to get the Early Bird Discount on registration for going to Costa Rica with me and Dave and the excellent, Edward Jones.  Our retreat is going to be extra awesome because 1) I already know most of the people who have signed up so far and they are smart and fun; 2) the spot in Costa Rica is peaceful and gorgous; 3) Costa Rica itself is an especially cool place to visit — I’ve been there 5 times so you can tell that I REALLY like it a lot; and 4) we are designing the schedule to fit the people who come to the retreat.  We have three slots for classes every day except Wednesday which is the day for big excursions like flying through the canopy (I’ve done that and it is super fun and exciting) or white water rafting (I’ve done that, too, and it was actually a little too exciting for me but still I loved it) or going to the butterfly forest (I’ve also done that and it is pretty incredible to have a giant butterfly land on your hand and hang out there for a while.)  Not to mention how good the coffee is.  The Blue Spirit Retreat is everything we wanted in a retreat center and you will love it, as well as the surrounding area which has charming organic restaurants, good shopping and music.  Go to www.omyoga.com to register by tomorrow at midnight to save $150.  Write me if you have questions.

Dave and I are back at Kripalu for our annual November Yoga Body Buddha Mind weekend.  Wouldn’t you think that we would get sick of teaching this material?  Well, we don’t!  It is different every time because the group is different every time and we are different every time.  There are so many open hearted, curious, smart people with us this weekend and a large percentage of them are experienced yogis and experienced meditators.  Ten years ago it would have been the opposite percentage.  Pretty cool to see how much yoga and meditation has infiltrated our culture.

 

 

 

 

 

This is my weekly report with visual aids.  After the excitement of my new book deal and being treated to a fab dinner at Mesa Grille by my most excellent hubby, it was back to reality.  A good reality.  Sarah Trelease, OM yoga Director of Teacher Training, called a meeting of all the OM yoga TT faculty. We are creating a new OM yoga TT handbook which is going to be amazing.  Thanks to Sarah and Margi who have worked so hard on it already.  Here we are at our meeting.

On the way to the meeting, Leroy and I walked through historic Washington Square Park, which has been renovated and is not better than it was before.  Whatever.  Many people were in the park because of our warm, glorious Autumn in NY.  

Thursday night I met with my super good buddy, Mary Perillo, at Cafe Henri for a quick bite before going to see the movie, The Red Shoes, at Film Forum.  

We are so honored.  An excerpt of a piece Dave and I wrote for The Shambhala Sun has been included in the current issue.  The section is called For 30 Years the Best of Buddhism in America: Meditation and our bit is called “Not Too Tight, Not Too Loose.”  Check it out, page 67.  Some of others included are Chogyam Trungpa Rimpoche, Tulku Tondup, Sharon Salburg, and Thich Nhat Hanh.  As I said, we are so honored.

It was delicious to hang out with our hosts, getting to know them better and eating North Carolinian Mexican food.  Yum!

Here is the OM yoga teacher training class of 2010 at Blue Point Yoga.  

Flat back, flat back, flat back….There is confusion floating around regarding this asana.  We stopped calling it flat back for a while and called it the pose formerly known as flat back but, for obvious reasons in the category of cumbersome, we reverted back to FB.  It is great that so many people have learned to use props and to place their hands on blocks for this pose, but these days I’m feeling like people are using props too much, often as a crutch or a comfort zone, rather than a needed support.  It’s a fine line, for sure.  But it is okay to feel in yoga, to feel an opening, lengthening, movement of energy.  And FB does not mean spine parallel to the floor. THIS IS A KEY POINT!  It means spine lengthened in two diretions — out through the crown of the head and back through the tailbone — so that there is space between the ribs and hips.  That is one of the reasons it is a set up for Chadarunga but that’s another lesson.  

 

Any questions?  Let me know.

Last weekend at Blue Point Yoga in Durham, NC — what fun!  It is third annual OM yoga teacher training program and each year the students get better and better.  I have to think it has something to do with the fact that many of the Blue Point teachers are now OM yoga trained and are teaching OM yoga classes right there at Blue Point.  Anyway, the southerners really know how to host people and we had a lovely time.

 

As of yesterday I am signed with Amy Hertz at Dutton for my next book.  My great agent, Stephanie Tade, worked hard to get me a good deal with the right person and I was very fortunate to have several excellent offers.  I am happy to be back with Amy, who was also the editor for Yoga Body Buddha Mind.  The new book is not about yoga, stay tuned for more details. 

In the meantime, I was invited to be on a panel discussion at a very well attended book signing at Barnes and Noble on Monday.  It was a new book called Be the Change by Ed and Deb Shapiro.  I was a contributor to the book and sat on the panel between Robert Thurman and Andrew Cohen, along with Ellen Burstyn, Linus from Law & Order and Mark Matousek.  And Ed and Deb, of course.  It was quite a lively evening!

Hey folks, Dave and I are teaching a Yoga Body Buddha mind workshop this weekend at the wonderful Blue Point Yoga Studio in Durham, North Carolina. You are all welcome to come to all or part of the weekend. Four sessions: Friday night, Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. For more details check out www.bluepointyoga.com.

Last weekend turned into a meditation extravanganza. On Friday morning, after he and Leroy woke up

Dave got up and left for Akron, OH, where he went to teach a Shambhala Level 1 Meditation Weekend. Then on Sunday morning I led a two hour meditation session called Calm Abiding at OM yoga. Then Leroy and I went to the park where he demonstrated his own good paying attention technique (which, of course, is related to doggie treats).While we were in the park we ran into our buddies, Koshin and Chodo, who were on the way to Meditate NY Day event at Judson Church just off Washington Square Park. I went into the church with them but Leroy and I got kicked out, because they did not recognize Leroy’s inherent Buddha-nature. Here is Chris, a Zen monk, AKA Reverend Compassion, who was helping out by putting up a sign outside the church.Then Leroy and I walked up to Broadway and 19th St. so Leroy could see his human step-brother meditating in the window of ABC Carpets. The ID Project wants to show that even though they are sitting in little boxes behind windows, these meditators are just ordinary people, too.When Ethan saw me and Leroy, he looked up and we waved to each other and then he blew me a kiss. Then I put my hands under my head like I was sleeping, and asked him through the window, Are you tired? because he started sitting the night before at 7pm and was going for 24 hours. He nodded and kind of rolled his eyes. Then, well, let’s face it, I am a brat. You know how it is when you go to Buckingham Palace and those guards are so stiff and people try to get them to move or react. Well, I did a little dance in front of Ethan and said, “If you practice while distracted, you are well trained, ” which is a lojong slogan. He smiled. There was a little crowd gathered and one lady said to me, Is he meditating? And I said yes. She said, But he moved. I said, well, that’s ok, because he is relating to what is happening around him. She said, No, I don’t think so. That’s not ok. That can’t be meditation.” There were people in other windows, too.Then the day was over. My Calm Abiding students asked when they could meditate at OM yoga again. Ethan got out of the window. David came home from Akron and we watched Larry David on TV.