weekend from 9-5 I will be in training. If I attempt to give equal focus/effort on my Etsy store, then I won't be giving full attention on either my store or teacher training. I want to be the best teacher I can be, and the only way to do that is to completely immerse myself in teacher training. I would be stressed out pressuring myself to create new pieces every week, on top of doing teacher training homework and practice, I wouldn't be able to do my best work with either endeavor.

So, basically I will still be involved with Etsy in so far as buying awesome art, jewelry, and clothing, posting in forums, doing reviews every now and again, and showing support to my fellow Etsians whenever possible. But, once September 17th arrives, "Look What I Made Monday" will only return on a sporadic basis when I've found the time/had a stroke of inspiration to create something I want to share with everyone. I will still have my items on my store but I will not be making a concerted effort to add new items in the near future. I know I can always come back to this, so I'll try not to feel anxious about putting it aside for a while :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

08.17.11 "Talkin' Shit About a Pretty Sunset"

2011-08-17T08:06:00.000-07:00

Maybe I'm just a little sensitive...okay, I'll be honest I'm probably the most overly-sensitive person I know. Sometimes this works in my favor, other times, not so much. But, I've been noticing something lately in the way people communicate self-dissatisfaction and I wanted to address it.

Wikipedia defines self-deprecation as "the act of belittling or undervaluing oneself. It can be used in humor and tension release."

Self-depreciative talk can sometimes be funny, comedians use it all the time for a laugh. But, for the most part, "in real life", it's not funny, it doesn't make you feel good about yourself (just reinforces negative thinking), and usually makes people around you feel awkward, annoyed, and possibly personally insulted. I know I've been on both ends of the spectrum.

As an example, a really common thing I see, among women in particular, is talking so much shit about their own bodies (and constantly in comparison to others and whatever their ideal body in their head might be) to one another. Recently, a friend of mine was complaining about her cellulite to me (which I have, too) and saying how "ugly" it was. I used to obsess about my cellulite/stretchmarks/blemishes but I kind of forgot about it because over the last few years of practicing Yoga I realized: Complaining about cellulite or anything occurring naturally on your body is like complaining that you don't like the uneven pattern of the rock formations in the Grand Canyon. You're "talkin' shit about a pretty sunset" (aw, Modest Mouse make me smile) basically. The human body is a vessel for the light of life, it's kind of awesome! So, respect it and take good care of it no matter what shape it takes.

Yoga practice and the Yogic teachings really helped me put my body image (and everything else) in perspective. I've grown to be comfortable with myself which at one point I thought was not possible. Yeah, there are days when I don't feel my best (like on days when I'm sleep/exercise/healthy-food-deprived) but, I have been trying to make it a point not to say what I'm thinking around other people when it comes to that.

When my friend made that passing comment, it reminded me of something I didn't really appreciate about my body at one point. As senseless as it is to have any kind of stigma against something that occurs as naturally in the human body as a pimple, her comment made me feel insecure for a minute. I'm sure she knows I have it too so what the hell would she say that for, right? (I'm not mad at her at all, she just wasn't thinking before speaking, which is a mistake I and most other people make all the time.) I know this wasn't her intention, but for a second I was thinking about what I could "do" about my body. What the fuck, right? Thankfully, I got my mind out of the gutter real quick because I knew I couldn't have the next thing I say reinforce her misguided beliefs about her body.

Instead of telling her "I have it along with 95% of humans too so, shut up!" My answer to her was "You know that you only think your cellulite is 'disgusting' because the media told you cellulite is disgusting, right? Cellulite has been around for all of human history, it didn't stop men and women from finding mates and reproducing...if you didn't have magazines and T.V. with retouched women, you wouldn't even think twice about it." I even went into the whole metaphysical idea that "you are not your body, etc", and that she eats well—lots of fresh fruits and veggies—and has a consistent workout routine, so her body is existing exactly as it should and she should thank it instead of curse it. She said she knew I was right but she still felt "gross". Sigh. You can lead a horse to water, right? It's sad how ingrained it is in our psyche that these things are to be despised in our own bodies—I'm not exempt, it's an active effort on my part to ignore those inclinations to talk badly about myself.

I don't want this blog to be about women and how we're constantly given negative messages about our bodies, and mixed messages ("You should love your body just the way it is!...Now go buy this expensive cellulite-removal cream that doesn't work!"; "Here's a recipe for decadent chocolate brownies!...HEY buy these diet pills!"; "Be sexy!...But not too sexy or else you're a whore!", etc etc) but, this was a good example of how self-depreciating talk can be inadvertently insulting.

When you say negative things about yourself, especially to friends, family and loved ones, it affects everyone involved. Even if what you say is not related to them personally (Superficial example: If you've got curly hair and you say you hate it when the person you're talking to also has curly hair; as opposed to if the person with you does not have curly hair...), the fact that you don't think so highly of yourself is a message to the other person that they must not know how to choose friends/mates, since you're saying you're so lousy...see what I'm getting at? It's insulting all around!

In the Yoga Sutra there are 5 Yamas (basically ethical guidelines, for those not familiar), three of them come to mind when I think about negative self-talk, and I use them to quell my urges to beat myself up:

1) Ahimsa, The first yama, is non-violence in thought, word, and deed, to all beings. This includes yourself, so, be as nice to yourself as you are to others. You would never go telling your friend their cellulite disgusts you (because it doesn't and shouldn't—unless you're a jerk...), so, don't do it to yourself.

2) Asteya, Non-covetousness/non-stealing—when you are dissatisfied with yourself (appearance in particular), it's probably because you're comparing yourself to or are jealous of someone else. Anytime you do that you're holding yourself to someone else's standards; create your own standards. Your standards for yourself should be high, higher than what anyone else may expect of you. Always go for what you want without fear of failure or disappointment, sometimes in failing you learn the most important lessons. Don't be jealous of others' success (or whatever it is they have/don't have that you wish you had/didn't have), rejoice in it, positive energy can light you up, negative energy will just keep you stuck in the darkness of disappointment.

3) Satya, Non-harming truth—sounds like exactly what it means—always be honest, but do so benevolently. There is always room for improvement, but we have to look at our self-critiques honestly and objectively. For example, you're not "stupid" because you have been procrastinating on a goal, you're just a human and life is crazy and we get caught up. The truth is not that you're stupid, the truth, without a negative story behind it, is that you've been putting something off for whatever reason. Instead of beating yourself up and doing nothing about it, start making a list to reach said goal.

I won't lie, I still slip up and make passing negative comments about myself to friends and family. While I may eventually stop saying these things out loud, I'll probably have to actively remind myself not to, because: ‎"To have thoughts and beliefs is so human; to get caught up in them is so human; to learn to observe them is to practice yoga." (to quote Judith Hanson Lasater in a recent Elephant Journal interview.)

The best we can do is be hyper-self-aware and objective, not judgemental, in observing ourselves and how we think and act. Through that awareness, and cultivating it until it becomes second-nature, we can begin to interact more thoughtfully and compassionately with our world and ourselves.

How do you cope with a nasty inner-voice? Please share in the comment box below :)

Namasté <3

08.15.11 Look What I Made Monday Volume 7!

2011-08-15T08:30:00.000-07:00

Aloha movers n' shakers!

So, this weekend I made another digital print. I had a super-fun-packed weekend which kept me from painting and screen printing so I had to resort to Photoshop for this week's project.

"Love to Death" is now available at my Etsy shop! I actually made this as a T-shirt for myself not too long ago (see below) and thought it would be cool as a print. Maybe one day I'll make t-shirts for my Etsy store?

This weekend was just non-stop awesome. Started off Friday night getting off at 5:15 (probably for the first and last time ever!) and I made it to a yoga class, then I got to see my friend Lucy the Last Lucid Lion play at Sapphire Lounge. After that I went to visit The Muggies while recording drum fills in the studio. The new album is going to ROCK I can't wait!!

Saturday I woke up and went kayaking with my friends. Then went to the city for Anusara in the Apple with Bernadette Birney and Elena Brower's workshop. It was such a pleasure to finally meet these two inspiring, lovely women, who greeted me so warmly. I was surprised they remembered my online persona (as I've only @mentioned and commented on their blogs and never met them in person). The class was extra challenging for me since I already killed my arms going kayaking in the morning! But, Anusara is gentle and challenging all at once, very different than my normal dancey-Vinyasa/Budokon style practice. I definitely want to get to more Anusara classes when I can or I'll have to find videos online.

It seems like my schedule is going to get crazier and then crazier in a few weeks. Starting today my hours are now 11am-7pm, which means the earliest I will be home is 9pm, and in the mornings I really only have an hour to run errands since most places are not open until 9am (as I have to catch a train by 10:15). Then starting in September when I begin Yoga teacher training I will have no weekends off until September (except my birthday because they don't hold class on Yom Kippur; and if I take vacation days during the week it won't be too bad) So, I'm not sure how much I'll be able to do each week for Look What I Made Monday once my training starts. I'm still pledging to at least do a sketch once a week, just so I don't fall into creative entropy.

