0 Happy Easter Spring 0

I'm so inspired.  We had an event at the studio last night and I feel like it changed Yoga Garden forever.

Sarah Fox and John Colburn read from their recently published books, The First Flag and The Invisible Daughter.  They had visuals projected on the side wall, live music, flowers, chocolate bunnies.  People came out to hear them speak and see what they would do and check out a new space.  I felt lucky to be there.

It was just such a great night.  I want Yoga Garden to be a creative space, where people feel safe to express themselves and are inspired to do so and recognize that in each other and I really think it's happening.

So I have a really busy day today and will write more on the event this week.  I want to wish you all a Happy Easter Spring.  I look forward to seeing what comes up for all of us as the ground shifts and softens and we head into a new season.

Lucky, L

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Family + Friends and Springtime Love

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LOVE - by Erich Fried

I love you,
Not only for what you are,
But for what I am
When I am with you.
I love you,
Not only for what
You have made of yourself,
But for what
You are making of me.
I love you
For the part of me
That you bring out;
I love you
For putting your hand
Into my heaped-up heart
And passing over
All the foolish, weak things
That you can't help
Dimly seeing there,
And for drawing out
Into the light
All the beautiful belongings
That no one else had looked
Quite far enough to find.
I love you because you
Are helping me to make
Of the lumber of my life
Not a tavern
But a temple;
Out of the works
Of my every day
Not a reproach
But a song.
I love you
Because you have done
More than any creed
Could have done
To make me good,
And more than any fate
Could have done
To make me happy.
You have done it
Without a touch,
Without a word,
Without a sign.
You have done it
By being yourself.
Perhaps that is what
Being a friend means,
After all.

The Fairest Thing . . .

No WIN No FAIL

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+ SPRING Events +

+ It's SRING and it's time for something new +

Starting with a party this Saturday!

We've got a busy studio over the next few weeks...Here are all the Happs: 

Saturday 3/30 - A CVP InterNarrative Psychomagical Action 730 - 1030

Sarah Fox and John Colburn will be reading from their recently published books of poetry The First Flag and The Invisible Daughter.  There will be live music, wine and beer served.  This is going to be FUN!

                       Sunday 4/21 - Afternoon Open House Sale 1200 - 300

Stop by to chit chat, have a lemonade, check out the studio and shop through dullDiamond's cool and colorful jewelry as well as Jennifer Sweeny from Triangulum Jewelry.

               Friday 5/31 - Sunday 6/2 - Live the Light of Yoga w Christina Sell

LIVE THE LIGHT OF YOGA

Asana Weekend with Christina Sell

• “There is a light that shines beyond all things on Earth, beyond us all, beyond the heaven, beyond the highest, the very highest heavens. This is the light that shines in our heart.”-Chandogya Upanishad

Join Christina Sell for a weekend of asana study, practice and good company designed to help you gain clarity, strength and inspiration. Each session will work through an intelligent and progressive sequence of asanas to assist students of all levels in practicing yoga as a way to experience their inner light more fully through postural practice.  Register Here

+ Show Up Everyday +

www.yogagardenmpls.com

))) We Build Our Lives Around Words

 We build our lives around words.

We aspire to change, thrive, love, hate, relate to the world around us so much by the words we choose to bring into our lives.  We take the shape of what the words we use mean to us.

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Grammar is innate.

In Sanskrit, it means the architecture of your life.

We all live inside a grammar.

- Manorama

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I added a new word to our Your Year In A Word Wall last week.

- MINDFUL -

I love that you guys are participating.  It's really actually an interesting project, the reverse of what group projects usually look like.  It's quiet and subtle on the outside and I think pretty noisy for each one of us personally in our own minds and bodies...Hmmm sounds just like the practice of yoga, on and off the mat.

I really love this project and am starting to toy around with a book idea.  I'd love to get everyone to write a little story about their words, past or present, and how their meaning changed throughout a year and what they learned from that narrative.  It would be an inspirational book about how we inspire ourselves and each other with words and how we relate to the world around us and inside of us with the words we choose to focus on.

Thanks to Manorama for the above quote.  She is a Sanskrit scholar who I studied with during my Jivamukti certification in Austria in 2003.  I often play her chanting in class.  She has an absolutely beautiful voice, I highly recommend checking her out if you're interested in learning more about the beauty of Sanskrit www.sanskritstudies.org.  She teaches a Spring workshop annually w Christina Sell too FYI.

