Guitar strumming bliss

Truth.

“I understand feeling as small and as insignificant as humanly possible. And how it can actually ache in places you didn’t know you had inside you. And it doesn’t matter how many new haircuts you get, or gyms you join, or how many glasses of chardonnay you drink with your girlfriends… you still go to bed every night going over every detail and wonder what you did wrong or how you could have misunderstood. And how in the hell for that brief moment you could think that you were that happy. And sometimes you can even convince yourself that he’ll see the light and show up at your door. And after all that, however long all that may be, you’ll go somewhere new. And you’ll meet people who make you feel worthwhile again. And little pieces of your soul will finally come back. And all that fuzzy stuff, those years of your life that you wasted, that will eventually begin to fade.”
— Iris, The Holiday


satnam. (truth)

Pleasantly Surprised

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."
~ Melody Beattie

I'm completely surprised by so many experiences I have had over the past 4 days. I'll begin with my yoga program I took part in this weekend. I signed up to do "Freedom and Flow: Baptiste Power Yoga". If you are not familiar with Baptiste yoga, it's a type of yoga that sets your body on fire (as the teacher described it) The amazing thing was that while I was immersed in the sweat and on verge of tears, I was thoroughly enjoying pushing myself to the limit. It wasn't like past exertions i have done (cardio, running, strength training etc..) where I didn't fully feel connected to the practice mentally.Yoga for me is partially a spiritual practice for me right now, so pushing my physical and mental limits while doing yoga was cataclysmic. At one point after I had "flipped my dog" into a back-bend and pulled up from my back bend, I caught myself smiling, even though I was physically pushed to the limit. It was, in fact, pleasantly surprising.

After the 10 hour yogapolooza of a weekend, I needed a release. I know in pure yogini fashion this wouldn't involve beers and football, but I'm only human. I was pleasantly surprised how much I got into the game and also how much I enjoyed the company of 2 volunteers here that I had never really talked to in the past. I share more in common with them than I thought. By the end of the game, I was slapping five, yelling, and trying to cheer everyone up when they lost (side note: do not do this after a major loss!) which in my opinion only increases the anger in die-hard fans. It was a great night and just what I needed.

I have also started a new Kundalini Kria (practice) with the girls. I surprised myself and woke up at 5 and 6am each morning to take part in the 'Super Humanhuman" breath work that is Kundalini. I miss the consistency of meeting with the girls each day to share space and release everything inside together.

So, it's not everyday I find myself doing yoga for 10 hours in one weekend, watching football and loving it thoroughly and committing to a kundalini practice that is sure to exceed 40 days. I guess the magic everyone has been talking about that exists here has taken a hold of me. Or I am just crazy. I feel like anything that comes my way is achievable and possible. Oh the places you will go!

I am a walking corny inspirational poster and for the first time, I don't have a sarcastic comment to counteract it. Surprising.


Oops..

Jersey Shore Show - Feeling Territorial

So, I don't have TV here, and was checking out the newstories about the Noreaster hitting my hometown right now in South Jersey and came upon this unnerving mtv show.




Now I know you hear it all the time from Jersey-born residents that this is not the Jersey Shore, well I stand by the overheard rebuttal. It isn't. These are not permanent residents, they are vacationers who travel from near and far, infesting our beaches. They do give us business, but at a cost of our sanity.

MTV has decided once again to take the scum of the state, place them in a free beach house with unlimited alcohol and attention and wa-la, you have yourself entertainment.

Being a Jersey shore local, I have had my fair-share of run ins with "the shoobies", and worst off, "the guido shoobie" who thinks you can get to NYC directly from Long Beach Island, NJ, an ISLAND.

Once again local jersey shore residents are put in a bad light, but in stereotypical jersey-form, we endure the backlash, survive the shoobies, and know where the true heart of jersey resides.

So glad I don't have TV at this moment,
Erin

Kripalu & Oikos!