That's all for now, folks!

08.12.11 Orange Treasury!

2011-08-12T07:35:00.000-07:00

Yay! Friday!

Here's my Orange Treasury!

©Stephanie Fizer

I love this sweet little fairy by Stephanie Fizer. I just love how warm this is! Stephanie does lovely work, she makes notebooks, stickers, and robots (one of which was featured in my Green treasury!) Everything Stephanie creates is adorable.

Come to think of it this piece may have worked for my upcoming Red Treasury for next week too. Speaking of which, I can't believe 7 weeks went by so fast! Anyway, I'll continue making weekly Treasuries and sharing them on my blog once the ROY G. BIV series is over next week, no worries!

©David Galchutt

David Galchutt actually so kindly started following me on Twitter this week. Really talented guy he is. I kind of get an Alphonse Mucha vibe from his work, (I love Mucha!) but he's got his own thing going on at the same time. Sorta cheated on this one since it's not entirely orange, but, it's spicy-colored and I think it went with everything else in the Treasury nonetheless. It's one-of-a-kind; if I made this myself I would have trouble letting it go, it's just gorgeous!

I actually made 2 Etsy purchases myself last week, I got a bunch of bath n' body goodies from Bellaroma Boutique, which came in the mail last night! Perfect timing too, it was right after yoga class when I got home so I immediately used everything in the shower. I will put up a full review next week, but, I will say, as I said on Twitter yesterday, I'm never buying another body butter again!

I also ordered this really cool cuff earring from Curly Cuffs. I'm so happy because I wanted to get two more holes in each earlobe but I used to have 2-holes and I remember when I got them done it was terrible (the second hole has since closed up for the most part) and I hated the heat/itchiness/pain from it. So, now I don't have to get them pierced because the good lady at Curly Cuffs made these genius earrings! Will take a customer-appreciation pic once it arrives :)

That's it for this week, see you Monday with another creation my freakishly small hands have put together! Have a great weekend, kids!

08.10.11 New PIF Treasury!

2011-08-10T07:27:00.000-07:00

I love making Treasuries, they take a lot of time but, they're really fun to put together, I get to browse hundreds of lovely items, plus I'm promoting fellow artists. Winning!

Today I wanna rep my Etsy team, The Etsy Entrepreneurs, here's my second Pay-it-Forward Treasury, all with work from my fellow EE Teammates! In case you haven't seen it yet, as Mystic Hills Ngaroma so kindly Tweeted it on Monday as I featured her Igor the Creepy Grungy Monster Doll!

Igor the monster!

@Mystic Hills Ngaroma on Etsy!

I'm so glad to have "met" Tammy of MHN. A classy, uber talented lady all the way from the hills of New Zealand! I love the internets and how it can bring people worlds apart together :)

One of my other faves in this Treasury is this Tentacle Stem Painting by Her Ghost Store. Whimsy, bright colors, and sea creatures—of course I'm loving it!

Available

@her Ghost STORE on Etsy

I had some trouble just picking one piece of jewelry from Curious Crow Jewelry's shop, everything is so beautiful! But after much back-and-forth, I opted to pick this floral etched leather bracelet. I wonder how they etch it? I know next to nothing about jewelry making, I would love to know how this is done. I like that it's slightly weathered looking too.

Available @Curious Crow Jewelry on Etsy

Come back on Friday for part 6 of 7 in my ROY G. BIV Treasury series: Orange!

08.08.11 Look What I Made Monday Volume 6!

2011-08-08T07:05:00.000-07:00

Elefly ©missbernklau

Hey Kids! Happy Look What I Made Monday!

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend! Mine went by way too fast. I spent my entire Saturday at my grandmother's house, came home with heaps of fresh veggies from Long Island farms and lots of new clothes and jewelry. My grandma is the best!

So, two new items on my Etsy store today! First thing's first, my Elefly is ready to go! Tell ya friends!! I decided to make this a digital print for now, I want to see if people like it, if they do then I will do a hand-pulled screen print version of this as well.

Plus, an oldie but a goodie, one of my many octopi prints is now available as a digital Epson print! I made this back in college but it's one of my favorites.

Octopus & butterflies ©missbernklau

I also just purchased some yummy goodies from Bellaroma Boutique on Etsy last night. She makes all-natural bath and body products and all of them look so delicious. I ended up getting Peach Kernel Moisture Butter, Wild Strawberry Body Scrub, and the Green Tea and Honeyquat Facial Scrub. I will have to try not to eat any of these things before using them because they probably smell awesome. Diana, the shop owner, also so kindly promoted my Facebook page, so, thanks! You can also find Bellaroma Boutique on Facebook too!

Stay tuned for Friday, I'll have a new Pay-it-Forward Treasury, to thank the lovely Etsians who so kindly included my work in their Treasuries in the last week or two. I'm honored that people from as far away as New Zealand are liking my work. It's been really fun to make new friends in the Etsy community; I'm glad there's such a great sense of comradery and respect among sellers and I look forward to making even more friends and getting inspiration from all the talented Etsians out there :)

Ta-ta for now!

08.05.11 - Mellow Yellow Treasury!

2011-08-05T07:55:00.000-07:00

Aloha, Lovelies! Man, I love a Friday after a short work week, I hope some of you also were afforded the same luxury this week too!

As promised, here is my Yellow Treasury, part 5 of 7 in my ROY G. BIV Treasury series! This was the hardest one to put together. I normally include only illustrations/prints, etc, this time I branched out to jewelry and photography.

Speaking of photography, I initially thought this beautiful watercolor by Cathy Hillegas was a photo! The way she got the leaves to look translucent and lit up like that is what tricked me I think.

And the lady over at Nut and Bee has done it again, everything she does is heartbreakingly adorable! I love these sour lemons hehe, so cute! I think I've featured her work in Treasuries like 3 times already without realizing it until after the fact. I want to buy everything she makes, everything is so cute!

Ballet Art also made it into this Treasury too (They were also featured in my Violet Treasury!) with their lovely butterfly painting. I love the little strokes and loose painterly style.

This week my Seahorse prints were also featured in MysticHillsNgaroma's Pay-it-Forward Treasury, thanks guys! Next week I'll have my Pay-it-Forward Treasury ready to go featuring one of their items (that's how PIF Treasuries work, for you non-Etsians, if someone features your item in a PIF Treasury, you have to create a new Treasury featuring one of their pieces, and the work of 15 other unique artists, and, if they're nice, those 15 people will do a PIF Treasury featuring your work, and so on.)

Mystic Hills Ngraroma is "the trading name of a couple that live in the remote hills of Marlborough", New Zealand! (Says so on their Etsy profile!) Check out their store, they make some really cool, funky, monster dolls, and they also sell their poetry, and photography. You can also find them on Facebook, be a fan!

That's all for this week kids, have a great weekend! Ya'll come back for Look What I Made Monday Volume 6, now!

08.03.11 - How your psoas can save your low back from agony!

2011-08-03T08:03:00.000-07:00

Happy Mond...I mean Wednesday!

I'm back from work today after being on vacation since last Wednesday. I had an awesome week with lots of sleeping in, snuggling and just spending time with my boyfriend :) Yesterday we went to the Bronx Zoo (pictures to come!) which was so much fun. We saw a lot of animals we didn't get to see last time we went (except the Brown Bear, which we are convinced was never at the zoo in the first place because the exhibit is completely empty every time). We got the inside scoop from an off-the-clock zoo employee, too. Did you know otters have the ability to kill monkeys? Well, they do, and that's why the otters aren't in the same exhibit as the Ebony Langurs anymore!...Yeah I thought it was a weird random fact to mention to total strangers as well, but, interesting none the less. I don't know why it's so easy to forget that cute animals are still dangerous.

Ebony Langur (I did not take this picture!)

One thing I didn't see, after 4 hours of walking in the heat, was immense low-back pain at the end of the day. Woohoo!

Why? Because I engaged my core muscles while I was walking. I also tried to be mindful of my posture by keeping the tailbone curling in toward the spine, the low belly in and upward, and the low ribs in and upward, while keeping the shoulders back and relaxed.

It's actually very easy to do, well, it's "easy" to learn how to properly engage your core muscles, however it does make walking a bit more strenuous (which is a good thing) and will heat you up from the inside out.

It's not about superficially "sucking in" your belly. It's about moving your body from the muscles in your core. Namely, the Iliopsoas muscles which include the iliacus, psoas major and minor. Ironically enough, the psoas minor (and it mentions this in it's Wiki entry) muscle does not exist in almost half the human population because it is so underused now that we walk upright. But this muscle group is really important for protecting our low backs. When the psoas muscles are contracted, that's when our backs start to feel the pain. Yoga in particular really helps to keep these muscles long and strong.