L O V E - LVM

> The Life Floridian

I'm back from a lovely trip to see my family, swim in the ocean, soak up the sun, experience the Life Floridian.  My dad and stepmom bought this for me for the studio at a little fruit stand we stopped at.  It was old school Americana, on the side of the road leading to Pine Island surrounded by palm trees, selling fruit as well as souvenirs.  They had trays, hats, bags, and little figurines all with 'FLORIDA' printed on them usually including a seashell, seahorse or a map of Florida.  I loved it and will happily find a home for this little lady at Yoga Garden.  And of course I love that it has a ship painted on it.

AND it's officially Spring and it officially feels like it.  Time to move, shift and change as a new season gives us more room to reach into.

See you on the mat tonight for Advanced Vinyasa @ 630

www.yogagardenmpls.com

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H O M E

O C E A N

L I F E

S U N

The Infamous Over The Wing On The Way To Vacation Pic

* EVERYBODY Needs MEMORIES *

Today is my birthday.
I love birthdays.  Birthdays are like your own personal New Years Day.  Taking account, looking forward and back, along with a little shopping, a steak and a Manhattan.

The pic is of me and my siblings.  I'm thinking circa 1980.  Not exactly sure of the date but it was definitely when we spent our summers entirely outside and usually swimming on a lake in Wisconsin.

Looks like we're building a floatilla.   There is a high probability one of us is wearing a lanyard bracelet made by the other.  Fresca and 7-Up (the un-cola) are sitting on the pier heating up in the sun to what will be beyond drinking temperature but we will still enjoy, the carbonation seems more intense when your soda is near boiling.  There is most definitely a Camp Un-ah-li-ya (the place of friends) t-shirt getting soaked with lake water on one of our 70's era lawn chairs.  There will be water skiing later that afternoon.  Right after we eat our huge lunch our mom or grandma will make for us, including jello.  Cribbage, badminton, croquet outside all day.

I love the  saturated colors and blurred lines from these older pics.  And I like that we're not posing, just completely in our element, playing around with all the time in the world.  When we get together now it still feels the same.

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Everybody needs his memories.  

They keep the wolf of insignificance from the door.

Saul Bellows

ELEVEN Rules To LIVE By

 1 INVEST YOUR LIFE IN WHAT YOU LOVE

 2 EMBRACE ENTHUSIASM

 3 COMPLAINING IS NOT AN OPTION

 4 TRUST & EMPOWER

 5 EXPERIENCES > MONEY

 6 SURROUND YOURSELF WITH LIKEMINDED PEOPLE

 7 COLLABORATE

 8 IGNORE HATERS

 9 MAKE TIME TO THINK & BREATHE

10 IF AN OPPORTUNITY SCARES YOU TAKE IT

11 BE SOMEONE'S ECCENTRIC AUNT

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Tina Roth Eisenberg's list of Rules to Live By from the video posted yesterday.  All good things to think about to keep you inspired, supported and on track.
You can check her out at www.swiss-miss.com

When Money Doesn't Come First > >

Amazing things happen when you put the importance of being creative and getting experience in front of making money.

You find more people looking to be creative and get experience who find that more important than making money.  Communities based on creative collaboration are built, we feel more connected to each other and the world around us.  We inspire ourselves and each other to follow up on the potential we all have to create something beautiful and worthwhile.

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Who you hang out with determines what you dream about and what you collide with.

And the collisions and the dreams lead to your changes.

And the changes are what you become.

Change the outcome by changing your circle.

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Tina Roth Eisenberg AKA Swiss Miss is a Brooklyn based designer and blogger and was the keynote speaker @ SXSW this year (someday I will get there).  She has a great story, super inspiring for those of us trying to follow our hearts and minds to make our contribution to the world.  She uses the above quote by Seth Godin in her speech.  Watch the whole thing...you will be inspired.  She's wonderful.

Swiss Miss SXSW Keynote Speech

Thanks to Patrick Riley for the link to yet another a great mind.

+ SEASONS CHANGE +

Spring passes and one remembers one's innocence.

Summer passes and one remembers one's exuberance. 