I was pleasantly surprised to see Oikos promoting Kripalu with a great giveaway... Enter below and come visit me here, haha:


Enter to win an all expenses paid weekend trip for two to the amazing Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health!
Three ways to enter (choose one!):
1. Share a brief story about why you need to relax and say “Ohm.”
2. Share a recipe you create or tip using Oikos yogurt
3. Post a photo of you doing yoga in a toga (this one makes me giggle)
All entries (your post is your entry) must come from bloggers and include a link to the Oikos Facebook fan page and be emailed to oikos@360publicrelations.com by November 30, 2009. The winner will be selected at random and notified by 12/15/09.

<3

Indian Summer

-a period of unusually warm weather in the autumn.

It's 70 degrees in Mass. and it was snowing 3 days ago....weather is a sarcastic little devil with a sense of humor....

My mom visited this weekend and reminded me how much I miss her and everyone back home. We stayed at a bed and breakfast, went out to dinner, beer/wine tastings, the Norman Rockwell Museum and shopping. It was another mini-retreat from my retreat life. I find it ironic I need a retreat from a retreat center. You can only take so many, "Tell me about how your feeling" conversations, I assume.

Monday has begun like every other Monday. Work. I HAD to open the windows around me and also got my Monday morning laundry done (the perks of living and working in the same place). I do miss having a clothesline at home to dry my clothes. I also really would love to sit on the beach today and read....then again I have a picturesque mountain view to work with so it's

all good. Life could be worse.

lately, I find myself in a weird limbo....I feel like I am developing and growing a lot since I have been here, and I find it strange it has not involved making a ton of friends and being super social. I have enjoyed being as you would call a semi-wallflower in the community here. I only share with a few people, though I know everyone and greet everyone I see. I feel the anonymity is freeing and also making me more aware of myself. My life may seem adventurous, obscure and unique to those not here, but in all actuality, I am just lucky I have ended up at a place that allows me to be myself, by myself sometimes. It sure has given me room to sit, breath in, and reflect on my journey.

Dream Away Zombie Halloween

Me as Zombie Bride, my friend Morgan as "Fitness"
Last night's Halloween was something out of a movie....a fully entertaining, slightly obscure, amazingly fulfilling night.

First let me say it was FULLY entertaining walking through the main building where yoga classes and retreats are held, dressed as a zombie bride. Some participants are in full relax/meditation mode, and I probably f'ed that all up for them. It was kinda great though. For the most part my costume was well-recieved.

Then, we went to The Famous Dream Away Lodge which is rumored to have been an old Brothel back in the 2o's, which has seen the liks of Bob Dylan and Woodie Guthrie. It's in the middle of the woods, and you drive and drive through windy mountain roads until before your eyes sits the Dream Away. When you walk in you feel like you're entering a house party, because the layout is an old country house. There is a cash-only bar, an in-house band (who were guys all wearing gold underwear) and dogs on the premises, not to mention a fire pit. It was amazing. I felt like I was in a Halloween movie and at a really hip-cool party with verrrry interesting patrons.

I got a lot of praise for my costume. My friend did the makeup and after 2 showers,I still right now am trying to get the remains of it off. So, after Dream Away, we got lost for, oh, 2 hours through the shady mountains of Mass., and then, in pure Halloween, eerie, freaked-out fashion, drove passed a flipped over car with the headlights on. Another man was already there, but we were second on the scene. We waited there and my one friend who drove, went out (in pirate outfit) to check on the passengers. They were okay, but totally passed out drunk, upsidedown in the car. After the police got there we jetted home, while in the midst of it all, realized like in a Twilight Zone episode that we gained an hour for daylight savings time and it was only 2:20 instead of 3:20 in the morning.

It was definitely a memorable and once-in-a-lifetime Halloween to say the least

Why can't we dress up once a month??????????

I'm off to get free massage #2 from a massage school student here across the hall... Oh my life...;-)

A day of contemplation and creativity

Today was one of those days you know you will remember for a while….

