Day 1:  first stop food.  We had chicken shish kepab and salad with beans.  The classic.  Yum.

Aya Sofia -- a huge cathedral which is now a secular museum. Very beatiful and awe-inspiring.

This cathedral was both Christian and Islamic over the centuries. This is the first example of an Islamic stained glass window that I have ever seen before. Exquisite detail.

The large discs in the cathedral are under repair. Here is a worker in a head scarf repairing them. Makes sense that the painters should be Muslim.

This whole doorway frame is made of marble.

On the ceiling....

Here I am on the balcony in front of one of the restorated Muslim discs, an abstract representation of Divinity.

Gotta go — more soon.

The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America by Don Lattin

It reminds me of the good old days when I was in college in Southern California (Trabuco and Madjeska Canyons) and UCI, and my dad, who was an amazingly liberal minded Protestant minister and went to SF every year and marched with MLK.  Great book for yogis to read.  Check it out asap.

OM yoga was the studio of the month at NYC’s Union Square Lululemon and it was fun!  

Here is Sarah, me and Margi.  They were so nice to come to the class I taught to support me and OM.  I had just returned to NYC from Costa Rica and I was in a daze of coldness but somehow there I was.  They asked me if I would teach a class for them on the Presidents Day holiday at 8am!  Of course, I said yes — if it could be at 11.  We settled on 10am and they even opened the store late to accommodate the class.   So that was super nice and I tried my best to do a good job.

Here were the wonderful yogis and yoginis at the class!

This was one of the yoginis in attendance and I asked her if I could take her picture because I thought her curled bangs were so cute.

This is the glamorous Sarah Trelease, OM yoga ambassador to Lululemon. Wearing sunglasses as all ambassadresses should!

If you want to ring out the old and ring in the new in the deepest and widest way, come to the annual OM yoga New Year’s Eve class!  It is already over half full and will definitely sell out, as it does every year.   Make a reservation by calling OM yoga 212-254-9642 or go to the website, www.omyoga.com.

This year it will be taught by Joe and Edward.  They will gather everyone together for pranayama and meditation, then split up into separate studios for asana practice — this might turn into a 2,3, or 4 room affair depending on how many people come.  The more the merrier, but we don’t want to feel too squished on our mats so we do it like this.  Then after that, everyone gathers back together in the Earth studio for meditation.  This is great time to bring your non-yoga family and friends, too.  It is so great to be with your sangha on New Year’s Eve and you have plenty of time afterwards for…..whatever is your pleasure on this big night!

Here’s my top tip for how to do that:  Make Applesauce!  It really works.  Applesauce is so good and so satisfying that you will start to like it even better than chocolate.  Impossible, you say?  Well, I challenge you to give it a try.  And to encourage you, here is a step-by-step lesson in How To Make Applesauce.

Buy some apples. Whatever kind you want. If you can get to a farmer's market you can ask them which ones are the best for applesauce. I've used concord and they are good, good, good.

Cut them up in chunks. I like big chunks. Get about 5-6 pounds of apples which is way more than in these pictures. You will be shocked at how fast you and your peeps can eat that much applesauce.

Get a system going. Put a big pot on the stove and as you cut up apples toss them in. Then, wash a few more apples, cut and toss.

When all the apples are in the pot, pour in enough water to just cover the apples. I turn the heat on to high and when it starts boiling, I turn it down to simmer. Stir it whenever you feel like it. Throw in some cinnamon - as much as you want. You can also add raisins or pears or ginger. As the apples start to get soft, smush them against the side of the pot so the sauce is smooth-ish but a bit chunky.

Voila! I add it to my morning oatmeal and have for a treat. It is really nice heated up. YUM!

This is one of my tips for getting through the holidays in reasonably healthy shape.  For more, check out  my blog in the Huffington Post:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cyndi-lee/how-not-to-get-fat-this-c_b_403168.html

Leroy!  Today he is 6!  He came home to us right after my dad died and as I cried and cried, he just sat right next to me.  It was the perfect and only comfort.  Dogs are good like that.  He only weighed 1.5 pounds but he was soulful right from the start.  He is my Christmas angel puppy.

Hello, since it's my birthday does that mean I get to eat even more food than usual?

Leroy has Buddha nature.  He has been sick for three weeks — an allergy that made red spots all over his tummy, then conjunctivitis, then congestion in his little doggy lungs — but all the while he wags his tail and doesn’t get depressed.  He is almost all well now and under the care of Dr. Diane, vet extraordinaire so don’t worry about him.  He’s not worried.  He understands the nature of impermanence and emptiness.