So, where the heck is the psoas ("so-as") exactly? Finding your psoas can be done by laying on your back, find the top of either hip crest (the point where the bone sticks out most) then find your belly button. Place two fingers at the half-way point between the hip crest and your belly button. Now, push down into this spot, very deeply (like, really, try to touch your spine, of course that's not really possible, but, that's the depth I'm talking about), it will feel a little uncomfortable. At the same time as your are applying pressure to this spot, begin to lift the knee on the same side. You should feel a muscle pushing back up against your finger tips there as you lift the knee. That's your psoas. By the way, gotta thank Sadie Nardini for teaching me that technique!

Try finding that spot again when standing up and walking and feeling it push back against your fingertips. Visualizing this muscle connected to your legs and moving them also helps them to engage. Do this while maintaining the action of curling in your tailbone. A visualization technique for keeping the tailbone inward: Imagine your hip bones as a bowl tipped slightly, and there's a ball in the center that you don't want to fall onto the floor, so you have to keep the bowl as upright as possible.

You will know that you're doing it properly when you feel a burn in your abs similar to what you feel when doing crunches or any sort of core work. If you're pushing too hard you may start to feel soreness in the back and sides of the hips. Back off a little bit, relax the muscles, take some deep breaths, then start again and try engaging the muscles a little less fiercely next time.

It's very easy to lose the connection and forget about it when you're walking and become distracted (I forget all the time, especially in yoga class where it's even more important to keep this area strong). But try to keep an awareness there and if you notice you've stopped being active in your core, just reactivate!

So, next time you've got to take a long walk or go hiking, (or next time you walk anywhere, it only does good things for your back and core to do this) try this and see if it helps ease the burden on your low-back spine. I would love to hear if and how it worked for you! Any questions, please ask in the comments :)

Namasté!

08.01.11 - Look What I Made Monday Volume 5!

2011-08-01T09:00:00.000-07:00

Yayy Happy Monday!

I hope you all enjoyed your weekends! I thankfully have off today and tomorrow...then back to work. Sigh. Oh well, I had a much needed, awesomely fun break and I'm trying to live in the moment and not worry about how soon I will be back at work hehe. Time flies when you're having fun!

Butterfant, erm...Elefly? ©miss bernklau

Anyhoo, this is just a sketch, I think I'm going to do one one-of-a-kind watercolor/ink drawing of it, and then do a simple version that I'll do some screen prints of for next week. I don't know what it is? A Butterfant or an Elefly? I don't know what it is but I like him...or her. Now that I look at it I think he sort of looks like a tribute to Ganesha. Sorry for the obnoxious signature, but, you know how it is: "Good artists copy, great artists steal"...oh no wait if I truly believed that I wouldn't put my name on it. Right. Anyhow!

Stay tuned next week for the finished piece! Yay!

07.29.11

2011-07-29T09:00:00.000-07:00

Hey kids,

As promised, Part 4 of 7 in my ROY G. BIV Treasury series, Green with Envy! Because I'm envious of people that have money to buy everything in this Treasury! This one is tough to pick just one or two favorite items, so I'm gonna pick 3 today (uh oh!)

RW2 Gallery

First is this lovely mermaid painting by Robert Walker of RW2 Gallery (really gorgeous oil paintings, check out the store) I just love the depth of space and color in these paintings. He has some really gory art in the store as well, but, even that work is beautiful in it's own way. Great oil paintings are like great rock songs, if the music is good, the lyrics could completely contradict my core beliefs, and I'm still going to love the song. Likewise, if the subject matter of a painting isn't my thing, if it's a beautiful painting, I'm still going to appreciate it for it's beauty anyway.

Studio Tuesday

I'm also really digging this sweet little watercolor by Studio Tuesday. In stark contrast to the mermaid painting, I just like how simple it is, plus it's just so cute in it's simplicity. Watercolor is such an awesome (and forgiving) medium like that.

I realize a lot of the art I'm putting in these treasuries is really.... "watery" or somehow related to water. Not sure why it is that I'm attracted to the ocean, water, and animals that live in the ocean/water. Usually one or all of those things are present in my art. I've always lived by water, but I never had some kind of harrowing experience with it. I have had nightmares of tidal waves my whole life, could that be it? I don't know, I would love a Jungian psychologist to analyze this all for me.

Erin Crawford

That said I'm going to refrain from choosing another water-like one for my third favorite, which is this acrylic on wood painting by Erin Crawford. She has a really cool graffiti-like style, I actually dig her elephant paintings even more but they didn't fit in with my Green Treasury hehe. I just like the shapes, very feminine despite being abstracted. Also I'm a sucker for spirals, anyone that knows me knows this!

Stay tuned next week for part 5! Aw...it's almost over already, only 3 more after this one! Well, I'll continue to post new, themed Treasuries every week, I love supporting fellow artists so, this ain't over!

07.25.11- Look What I Made Monday Volume 4!

2011-07-25T07:20:00.000-07:00

Woot! I sketched a froggy and colored him in Photoshop. I'm not sure if I'm going to simplify the colors and do some screenprints or maybe leave the colors and make Epson prints. I was flicking channels and saw some poisonous frogs and their colors are just so bright and mesmerizing (colors on a computer screen don't do it justice)...it's weird to me, and I'm sort of obsessed with the fact, that so many animals in nature can be so beautiful and so deadly at the same time. So, yeah I just felt like drawing one of my own. He's smiling teehee!

Also thanks to Erica, the artistic mastermind at Lemondrop Land for including my Seahorse prints in her Treasury this week! Check out her store, she makes really cool paper cut away art, I don't know how she does it, at first I thought they were screenprints until I read that they were cut outs. That takes some serious talent, dexterity and patience!

Namasté you guys!

07.22.11 - Serenity NOW!

2011-07-22T08:41:00.000-07:00

Many of you may know exactly what I'm referencing when I say "Serenity NOW!" but for those of you that don't, I have one word: Seinfeld. Just watch the video:

The days that I feel my blood boiling when I'm at work and it's 5pm and we've had nothing to do all day and then someone comes down with a heap of work that will keep us here until 11pm (and this is at least a 3 day per week occurrence)...I have to watch this video. Because, it's so true, that all you can do is laugh or cry!

I know I'm not the only one with a job that's frustrating. What can be done to make us feel better, especially when there's no way you can do yoga (or workout or whatever you do to release) regularly if all your time is spent at work and then going home to sleep so you can do it all over again? Well, Elephant Journal have a few non-spiritual suggestions. "Laugh" is the first one, and for a really, really good reason. They also include a quote from Mark Twain that I'd not heard before I read that blog: "Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand." How profoundly true! New favorite quote!

I've grown up with a tendency to lean toward negative, pessimistic thinking, but my whole life I've always found a way to take the darkness and add humor to it. Sometimes people don't get my "dark" humor or sarcasm and believe that I really am truly a negative pit of despair (which I was, at one point in my life). Thankfully, my friends and loved ones understand me and I keep those people close. They laugh at my jokes instead of telling me they think I need therapy. They were the ones that stuck with me when I was an angry, loud, incorrigible teenager, an angsty 20-something and now a happier-late-20-something. They're the ones that make me laugh the most, and for that I'm so grateful.

Just a friendly reminder, even when you're feeling like you don't think you could even muster a smile, you can make yourself laugh. Just put on a funny movie, read comics, read your friend's awesomely hilarious blogs, go outside, go to a dog park and play with pups (even if you don't own a dog, just go, being around animals is so therapeutic when you're feeling bad), listen to music that lights you up, go for a drive and sing your favorite song at the top of your lungs. Yes, sometimes when you're in a funk you need to let yourself listen to sad music, cry, kick, scream, maybe break some shit, but when you're all done with that, go get yourself some laughs!

Enjoy your weekend, kids! Be sure to come back for "Look What I Made Monday!" Namasté!

07.21.11

2011-07-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

Good morrow!

In keeping with last week's promise of more Etsy Treasuries, here is my "Blue" Treasury, part 3 of my 7 part ROY G. BIV series! This one it was hard to pick a favorite so I have to pick a few. "Jelly Romance" by nutandbee is adorable!!!! Everything in the shop is equally heart wrenchingly cute and I want everything!

Jelly Romance

I also really dug this up-cycled vinyl record by Benny and the Jet. They make some pretty cool jewelry using guitar strings and records, I like!

up-cycled painted record

I was also lucky enough to have USewWhat feel compelled to include my Sanskrit Seahorse Book in their Treasury this week, thank you!

Short 'n' sweet for today. Namasté!