Autumn passes and one remembers one's reverence. 

Winter passes and one remembers one's perseverance.

(It's true Yoko. Thanks)

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Christina Sell Registration Now Open !

CHRISTINA SELL will be in MINNEAPOLIS!

May 31-June 2

LIVE THE LIGHT OF YOGA

Asana Weekend with Christina Sell

•  "There is a light that shines beyond all things on Earth, beyond us all, beyond the heaven, beyond the highest, the very highest heavens.  This is the light that shines in our heart."-Chandogya Upanishad

Join Christina Sell for a weekend of asana study, practice and good company designed to help you gain clarity, strength and inspiration. Each session will work through an intelligent and progressive sequence of asanas to assist students of all levels in practicing yoga as a way to experience their inner light more fully through postural practice. The Group Practice is for intermediate and advanced students who wish to challenge their boundaries and explore poses beyond the basic syllabus. These sessions are not appropriate for people with injury or illness.

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Flier and Registration Details Here

The workshop will take place @ YOGA Garden 

This weekend is going to be great...I hope you all can make it.

Please let me know if you have questions or concerns, I am happy to answer, L 

= The LIFE That is WAITING For US =

Here's this weeks (and last weeks too I think) quote we've been working from.  

Albert Einstein did not say this.. Joseph Campbell did.

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We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.  

The old skin has to be shed before the new one can come.

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We're all stubborn.  We all want to hang on to what's familiar and easy and that elusive pose just is not going to happen until you can let it go.  Shed your idea about what you think is supposed to happen and work with what is happening.  You have to feel it too - not just think it.

< < PlayList w Latest Updates > >

Here you go guys.  Here's the latest update of our playlist.  

You had asked about the Low's cover of Joy Division's Transmission, Poolside's cover of Harvestmoon, and Feist.  My current musical obsession is Jim James The State of the Art. 

Extra Special Thanks to those of you who have been sending me music.  I'm loving the new music ..keep em comin.

Enjoy a new soundtrack for your sunny Springish-like day.

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> New Classes We Think You Might Want Try & Events We Want To See You At / AKA: New Classes & Events

Lots going on in the studio these days.

We've been busy teaching new classes and planning events for March and April.

I added an Advanced Asana Class on Monday nights @ 630.  The class usually runs 90 to 100 mins. and we've been having a blast.  Mostly I'm hearing my students love the organic nature of the class.  I'm teaching it more as a workshop to give ourselves time to fine tune.  We start w sun salutations and move toward an apex pose that is usually determined via vote according to who's there.  So far Scorpion is in first place.  I'm getting feedback that the Monday night class is nice addition to the vinyasa flow classes on Sunday and Thursday nights.

Stephanie Loes added her Prenatal Class this February which is great, I think it's a nice addition for the community.  She finished her prenatal training recently @ Blooma and is really excited about the class, it meets from 930-1045 on Saturday mornings.  So if you know any mamas to be looking for a great prenatal teacher Stephanie's your gal.  She's teaching a Back to Basics Class on Saturday am @ 800-900 as well.

We will be adding a few classes in April.  I'm excited to have a fellow Nordeaster Sarah Super joining the studio.  She will be taking a Trauma Sensitive Yoga training in April and teaching on Wednesday nights @ 600 & Sunday mornings @ 930.   Her classes are starting April 17th.

A few more teachers have expressed interest in adding classes so stay tuned for details as the schedule grows.

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We're having a party!

I'm really looking forward to just getting a huge group together in the studio and enjoying the space with new people.  I love to meet new people and to introduce my friends who may not know each other to each other.  I like meeting your friends too.

Saturday, March 30th, will be the date I'm thinking 700 or 800 to start.  John Colburn will be reading from his new book of poetry Invisible Daughter and Sarah Fox will be reading from her new book of poetry The First Flag.  They have been a huge presence at the studio and are longtime students of mine so I'm really looking forward to hosting them for this event.  We'll pull out the couch and chairs, drink wine and have some fun.  Hope you can make it.

We're having an Open House!

There is so much beautiful natural light in the studio right now we want to have a little get together during the day.

Sunday, April 21st, is the date 1200 - 300.  We'll have a beverage and a snack.  And we're looking for a few vendors to sell some pretty things.  Hope to see you at this one too.