I woke up, ate breakfast and joined about 10 volunteers and staff members on a hike to a cemetery/Indian burial ground from the 1700-1800s. We got there, centered ourselves and decided to explore in silence, which added to the quiet, desolate and surprisingly peaceful atmosphere of the cemetery. It was a beautiful place. The mountains outlined the landscape and the stones were silhouetted on two huge mounds of earth. Some of the tombstones were corroded with moss and cracks in them, but they signified a life lived so long ago. Other stones were elaborate and included quotes and the age they were when they passed. There were so many people who were under the age of 10 that passed back then. One stone stood out to me. It was a man who had lived to be 98, back in the late 1700s, his inscription read “Solider of the Revolution”. He had survived the war and lived to be 98 in one of the most trying times in our history. Other tombstones of girls my age were also pretty jarring. It was such a contemplative and complacent morning. We all agreed that there was a certain energy there… When I got back I did a yoga class and ate.

Then as soon as I walked into work, I had my creativity flowing. I decided to create a Halloween costume in an hour before the work Halloween party. So, what did we do in the Marketing building? Made me a present billboard for our “Free Nights” promo going on. You can see the ad here http://kripalu.org/ . Here’s a picture of my ensemble:

Creativity at it’s best. We used paper clips for the suspenders and Derek in graphic design printed out the actual banner. It was a lot of fun and nice to let out some laughs throughout the day… Good times.

My day went from one of deep spiritual contemplation to an all out, creative party in my office.

All in the spirit of Halloween:-)

Un-Profound

Happy Wednesday. My day started off really fast and busy and now is winding down and going slow. The weather is rainy and cold, so it doesn’t make me as bitter about being in my office all day. Tomorrow is Halloween dress-up day at work! I want to possibly go on this guided hike tomorrow during work (we'll see, wah wah) so I may have to bring my costume (haven't made it yet) with me. I also went to an open mic night last night, and got nostalgic thinking of singing in Colorado, and ate some bacon wrapper dates.....yummm. OH AND I moved into a new room, bigger, better and quieter than my previous room off the kitchen, so yay. And I'm obsessed with Mad Men. That's me summed up right now.

So, I’ve been reading “Julie & Julia” for the past couple weeks and I had a blog-related epiphany. Julie took something as simple as cooking a different meal from Julia Child’s book, wrote witty-honest and balsy entries based around this undertaking, and satisfied her readers, but more importantly satisfied herself. Before she began blogging, she was in a rut, had no focus, no inspiration and felt lost. In most situations like this, people make life-changing decisions or to put more blatantly really impulsive/sometimes bad ones. Then again sometimes they make amazing ones. In Julie’s case her decision did not include a monumental change like quitting her job. She did something bolder than the boldest of decisions. She gambled her life-changing happiness on this: a blog. One little blog in a sea of millions. I think it's more of a gamble than a huge life-altering change. She focused on writing and food, simply put.

It made me realize that sometimes I focus to much on the big questions I am bound to face in the near future; “Will I be here in a year”, “Who will I marry”, “Will I want to work here in a couple of months”, “What is HE up to”? “Will I ever fall in love”, “Will I ever lose more weight”? I should make like Julie, and ask myself, “What makes me happy”? “What do I get joy out of doing”? “Who can I surround myself with that makes me happy ”? Julie took her love of writing and fascination with cooking and channeled her blog, which channeled a book, which channeled a movie. All because she once was an unhappy girl, who stopped asking herself “When will things change”, and asked herself “What makes me happy”. A simple question, that when you answer it yourself, the answers reveal themselves through your actions. Act Don't React, my friends.

On that note, I think this blog needs some fall cleaning. I’m going to write to simply write. As simple as that. Whether it be profound or un-profound, monumental or mundane. I love writing, and setting parameters is out of the question. Who knows what may evolve?

Happy blogging,
Erin

Sister retreat

I know i talk of all the amazing yoga classes, retreats, mediation talk and beautiful scenery at my disposal, but by far the best memory I have of being here so far was my sister's visit this weekend. A self-guided retreat with her was all I needed.

We went to Kripalu yoga classes, walked around town, went out at night, ate delicious food, went to Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, Barrington Brewery and a Harry Potter corn maze (well we broke into it, haha). Great weekend.