07.20.11 Rock The Mat!—Tips for creating a kick-ass yoga playlist.

2011-07-20T08:15:00.000-07:00

Hey Yogis!

Last week I wrote about some things that really chap my asana, and one of them was when teachers have lame music (or no music) going on during class. I totally promised that I would share my own personal playlist. Okay, I've actually made quite a lot of them depending on theme/genre/mood...but, today, you guys get just one. Don't worry, I'll be sharing more in the future, you'll just have to keep checking back for more ;)

I know it's not possible (unless you have unlimited free-time) to create a unique playlist to cater to every yoga class/theme, as a teacher. There aren't enough hours in the day and even if there were it's just not practical. I just like to create playlists when I have the chance if I'm feeling really strongly about an intention or if I'm really in a mood to get myself into some other mood through the music. When I'm not using one of my kick-ass playlists, I have another playlist with about a hundred or so songs in no order that I know I like to hear while I'm practicing (be it "regular" music or "yoga" music like Jai Uttal, etc.), and I just put that on random.

I'm going to break down the playlist in 3 parts...Warm Up, Peak, and Cool-down. I'm actually making this playlist as I write this so it's more updated to my current mood (and I can use it later yaayy!) Again, this is my personal playlist, as a teacher I don't think I would ever play "Closer" by NIN in class...unless I was having a class with people that I knew would be into it. However, yesterday I was in an anti-gravity yoga class and the teacher was playing club music (like the kind that the Jersey Shore kids pump their fists to), and he didn't seem to think twice about it. I found that really strange, and I think if it had been a regular vinyasa class I would've been hyper-fixated on how bad the music was. But, I was able to tune it out because the novelty of doing yoga in a hammock was occupying my mind more than anything else. Also if you haven't tried anti-gravity yoga (and you don't have glaucoma and are not pregnant or trying to get pregnant), RUN, don't walk, to Om Factory as soon as possible.

Anyhow lets get to it!

WARM UP
Elevator Music - Beck
Working for Vacation - Cibo Matto
Heartbeats - The Knife
W.F.L. - Happy Mondays
Closer - Nine Inch Nails

PEAK
Close To Me - The Cure (the kick ass mix, though, the one with the horns, yeah! Love love LOVE!)
This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) - Talking Heads
Sound and Vision - David Bowie (by the way, one of my favorite songs, and yes, I wonder about sound and vision ALL THE TIME)
Tomorrow Never Knows - The Beatles
Some Velvet Morning - Primal Scream
Girls & Boys - Blur
Give it to Me - Rick James
Jungle Lion - Lee "Scratch" Perry & The Upsetters
Revolution Rock - The Clash
Monkey Ska - Derrick Harriot

COOL-DOWN
Dreadlock Holiday - 10cc
Above the Clouds -Gang Starr
Redemption Song - Toots and The Maytals
World of Two - Cake
Pets - Porno for Pyros
Frosti - Björk

Warm-up
Here you'll want to pick songs that kind of have a driving, inciting beat, and start off with something that makes you feel like "Okay, here we go!". I started off this one with Elevator Music, great lyrics, my favorite being "No dead flower's gonna grow til the dirt gets wet"...plus it starts off with a "One...Two...you know what to do!", it's got everything you need for your first yoga playlist track! I like the songs to follow to build to a more faster, upbeat/funky tempo as each song passes, to bring you seamlessly into the "peak" part of your session.

Peak
At this point in the practice I want to hear songs that make me feel uplifted, motivated, happy, excited, empowered, whatever-I-need, so that when I'm holding Down Dog for 5 breaths after a challenging sequence, I don't feel compelled to collapse on my mat. Toward the end of the "peak" section I go with more chilled-out songs, (I lean toward Reggae at this point in the playlist usually) to lead into the "cool-down". I also like to put in more light-hearted songs toward the end of my "peak", as that's when I get into my inversion practice, where I like to keep an open mind and not get all frusty when I can't get into handstand (which is why "Monkey Ska" is at the end of this one, if that song doesn't make you smile, nothing will).

Cool-down
It's pretty self-explanatory, here I pick songs that help me to feel more calm and quiet. But this is subjective and of course, some people would be perplexed, and not calmed, if they had to hear some Gang Starr while they were cooling down during yoga, even if the song is really subdue in comparison to other songs by them. But you want to pick songs that soothe you and don't take your mind into a state of heightened emotion, negative or positive.

I'll have to post another playlist that's a bit more class-friendly; without songs that are really an indulgence for me and probably very distracting for most (For example I think I'd take out Happy Mondays, NIN and possibly Primal Scream and/or Rick James...I don't know if I need to explain why, do I?).

Everybody is different, and when you're picking songs for a class, it's probably best to go with what you like personally, but just editing tracks that may be somewhat offensive lyrically or sonically to other people (in this case, I would take out NIN, Happy Mondays and Gang Starr, I think most people wouldn't be into that in a yoga class). You can always show your playlist to some fellow teachers, or students you have a relationship with, and get their feedback. Remember, you can't please all the people all the time so, don't take these opinions as the direction you should go in, it's just good to hear from your audience and then edit from there without totally compromising yourself.

So with that, I hope you found this helpful, and if you feel compelled to make your own playlist, please share it! I would love to see what you've come up with for yourself, and it would give other readers ideas for their own playlist, too :)

Namasté!

07.18.11 - Look What I Made Monday Vol. 3

2011-07-18T09:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday!

So, this weekend my brain was all over the place. I have a bunch of ideas going on but they're not complete so, I will show one of part of those ideas today. Basically, I was just playing with my oil paints trying to make backgrounds to screen print onto. But now I like this watercolory-oil-painting so much that I don't know what to put on it without ruining it yet so this week I'll be brainstorming!

I may just do a series of these kinds of paintings, I love to just paint and zone out and just enjoy what I'm doing.

Also USewWhat at Etsy added my Sanskrit Seahorse sketchbook to her Treasury this weekend! Sweet deal! Thank you, kind lady! :)

That's all for today kids, check back Wednesday, I'll be sharing my own personal yoga playlist, and how I integrate it with the sequences and theme of my practice, and how you can do it with your favorite songs, too!

xo!

7.15.11

2011-07-15T13:02:00.000-07:00

Having a late lunch break and I feel like I need to vent a little.

But first, let's talk about my grandma. She's the most amazing woman ever. Having gone through some of life's most harrowing human experiences from childhood into adulthood, she is still the most positive, graceful, and kind person I've ever met.

She's never had a "why me?" attitude, considering everything that she's experienced, she has a resilience that a lot of people wish they could cultivate themselves, but they're too entrenched in their "stuff" to get past it.

She has never once set foot in a therapist's office, let alone in a Yoga studio, and my grandmother has the Zen-like attitude of someone that's been living in a Buddhist monastery for decades.

I don't know what I would do without her, I talk to her every day, and she's a saint because she listens to me rant and rave about pretty much the same thing(s) every day. Okay, well, I don't rant and rave anymore...now I can discuss it like an adult. It's more like I'm examining what happens and she's always there to help me find the positive aspect about what's going on.

I had a particularly rough week this week when it came to dealing with the stress of my job, I worked over 10 hours every day (14 hours was the longest day, if you're wondering) and that doesn't include the hour and ten minute commute (in both directions, so that's over 2 hours each day on the train alone). So, I felt so trapped having so very little time to work on my art or practice yoga.

It really wouldn't feel so-beyond-articulation frustrating if I didn't have designs on being my own boss making a living from selling my art and being a yoga teacher. My job isn't that bad, I knew what I was getting into (they warned me in my interviews that it would be "dysfunctional", I paid that no mind since every single agency I've worked is "dysfunctional"...that was a warning I should have heeded!). I get paid overtime so I should be okay with it when I have to work three 17-hour-long days in a row. But, I'm not okay with it. Not when it means that I have no time to devote to doing what I need to do so that I don't have to work here (or for any other employer that believes humans don't need sleep or personal time) anymore.

All the money in the world is worthless (well, technically money is and always has been worthless, it's just paper, and, now that it's only backed by our "faith" because it's not backed by gold, it's really worthless, but we have to pretend and base our lives around it anyway, what can we do?) when all you do every day is wake up, commute, work, go home with only 7 or 8 hours before you have to go back to work the next day, and sleep and do it all over again. That is not life. That is just animated death. I don't know what the numbers are but I'd venture to guess that's like 90% of people's lives. No wonder why so many people feel depressed, anxious, tired, angry, and trapped. I don't need to point out the obvious, but with the economy being what it is, people now more than ever feel the pressure to work-work-work, and feel like they can't say "no" to their employer lest they lose their job and have to wait 6 months or more to find another.

I was telling my grandmother all of this last night, almost on the verge of tears, because I was so frustrated. My grandmother had one simple thing to say, and we've all heard it before: "Just take it one day at a time."