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We hope to see you at a class or event soon.

www.yogagardenmpls.com 

Your Year In A Word > > > BOUNDARY

I'm feeling a bit squeezed for time this week and it's only Tuesday.  So I'm stealing this word from our Your Year in a Word Wall at YOGA Garden.

This happens for me at this time every year.  My boundaries shift as the weather changes.  And it's perfect time really as we move from hard, clear lines of winter into more fluid, soft lines of spring. 

I'm actually having a fun week working on new design projects as the LVMGardens work picks up for this Spring/Summer.  I've been getting a lot of new students in class as well as privates too, which makes me happy.  I love meeting new people.  Fliers for Christina Sell's weekend workshop are being revised today and should be out this week, which I'm very excited about.  And I should mention we had a blast working on scorpion in class last night.  I think that pose will be our mascot for Monday nights.  Whenever I ask what the class wants to work on I always get a resounding request for scorpion.

So, I'm busy.  New people and new projects = new boundaries.  It's good.  I like having new work.  I have to be really clear about how I'm using my time right now and I see that as a new boundary to push off.

Plus, the pickled radishes are delicious .. time well spent. 

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L I S T E N

 It's the hardest thing to do.  

For all of us.  Get quiet, sit still and just listen.  

It's harder than all the poses that elude you.

Give your self the space to pay attention and really hear what is going on around you and inside of you.

And just stay there.  And if you stay there long enough something will come up.  A new idea, image something to move toward.  

Just LISTEN

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You Can Pickle That ! ! !

I finished my taxes last night and needed an activity that involved something other than adding and subtracting, subtracting and then adding....

So, I pickled these radishes.  Never pickled radishes before.  I picked up some greens, chives, and dill I thought would go well together in a salad.  It will be nice to have something new healthy to eat that is mostly prepared for my crazy busy week ahead.

Kimchi Radish Pickle Recipe 

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) ) ) State of the Art ( ( (

A life worth living 

Now you can feel it in your chest 

Building like a little birds

Just building up the nest

And you build it up strong 

And you fill it up with love 

And you pray for good rain

All from the Lord above

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+ TEMPLE of the ELEMENTS +

Yves Klein was a painter and performance artist.  He was also French which when I think of him makes me picture him in a navy blue and white stripped Breton shirt a la Picasso.  Maybe drinking Champagne.  Probably smoking.  He was also really into judo which he gives credit for inspiring his work.  He became obsessed with the sky and even has a color named after him - Yves Klein Blue or YKB.  You can probably get it at Home Depot which I think makes the story even more amazing.

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While lying on the beach in Nice one day, eighteen-year-old Yves Klein and his friends decided to divide the world up among themselves. Klein (1928-1962) chose the air, the cloudless sky. 

He remained fascinated with the element and its immaterial quality throughout his life. In the late fifties, he and the German architect Werner Ruhnau developed plans for an "architecture of air" composed of walls and roofs of air-as represented, for example, in the idea of the "Temple of the Elements" with fountains of water and fire and a café protected against the rain only by air currents. Klein associated this idea with a philosophy of optimism.... in which human beings would be free to pursue their own interests. (from Hatje Cantz website)

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We talk a lot about autonomy in class.  About finding the work in our lives that is specific to us.  Creating space in our lives to live in an interesting and creative and inspired way.  There is no exact or right way to do a pose.  As the teacher I take you through what is safe, what is optimal what is possible and then set you loose to create your own experience and image.  To step into a certain shape and then fill it and move it with your breath and connections are made.

It is the element of air that moves through us and surrounds us at the same time.  As big and never ending as the sky.  Symbolic of the never ending cycle of the breath and the endless possibilities that come with it - as reaching as the Far Side Of The Sky. 

I love this idea of constructing a Temple of the Elements.  Something you can actually see, touch, stand in and be surrounded and protected by.

Kind of like making breath visible or tangible to remind us of our potential...as if you could Write Your Name On The Far Side Of The Sky.

More about Yves Klein here.

CHRISTINA SELL in MPLS !!

CHRISTINA SELL will be in MINNEAPOLIS!

Save the Date: May 31-June 2

LIVE THE LIGHT OF YOGA

Asana Weekend with Christina Sell

•  "There is a light that shines beyond all things on Earth, beyond us all, beyond the heaven, beyond the highest, the very highest heavens.  This is the light that shines in our heart."-Chandogya Upanishad

Join Christina Sell for a weekend of asana study, practice and good company designed to help you gain clarity, strength and inspiration. Each session will work through an intelligent and progressive sequence of asanas to assist students of all levels in practicing yoga as a way to experience their inner light more fully through postural practice. The Group Practice is for intermediate and advanced students who wish to challenge their boundaries and explore poses beyond the basic syllabus. These sessions are not appropriate for people with injury or illness.

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Flyer and Registration Details are in the works...

You can stay tuned on the details on the YOGA Garden website 

This weekend is going to be great...I hope you all can make it.

Please let me know if you have questions or concerns, I am happy to answer, L 

A LUCKY Place to Play

It's been a year and a half and the studio has changed so much.  

I feel so lucky to get to teach there and go there everyday.  I am so happy to get to be a part of the community of curious and open minded teachers and students that are looking for a creative place to play.  Everyone seems to love the space.  I most often hear how it feels peaceful, like a temple, which I think is true.  That it's a beautiful space to practice in and the light is amazing.  What I like most about what people describe is how it makes them feel: peaceful, calm, inspired.

It feels like a lucky place to play.

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SANCTUARY COVE =

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = Scenes From A Sanctuary = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 

The Smell of Water ..

In the Late Season

At the soft place in the snowbank

Warmed to dripping by the sun

There is the smell of water.

On the western wind the hint of glacier.

A cottonwood tree warmed by the same sun

On the same day,

My back against its rough bark

Same west wind mild in my face.

A piece of spring

Pierced me with love for this empty place

Where a prairie creek runs

Under its cover of clear ice

And the sound it makes,

Mysterious as a heartbeat,

New as a lamb. 

Tom Hennen

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# BUILDING Blocks Of YOGA #

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Latest Soup Obsession > > >

I found this soup recipe about 2 months ago and I've been making it weekly ever since (while listening to NPR on my grandpa's radio in the background).  I'm going to let you in on a little secret and give you a link to its author's website: 

www.vegiehead.com

It takes only 10 min. to make and it's alkalizing...which means it's really good for you.

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2 cups water

2 cups broccoli 

1 cups cauliflower

1 cup almond milk

1 garlic clove chopped

1/2 cup chopped or blended hazelnuts

salt

olive oil for garnish

add water, broccoli and cauliflower to pot and bring to a boil.  Turn down heat, add salt to your liking and simmer for 2 min.  Add almond milk and garlic and let it sit w medium heat for 1-2 min.  Turn off heat and add nuts and olive oil for garnish... Enjoy!

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) ) ) The ART of ASKING

Amanda Palmer Ted Talks: The Art of Asking

I love Amanda Palmer.  I think her music is just ok.  Most people seem to agree.  Her music seems to be more about connection than the actually making music as I think she states in this video.  

She has an amazing ability to connect with her audience.  She loves us and we love her back.  There is a mutual understanding and appreciation for the very human condition of wanting to be seen.

In this video she talks about asking people to pay for music rather than making them and how through social media she raised 1.2 million dollars to support her last album and tour.  And I really don't think it's because she's married to Neil Gaiman.

She knows how to ask.

<3 <3 <3 < 3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

* Sunlit Space for Something New *

Sunlight came through the windows on our sun porch yesterday.  It's that time of year, it's been so long since I've seen sunlight coming through the windows I can't even remember how long it's been.  Months, October maybe?  

It kicked off a major cleaning frenzy.  I cleaned from afternoon until night.  I listened to The Current and opened every cupboard in my kitchen, cleaned out my closet, dresser and cedar chest.  My biggest material attachment is clothes...I will admit it.  But I now have bags and bags of recycling and some nice stuff for The Salvation Army.

I can't even tell you how great it is to open up a cupboard and know exactly what's in it.  My closet and dresser too.  I know what I have and where to find it.  And I'm happy to let go of the things I'm no longer using, even though I still love and appreciate them. 

And there's a little room to move now.  Space for something new.

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/// STARBOARD LILIES ON DECK

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+ DO What You LOVE +

+ Do What You Love +

Setting boundaries, the gift of creativity and not settling according to some pretty talented people.  You should read this article.

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