The thing to remember is you are never stuck. There is always another way to do everything in life. You just have to keep your mind and heart open to the opportunities as they present themselves, and you have to do the work to create those opportunities as well. Just because you've hit a brick wall on your path, doesn't mean that you can't get around it, or search hard enough and find a secret doorway.

Sometimes the brick walls in life are opportunities in and of themselves, you have to remember to look at the bigger picture when you're in a myopic state of mind. Instead of "Why does this always happen me?" versus, "I'm not alone, people have gotten through the same thing and much worse, and so will I."

Patience (bolded to remind myself!) and persistence are what will get you through that process with grace and agility.

It also helps to remember is that we are not our bodies, our jobs, our cars, our beliefs..."we're pure consciousness", and we have the option to change the quality of that consciousness at any time. This awesome Elephant Journal article I read today helped to remind me of that.

So, as I get back to work, and try not to focus on wondering "How late will I be here tonight? Will I have to work this weekend?" I'm just going to remember another thing my grandmother always says: "Be happy. Be thankful. You are lucky!"

07.14.11

2011-07-14T07:01:00.000-07:00

Aloha artists, yogis, friends, movers n' shakers!

I've recently been introduced to the concept of Etsy Treasuries. If you don't know what they are, they are basically items from other Etsy sellers/artists that you can hand-pick and then post the list publicly for all to see. It's a really cool way to promote other sellers and it also allows the sellers whose items you've picked to see that you've added their item to your Treasury. Oftentimes they comment on the Treasury or send a message thanking you, sometimes they pay it forward and feature one of your items in one of their Treasuries. Pretty sweet deal!

Anyone that knows me knows that I love rainbows, I like to arrange things in rainbow order, I like to stare at pools of oil on water...I probably love and appreciate the beauty of rainbows almost as much as this guy. I love them so much that last year, I was staring at a rainbow and thought that my cause of death probably would be some unfortunate accident caused by my being distracted by a rainbow, so right away I registered the domain name deathbyrainbow.com. I never used it as my portfolio site or anything because I realized that the word "death" in my business name may not be the greatest idea. Yeah, so, I'm stuck with that until 2014...anyway!

I decided I'm going to create 7 Treasuries dedicated to my obsession with refracted and reflected light. I've already shared with you guys earlier this week my Violet Treasury, my favorite one is Wherever the March Winds Blow by Stephanie Fizer. Her store is really cute, her work is bright and sweet and I want to buy everything!

So, today you can check out Indigo! My favorite this week is Walrus as Totem by ravensdreaming. That walrus is just so adorable, plus I'm mesmerized by spirals as much as I am by rainbows so this piece just rocks!

Each week I'll post a new Treasury on my blog, so stay tuned, for the next five weeks it will be all about ROY G. BIV!

07.13.11 - Top 3 Yoga Class Faux Pas That Really "Chap My Asana"

2011-07-13T09:00:00.000-07:00

Hi Yogis!!! Hope you enjoyed "Look What I Made Monday", you can get your own fresh screenprint at my Etsy Store now! </shameless self-promotion> Okay, getting to it...

I've been hitting up a lot of "new" studios lately. Mostly because I didn't even know some of these places existed (which is ridiculous, how could I have missed Virayoga?! Or Yogamaya for that matter, considering Laughing Lotus was the first studio I ever went to and the lovely Bryn Chrisman whom used to work at LL is now the Studio Director Yogamaya. Also, Revolution Yoga in Rockville Centre, near where I live in Long Island, how did I miss that place!?) but really I've been going to different studios so that I can learn from all kinds of teachers so it can help me cultivate my teaching style.

I'm really glad I found these places, despite it being a little late, now I have all these options after work; in case I'm too late for a class at one studio, there's another class at another studio nearby. Once it's past 7 or 8 I'm kind of S.O.L. but, it's nice to know I have options if I do get out of work on time!

It's been cool to get to experience all these different teachers and different styles and I've had all good experiences at all of the aforementioned studios. But, since I've been out of my comfort zone going to new studios, I guess I've been more hyper-aware of things I like and don't like concerning the way different teachers like to work.

Sadie Nardini recently asked her students on her Facebook Fan page to list some things that some Yoga teachers have done that they didn't like in class. Everything from "the Yoga Voice" (you know, when they speak in a low, soft tone, in an attempt to make you feel calm, in a completely unnatural way that only makes you kind of nervous?) to mentions of teachers trying to push them into "deeper" versions of poses when their bodies aren't ready for it, came up.

It wasn't a question merely to let us air our grievances about bad Yoga classes, so much as an opportunity for students to understand that these annoyances can be lessons for them. Not only that, the responses to Sadie's question hopefully helped some teachers to see that some of the things they are doing are universally damaging to students (like pushing them into a twist or a backbend that their body is not ready for, or getting way too deep into personal troubles when talking in class to the point that it is putting negative energy on the students). And hopefully it helped students gain perspective on where teachers are coming from, and will help have a little more patience when they find themselves trapped in a studio with a teacher that makes them feel like they want to punch something or someone (really, yeah, it's happened to me, I'll tell you about it in a minute.)

I want to keep reminding myself of these things as I begin to practice teaching to different groups of people, every class is different and within the classes the students are wildly different. Knowing I can't please all the people all the time, I have to be myself, just like all the other Yoga teachers.

So, with that, and with the utmost compassion and understanding for the teachers guilty of these things:

(**also, please note, none of the studios I mentioned earlier are guilty of these things, so, get your booties to those studios as soon as you can because they all were great!**)

Top 3 Yoga Class Faux Pas That Really "Chap My Asana"

1. Teach a generic class. It's always disappointing to be stuck in a class with a teacher that you can tell is, for whatever reason, not giving their all. Sometimes it's the physical practice that they've put together is boring, redundant or not challenging/too challenging. Sometimes their "intention" seems to be uninspired, sometimes the "intention" is just a quote from The Yoga Sutra uttered in the beginning and at the end of class in a soft "yoga voice", but they've made no practical connection so their students can take that wisdom and use it in their life. Sometimes there is no intention at all, sometimes teachers just have us get right into Down Dog and act like it isn't really upsetting for our not-warmed-up-at-all shoulders.

Whenever I'm in a class with a teacher that seems to be phoning it in, or seems to be just plain phony, I just try to remember to have compassion. Maybe they've just had a really bad day/week/month. Maybe they're just a new teacher and don't know how to communicate or are scared to communicate authentically lest they offend someone. Yoga teachers are just people, they are not these all-knowing, always centered, super-human beings that some people assume they must be. The idea of Guru vs. Student relationship always perplexed me, because I think we should all be striving to expand our minds and learn and grow, from everyone and every situation, I don't think learning ever ceases, and I think that teachers can learn from students their entire careers.

2. Fail to have a mindful playlist/mix CD for their class. Let me just preface by saying that I know the breath and Yoga are the most important aspects of a class, but if you're going to bother to play music, I think you need to be aware of how the music and the mood/tones of the songs can either be integrated into the theme of the class (sonically or lyrically), or just be jarring and distracting.

I have a very eclectic, varied taste in music. Just before on the train I was listening to Marilyn Manson's Portrait of an American Family, then I got the sudden urge to listen to some P-Funk. But I know that I can't teach a class and have a song like Cake and Sodomy on my playlist unless I am holding a class called "Metal Yoga" (hmmm...I should definitely do that one day...anyway...) and then everyone knows what to expect. I think it's possible to have very different genres in the same playlist if you create a flow between songs and the tempo of the songs build with the energy of the class (Creating a kick-ass Yoga Playlist is another entry, don't worry, it's coming soon!)

But what bothers me more than a song that seems out of place, studios that use the same iPod and play the same exact songs. Every. Single. Class. I would rather them play nothing at all then feel like I'm experiencing my own real-life Groundhog Day.

Also, be mindful of what you play while students are in Savasana, especially. I really, really love the song Songbird by Fleetwood Mac, but there was a teacher (who happens to be one of my favorites despite this!) that I had that would play it sometimes in Savasana, and it always made me tear up a little (and if I was already emotional it was more than just tearing up), that song is just so sweet. But I wasn't able to enjoy Savasana because I was having this deep emotional response to hearing Christine McVie's lovely voice sing these heart-wrenching lyrics. It's probably best to play songs without any lyrics in Savasana, or just have total silence, either one will be less distracting than a song with lyrics.

3. Threaten to keep the entire class in a difficult pose until every last person gets into the full pose. (or, basically, any form of aggression when it comes to getting students to do challenging poses)
Maybe it was just a joke, but, I once went to a class with a teacher that liked to do opposite elbow-to-knee Navasana (boat pose) crunches (which I like to do too, actually!). But before we got into the reps, the teacher had us hold full Navasana for what seemed like a million years. The teacher demanded that everyone's legs be straight and that they "won't start doing the reps until everyone's legs are perfectly straight". While they may have been just kidding (which, I don't think they were since they literally stared down everyone with bent knees until they straightened their legs) it is beyond off-putting, and seems to go against everything Yoga stands for, to me, to force students to do something that might hurt them. I just think if you're going to joke like that, then you should also mention the variations of the pose for people that aren't able to do the full pose. As a teacher you should encourage students to push and challenge themselves, but not to do anything for which their bodies are not prepared.

I'm assuming this teacher forgot about the fact that Navasana requires a very strong core to hold without placing the hands on the floor by the hips and/or bending the knees for extra low-back support. If one's core is not strong enough to hold the full pose, then the weight of the pose is transferred to the low back, and that is not healthy for anyone no matter what kind of shape they're in.

Thankfully I don't experience these issues too often anymore, I'm lucky enough to live and work near some really great studios with some really caring, fun, unique, and intuitive teachers.

The best advice I have for anyone that finds themselves in a class that just isn't right for them, is to just keep a positive, compassionate attitude about it. If the teacher is boring you or not mentally engaging, do what you need to do to make the class more fun for you. If the teacher had no theme or intention for the class, set one yourself. You bring to the mat all the things you love about Yoga. If you get on the mat with a negative attitude, you won't have a fun class, and you'll probably leave more frustrated than when you came in. If you keep your mind open to the possibilities and challenges, it'll be way more rewarding.

I took this picture, someone drew this on the wall in the lobby where I work last week :)

If the poses are too much (or not enough) of a challenge for you, do what you have to do physically to adjust the class to your needs. If a teacher singles you out or is downright abusive because you're making the practice work for your body, ignore them and do what you need to do. And, if you have a choice (which I often don't, as I just have to take whatever class is happening whenever I get off from work, if I get out of work early enough to make any of the classes at the studios nearby) don't go to that teacher's classes anymore. But, what might really serve the teacher, rather than allowing them to go on the rest of their careers being pushy teachers, is either speaking to the teacher directly, or talk to the studio owner if you really don't feel comfortable approaching the teacher.

If the music is distracting or just plain unlistenable to you, you might just have to tune it out, or you can just ask the teacher if they can lower the volume. You can always kindly suggest to the teacher or the studio owner (a lot of places have comment boxes so you don't have to feel awkward about saying anything) after class that they consider changing the music. Also, if you're going to complain about anything in a studio (or anything ever!), make sure you have a suggestion for an alternative :)

So, have fun in class guys! Namasté!

P.S.
What really chaps your asana? I'd love to know, especially because I love helping people whip a negative into a positive ;)

07.11.11 - Look What I Made Monday Volume 2!

2011-07-11T09:00:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

I've got a cure for your Monday-blues, retail therapy! Check out my newest Etsy listings featuring my illustration from last weeks' "Look What I Made Monday". I did a bunch of prints on cardstock as well as printed on a couple of Moleskine sketchbooks. The silver ink on the sketchbook didn't come out as vividly as I had hoped, but I kind of like that it disappears and then reappears in certain light.

You can find the limited-edition hand-pulled screen print and the brand-new pretty sketchbook, in my Etsy store today! Yay!

I also put together my first Etsy Treasury, featuring eye-catching items from the Etsy Entrepreneur Team members. It was really fun to put together (also this was a challenge posed on the Etsy Forums to create the Treasury in 10 minutes. It took me 15 because I had to color-coordinate how I ordered the listings I liked the most haha) and I can see myself getting really addicted to making them so, I'll have to restrain myself a little!

xoxo!

07.08.11

2011-07-08T09:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday Everyone!

Just wanted to take this opportunity to bring your attention to another fellow artist, and longtime friend, Derrick Kennelty-Cohen (aka: Sanskrit. And yeah, Sanskrit is his legal middle name given at birth.) He is the creative mastermind behind online magazine, The Pop Aesthetic. Derrick writes opinion pieces on contemporary literature (mostly comics and graphic novels), film & T.V., music, art, and video games. A genius graphic designer by trade, (having produced critically-acclaimed work as both a writer and artist for Nerve, Babble, Pitchfork, Upright Citizens Brigade and the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art.) Derrick put together this online magazine all by his lonesome.

You can tell Derrick really puts in a lot of work when researching his pieces. Namely, "You'll Pay for This, Captain Planet!—Five of the most mixed-message moments in Captain Planet history.", where I know for a fact he spent days on end watching every. single. episode of Captain Planet. If that's not dedication to your craft, I don't know what is. Also, it's hilarious and you should read it. Right now, just leave, who cares about finishing reading this entry...it's got episode clips!

Derrick is on the up-and-up when it comes to new artists and bands and makes sure he keeps it that way. He's always going to some art festival or a concert, (and he kindly invites me to these events and I pretty much always have to decline because of work unfortunately) and he takes tons of pictures and videos, check out his piece on Blip Festival 2011 to see what I mean.

So, be sure to become a fan of The Pop Aesthetic on Facebook and tell your friends! Derrick posts lots of fun links there all the time. And thank the guy for all his hard work keeping you entertained!

Have a great weekend, kids!

07.07.11 - Foundation>Core>Expression = Truth>Reflection>Action

2011-07-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

I recently had the honor of getting certified by Sadie Nardini as a Core-Strength Vinyasa Yoga Instructor (yaaayy!!). I found Sadie in Spring of 2009 because I was looking for Yoga videos to follow on YouTube (as it was hard to catch a class after work due to crazy hours). I found Sadie's YouTube Channel and I was so surprised how she could make me feel like I was right in the studio with her videos, not to mention that she had(s) over a hundred videos to offer (and a ton of other free information on her blogs/website)!

After a few weeks of following her videos, I bothered to look at her information on YouTube and realized that she owned a Yoga studio less than a mile from where I worked in Manhattan (the now defunct Fierce Club, which I miss terribly, but still I know I'm blessed that I had the opportunity to be a student there, to be in the right place at the right time.) The next day I went to her class and couldn't believe that she was just as kind and nurturing (yet hilarious and entertaining) as she appeared to be in her videos.

What attracted me to Sadie's classes, and ultimately inspired me to want to teach yoga, was her ability to explain the poses and philosophy so succinctly that my practice immediately changed and I felt stronger (physically and emotionally) within the first few days of practicing CSV. Sadie has this amazing knack for drawing parallels between the challenges of the physical Yoga practice, and the challenges of every day life, so that you can take that "warm-fuzzy-Namasté-feeling" off the matt with you into the world. Not to mention, she doesn't take herself too seriously, I don't think there was ever a class that went by without the students giggling in unison multiple times. The practice can be mindful while still being joyful, and that's how I like to roll in my own practice.

I've found a way to articulate these parallels for myself, maybe they can be of assistance to you in your practice and your life. So, shall I break it down? Too bad, I'm going to anyway!

In Core-Strength Vinyasa, there are three main aspects to every pose:

1. Foundation: First find your foundation, find your breath. For example, if you wanted to lift into Half-Moon Pose from a Twisted Chair pose (hey, coincidentally, I found a picture of Sadie looking for an image of that pose!), you would inhale, ground down into the standing foot which would organically start to lift the other foot…

2. Core:…you would then engage Mula Bandha, this is done by "hugging-in" the pelvic floor muscles in and up (The superficial way to explain it is engaging the muscles like you have to go to the bathroom but you're holding it in; but the muscles you're trying to access are deeper than that. Sadie has her own way of explaining it with her "Golden Egg" method, which really made the concept "click" for me), and on the exhale, use your core to lift the other leg up and out and to open your heart and hips to the side…

3. Expression: ...once you feel grounded, inhale and feel your ribs expanding in all directions, then reach the arms in opposite directions between the ground and sky, and fully straighten the lifted leg (and keep the toes of that leg pointed, like a Barbie’s foot, to keep that leg strong in it’s position) while also reaching the head in the opposite direction that the lifted leg is reaching, to elongate the spine. That would be the pose in full expression.

Getting to the full Expression of the pose isn't going to happen unless your Foundation and your Core are strong first.

My way of translating this concept to every day life is: Truth>Reflection>Action.

An example of when this thought process can be helpful: You’re on the train with a migraine and someone is talking loudly on their cell phone. This person is totally oblivious to everyone angrily staring at them as though their eyes have laser beams that if they concentrate hard enough the lasers will deploy and burn a hole in this person's cell phone.

In this situation, instead of immediately screaming at them to shut the hell up (and possibly starting a physical tussle, which I have seen happen on the train over cell phone disputes!), or just sitting in your seat stewing and building up negative energy, wishing they would shut up already, you can stop for a second, and go back to your truth and realize you can change how you’re feeling, and figure out how you can get what you need, right now.

1. Truth: The Truth is your core-belief system or the Foundation for your actions/thought process. One way to figure out what your Truth is, is to consider what you might say if you had a billboard the whole world could read. When all of your actions are based in this Truth, you reduce emotional suffering because thought and action are aligned seamlessly.

So, at least at this point in my life, my truth is: "Radiate love and compassion to all humanity". Okay, if that's my Truth, and I'm stuck on this train with this rude person, then I need to think about what I'm going to do next, which brings me to...

2. Reflection: Here is where you consider your Core Truths, and figure out what step to take next. We do this by taking a breath, "hugging-in" our reactionary emotions for a minute, and reminding ourselves what we're really about.

So, if I'm on the train and this person on their cell phone is grating my nerves like a fine cheese, I have to stop and breathe for a second. I remind myself to have humanity (as that's my Truth) and consider that this person is just another person, living their life, probably oblivious to how their actions are affecting everyone around them and surely their behavior isn't malicious. So, considering all this, what am I going to do now?

3. Action: This is where you take your thoughts and put them into action (or inaction, depending on what's necessary in the moment). Whatever your Expression, it will not have integrity if you don't act according to your Truth and "hug-in" for a moment before you allow yourself to react.

Getting back to the cell phone monster on the train: If my Truth is to have humanity, screaming at this person to shut the hell up is not maintaining my integrity. I need to think of ways I can make this situation better for me with minimal to no harm to myself or the people around me. In this situation, I could ask the Conductor to please have the woman quiet down, or, the even easier route, would be to go into another train car and avoid confrontation altogether. Either way, I won't be sitting there and stewing anymore, and I'll have maintained integrity and will have avoided showering negativity on top of already existing negativity.

It's not possible to be 100% positive and aligned 100% of the time every single day, (and that's fine, we're humans! Life is crazy and we're emotional beings, hardwired by evolution to have a reaction to negative stimuli for survival.) but it is possible to strive for that kind of mindfulness in our every day lives (and anyone that knows me personally knows I'm working on this). The way I do this is by remembering Truth>Reflection>Action as much as possible when faced with adversity, epic or trifling as it may be. If you practice this in mundane situations (like when you're stuck in traffic, or at work and frustrated, etc) it prepares you for dealing with the real scary stuff that can happen in life (a loved one passes away, you lose your job or your home, you find out you have a terminal illness, the list goes on) so you can react gracefully and as your best self possible.

Namasté!

07.06.11 - Four Easy Steps to Cultivating Self-discipline from a (formerly) Self-professed "Lazybone"

2011-07-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

This past holiday weekend had an oddly great balance between work and play. I got my blog, website, Etsy store and Facebook Fanpage up and managed to get a lot of other work done; and I still had time to hang out all day with my family for my cousin's birthday at my Uncles house, I got to spend time with my grandmother, and finally on The 4th I got to spend the entire day with my boyfriend and have a barbeque with his family.

Which begs the question: How does one keep this work/play balance during the unpredictable workweek? (At the end of this blog I'll leave you with 4 pieces of advice to help you stay on track. But first, some back-story about me so I can further prove my point that if I can do this, anyone can do this.)

The obvious answer to that question is self-discipline. I've told myself for many years that I wasn't born with self-discipline and that structure had to be created for me in order for me to be productive. Which is the reason why, years before I graduated from SVA with my Illustration degree, I had already told myself that when I was out of college I would be working as a designer in an Advertising agency because that would be the only way I would survive financially living in NY. I already made up my mind that there was no way I would ever make it as an illustrator/artist/entrepreneur because I didn't have the self-discipline gene to be my own boss. This is what I told myself. I never even gave myself a chance to prove myself to myself! How ridiculous is that?

Some of us may have been blessed with jobs that actually start at 9am and end at 5pm, but, I'd say a good 85% of people have a 1-3 hour window after 5pm as to what time they will be heading home from work every day. I fall into the latter category, and that window of time varies day-to-day. On top of this crazy schedule, I also have an hour-and-a-half commute in both directions. The fact that I don't know when I will be home day-to-day, while at the mercy of a fixed train schedule, can be quite frustrating and I've spent a lot of time blaming the inconsistent schedule on my inability to get some of my artwork out there (I've also blamed it for having no time for my yoga practice, which is also a lame excuse).

I realized and decided I can't do that anymore, people have done much, much more, with far less time and resources.

So if people have done more with less, then how does one cultivate self-discipline and get things done? This doesn't have a short answer, and I'm still working on it myself, but two things happened that kicked me into high gear this past week, incidentally, these realizations came to me while I was educating myself about my Yoga practice:

1) Last week I listened to Elena Brower's Yoga Teacher Telesummit telecast with Tal Rachleff (whom organized The Yoga Teacher Telesummit which features free live interviews with respected Yoga/alternative health practitioners and conscious business owners.) If you are a Yoga teacher or serious about your Yoga practice, it is well worth the $97 to download all the mp3s plus transcripts of the interviews (for mp3's only it's $67. I like to have transcripts though, sometimes I can't focus on audio interviews, for the same strange reason that I can't focus on audiobooks) You'll have the recordings forever and I've only listened to about 8 so far while on my commute, I'm not half-way through all the calls and I've been so inspired by every single call I've heard. I highly, highly, highly recommend purchasing/downloading the interviews if you are not available for the live calls.

Anyway, Elena Brower is a huge advocate of The Handel Group which is a group that offers business and personal coaching. Without getting too deep into the Handel Method, Elena mentioned during her interview (which, if you get the download package, listen to Elena's call first, it's called "Teaching from Your Heart: Finding the Real Love in Your Teaching", it will blow your mind.) one aspect of it that really resonated with me. She mentioned that, according to The Handel Group, everybody has two destructive voices inside them: "The Chicken" (coward) and "The Brat" (obvious what that is). These voices work in tandem, almost seamlessly, to keep us down. The idea is to self-examine and notice when you're allowing these voices to govern your life, and then quickly change your mindset and your actions to quiet these voices and "do the work".

I realized that "The Brat" in me was so out-of-control I wasn't doing anything toward what I said I really wanted to do in life: "If I didn't get home so late/knew when I was coming home every night I could get something done.", "I can't start doing work at 11pm because I have workaholic tendencies and I'll stay up 'til 4am and will only have 3 hours of sleep before work.", the list goes on. Even worse than "The Brat", "The Chicken" was (is) also freaking out too: "Well, I can't start a business because I don't know the first thing about structuring it", "I can't create/follow a schedule for myself.", "It won't work unless I sacrifice all my free time and sleep, so what's the point in trying?", "The Etsy community is so big and intimidating, I don't know where to begin with making contacts so that I could become a valuable part of it.", "What will I do about health insurance? What about having an inconsistent income? How will I survive in NY?"

As you can see, "The Chicken" had taken over my brain more than anything else and was taking me further and further away from my goals.

I decided that now my force of will is like a jackhammer drowning out the sound of "The Chicken". As cheesy as that may sound, it's working for me.

2) I was lucky enough to be contacted by Racheal Cook, founder of The Yogipreneur and I filled out an application to get a free phone-consultation with Racheal, and lucky me, I was chosen as one of the people to get a free call! Yay! The 40-minute phone call helped me see things more clearly and inspired me that I have the faculties and resources to do this on my own if I really put forth the effort. Not only that, Racheal started from similar beginnings, (although my workweek hasn't been more than 65 hours, thankfully) she was working 80-hour work weeks, and the stress was so bad that she developed health problems and had to take a leave of absence. During that time she took Yoga classes and benefitted so much from them that she decided she wanted to help teachers get more students in classes so more people could reap all the benefits of Yoga. If she could get through that, I have no excuse why I can't change my situation for myself. I'm so grateful I had the opportunity to speak with Racheal directly (and can't thank her enough for her time), because I was so inspired after the call that I was able to do so much this weekend, and get way more done than I had thought I would.

Racheal asked me a series of questions for her to better get to know me, that actually helped me to better articulate what my ultimate goals were/are. One question she posed: "What would be your ideal situation if you were doing exactly what you want to do?"...I never tried to crystallize that answer into one sentence before, and I realized that was a big part of my problem: I wasn't perfectly clear about what I wanted. So, after Racheal posed this question, this is what it came down to:

I want to make art and teach yoga for a living, and through those avenues I want to spread positivity, love, inspiration and compassion to as many people as humanly possible while I'm on this planet.

So I'll leave you with three pieces of advice, as simple as they may be, are tough to implement when "The Brat" and "The Chicken" are running amok in your mind. The first step addresses this, so here we go!

Four Easy Steps to Cultivating Self-discipline from a (formerly) Self-professed "Lazybone":

1 - Do not be discouraged by setbacks, especially the ones you create for yourself. Nobody's buying your items in your Etsy shop, someone left a snarky comment on your blog...so what? If you allow a negative, defeated attitude to take over, it will lead to inaction, and thusly, disappointment. There will be so many challenges in managing your own business, you'll have ups and downs and you have to stay positive when things are at the bottom of the curve. Your attitude and your actions/reactions are the only thing you can control in life, so stay enthusiastic about what you're doing even if The Universe doesn't seem to care at the moment. Life has a way of balancing itself out, so keep doing the work and the rest will follow. "The Chicken" and "The Brat" voices will no longer plague your mind when you practice this positive mindset, keep an "attitude of gratitude", and stay honest with yourself and others.

2 - Know exactly what you want. This needs no real explanation. If you don't know what you want or have no real goal in mind, how are you going to have any success? Once you know what you want, you can then start making lists of precise tasks for yourself every day toward your goal(s). Once you start "doing the work", the opportunities that usually go unnoticed will open themselves up to you. You'll remember that your boyfriend's aunt is a CPA and can offer legal/business advice; you remember your best friend's sister is really good at web design and can help you make a kick-ass website; or while writing a blog referring to a fellow Etsy artist you admire, a new client finds you.

3 - Make lists and schedules for yourself and follow them. Sounds easy enough, but for people like myself this concept was beyond me until recently (mostly because I told myself I wouldn't be able to follow my own lists since there was no real consequence for not doing the work...other than the sting of regret of having done nothing productive). Since there is only chaos governing my work hours, I've created my own sense of order. What I do is, every week at the beginning of the week, I create a list of tasks for each day of the week for me to complete when I get home from work every night. I worked it out so that the list of things I need to do should only take me 1-3 hours to complete. And since I'm involved in two different fields/industries, I organize it so I focus on tasks for either Art or Yoga every other day. This way, I don't feel so overwhelmed by all the things I need to do, everything is organized, in bite-sized pieces and easy to check off (and it feels good to check off things as I do them, it gives me a sense of accomplishment). You can organize your tasks however it works best for you.

4 - No excuses! You've made a commitment to yourself, so keep it. Sometimes life happens and you're literally unable to do what you need to do toward reaching your goals (working until 2am would be a good example of a setback for me). That's okay, tomorrow is a new day, you will get back to it, make your list and check it twice, and give a thousand percent effort.

xo!

07.05.11

2011-07-05T09:00:00.000-07:00

Today I want to share with you a relaxation technique I learned from an amazing Biofeedback therapist, Cecile Serrano.

I began going to Biofeedback therapy about 8 years ago at the suggestion of my friend Jenevive's mother, Susan Antelis (also has her own Biofeedback/Neurofeedback practice in Lynbrook, NY, and the website explains a bit about Biofeedback and Neurofeedback therapy) after I told her I'd been suffering from migraines for a few months. Susan couldn't treat me as she was my good friend's mother and that wouldn't be medically ethical. Cecile was still in school at the time but practicing/assisting at Susan's practice. So, after a few treatments with Cecile I could really feel a difference, no more migraines, and, the best part was the techniques helped me learn how to control my body's stress response using only my breath. Pretty cool, huh?

Getting to the point: I like to do this exercise in Savasana (resting/corpse pose), you can also just try it laying down in bed or in a comfortable seated position.

-Begin to slow your breathing, allowing your exhales to be a little longer than your inhales. Inhaling through the nose, allowing the breath to fill the lungs, the waist, then the belly; Exhaling and pushing the breath from the belly up out through the nose.

-Keep breathing here and bring your attention to your tongue. Notice if your tongue is tense or moving around, relax it and let it be still in your mouth. Keep concentrating on your tongue and breathing. Eventually (for some it takes a few moments, others a few minutes) you will begin to feel a tingling/numb/heavy/light/floating sensation (some feel all of these at once or only one or two...it's kind of not able to be articulated) in the tongue.

What starts to happen is you'll notice all you're thinking about is your tongue and how good/strange/different it feels, and if you like the feeling, you can stay here feeling the breath through your body, noticing the sensation(s) in your tongue. I personally like to imagine this feeling spreading through my body, breath by breath. With each inhale I imagine the sensation as a golden-white light spreading from my tongue, down my chest, then my arms, then my hands, then my stomach, etc. until I feel it all over. My body tends to feel like it's floating and also sinking into the surface that's supporting me at the same time, coupled with the slight tingly/numb sensation...it's an indescribable sensation and I'm sure everyone experiences it differently (or not at all), and would have different ways of articulating these feelings.

The more you train yourself with this technique (doing it before bed, in Savasana, while waiting in a doctor's office and getting nervous, etc) the less time it takes to begin to quiet your mind and body.

At the time that I started going to Biofeedback therapy I also suffered from depression and anxiety, and Biofeedback helped to pull me out of that pit. I still sometimes have migraines, but they're much better controlled and I know what triggers them. My negative thinking patterns are sometimes still an uphill battle, but, instead of viewing it as a struggle I see it as a challenge to fundamentally change my perspective. Life is not happening TO us, The Universe doesn't have a vendetta against any one of us. The only thing we can control in life is our response to life's challenges, so why not strive to be positive in the face of those situations? At that point in my life when I started Biofeedback, I hadn't set foot in a yoga class (not for another year or two). So, Biofeedback therapy was the first step on my path toward learning how incredibly powerful the human mind really is, and learning how to use that power for transformation rather than destruction. I didn't really start to truly understand and apply what I'd learned in Biofeedback until years later when I started doing Yoga, then it all came together and I started to feel more of a sense of control over my mind and thusly, my life.

So, please try this when you have a moment (or next time you can't sleep because you can't stop thinking about a thousand things at once), I'd love to hear comments on how it worked (or didn't work) for you! Also if you have questions or something wasn't clear about how to do "The Tongue Exercise" please leave a Comment below with your question or email me at missb@msbernklau.com
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Namasté you guys!

P.S.
This scene in Grandma's Boy is why I sometimes say "Namasté you guys!" The line is at the end of the 2 minute scene if you're in a rush. If you haven't seen this movie, and you like laughing, you should run to your nearest access point to the Internet and Netflix/Hulu it immediately.

07.04.11

2011-07-04T10:25:00.000-07:00

Here it is, the debut installment of "Look-What-I-Made-Monday"!

So, I've sketched out what I want to screenprint next week, but I'm not sure if I want to make this a sketchbook cover design, or just print it as a limited-run print? I think it would look great on some heavy stock tan/brown paper, if I made the body color of the seahorse a seafoam green, and had the details printed in a sparkly purple or pink ink...ooh or maybe gold ink. I don't know, I could always do whatever color I want whenever I feel like it. I'm in love with green versus pink, as I've made quite obvious with my recent layouts for www.msbernklau.com and this here blog.

So I ask you kiddies, what would you like to see this slapped onto? A t-shirt? A sketchbook cover? Just a fine art print? Lets have a vote! Plus, first one to answer gets whatever the finished product is for FREE (FREE shipping too, for real!) Woohoo!

xo!

07.03.11

2011-07-03T09:48:00.000-07:00

Website is up! Portfolio to come soon, for now you can follow me on Twitter, "like" me on Facebook, browse my Etsy shop and...come back...here...to my blog! So share this link with everyone you know: www.msbernklau.com Remember: Karma is a boomerang ;)

Also if you need a gift or your walls are hungry for some art on them, you should definitely check out Strawberryluna's shop on Etsy, I love her prints! I just found her yesterday. She makes adorable animal alphabet prints and rockin' gig posters (from Melvins to Belle and Sebastian!), I've been browsing her work and can't decide what I want to buy, I will probably have to buy a few of them because I can't pick just one!

So, I think that's all for today! Don't forget to come back tomorrow for the first installment of "Look-What-I-Made-Monday"! It's a work in progress, hopefully to be completed by next Monday yayyy!!
xo!

07.01.11

2011-07-01T17:20:00.000-07:00

So, I want to teach yoga and make pretty things for a living, and through those avenues, I want to ~~take over~~ light up the world from the inside out. So, I'm doing that. Right now.

This is not only the place where you can find information about my upcoming yoga classes/workshops, and updates on my Etsy store (where you can buy my handmade art and goodies), but where you'll witness my world slowly but surely evolving into exactly what I want it to be.

My hope is that this blog inspires others to do the same; to make the conscious choice to take action, to be propelled by their passions and make their lives become what they've always dreamed of, fearlessly. I want to chronicle this..."journey", because maybe it will help to keep me on track (with doing the work every day to get to where I want to be, despite my job's demanding and unpredictable schedule). But, mostly because I think if people see me facing the ups and downs that will surely happen through my "journey", undaunted, they will find the courage to do the same in their own life (if they haven't already!).

So, check back Monday, July 4th for my new weekly installment entitled "Look-What-I-Made-Monday", where I'll be posting pictures of whatever my freakishly tiny hands create over the weekend.

Namasté you guys!