Check it out — here is the link

  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cyndi-lee/how-not-to-get-fat-this-c_b_403168.html

One of my students and a graduate of The Road to OM, Kendra, is also a 10th grade teacher.  She teaches yoga to her kids in Queens and so I invited her to bring them to OM yoga for a field trip and a yoga class in a real yoga studio.  They were so great!  When I walked into the studio, they started chanting, Cyndi Cyndi Cyndi.  They were super excited and their passion for yoga was amazing!

We talked about what it takes to hold a balance. They came up with breathing and focus. Yes! We called these our Tools for Concentration.

Kendra did a great job teaching these guys and she helped me by assisting and doing skillful adjustments.

Of course, they love doing arm balances. Some of the boys can even go from crow pose right up into handstand. I demonstrated crow into chadarunga and they loved that!

They were willing to try everything.

They dropped right into pranayama and meditation. No problem. No resistance. Amazing.

Even though I had a really bad cold all last week and had a hard time getting out of bed this morning, it was a real pleasure and inspiration to work with these kids.  I was so impressed with their good hearts and open faces.  So much sweet nature right out there.  I was surprised by that, actually.  I can’t wait to see them again and have invited Kendra to bring her kids to OM yoga again.  Thanks, kids!

Friday we did a photo shoot in the Space Studio at OM yoga.  Raquel Reis, who taking OM yoga tt, is also a professional photographer — how perfect!  Along with her, my team was Cherie Stamm, who is my wonderful Aveda hairdresser and also does great make up, Katy Pyle, my assistant and also an OM yoga teacher who was there to make sure I got my poses just so, Janna, OM’s graphic designer, and a special guest, Raquel’s friend, Shanna, who is a professional art director and generously lent her eye to the proceedings.  I was sick all week with a horrendous cold and still feel very not good.  But I did 45 minutes of yoga to warm up and that helped a lot!  Then you know, I said to myself, Change your attitude and relax with things as they are!  And that worked.

First pose -- should I twist right or left? Should the paper be flat or rolled under?

Do we like this look?

Here comes Cherie to touch me up.

After Dave arrived, it was easier to do good smiles for the camera. He made me laugh! That's actually one of the main reasons why I married him.

I liked that they all look at the me in the camera and not the real me. Less pressure somehow.

Looks like a Grant Wood portrait....sort of....

Now the fun begins...

Are you ready for your close up Dave?

Handsome Nudgie.

Time for a coffee break for me and Cherie while Dave gets his portrait taken.

My tree is leaning...the shoot took 6.5 hours!

Am I smiling? Is this a yoga pose???

Thanks so much to our great team — we had a fun day together, feeling creative and organized.

Every year I give a party to everybody on OM yoga staff and faculty.  Dave really helped me a lot this year and it was a good thing because I was working that day until about 5:30.  But we pulled it together and much fun was had by all.  I think it might have been one of the best — this was #12.  Over the years it has evolved and now it is a potluck.  People asked me what they should bring and since last year we ended up with a lot of dips and cheese and crackery stuff, I said bring real food.  So they brought incredible dishes and Christine heated up an amazing stew on my stove and Joe made a very popular pear crisp and Sybil made a tea cake nicely laced with cognac.  I made two salads with the help of Margi and all the food was gobbled up.  

Joe digs in.

Janna says hi, I'm here!

I like how Christmas decorations blend with what I've already got in my house. Here is a Santa candle with a semi-melted head, my beautiful pink Buddha and a 50s lawn Santa all protecting our home this holiday season.

Here is my portable Indian shrine and my Christmas wreath snow dome.

At the early parties there were never babies, but after twelve years we have babies! This is Margi's baby boy, Fin.

Edward chats with Christine and her fiance, Mike. Christine made an amazing stew and Edward wore a tie to the party, because he said, He wears pajamas all day long.

When we do yoga we don't talk or eat but when we party we do both! L to R, Sophie, Nancy, Christie, Tari and in front, Heather and Dave are chatting.

Kathryn and Maria looking so happy.

Heather and her little boy, Campbell, hanging out with Nudgie.

Margi, with Natalie who moved to PA but is still part of our faculty.

Suzanne, Maria and Kathryn checking out Christine's yummy stew.

After all that eating, it's time to move -- Janna, Maya, Matt, Shevy, Edward and Dave.

Edward dances with flying Fin.

Sarah and Suzanne in a lively hand gesture worthy conversation.

Merry Christmas, Frankie.

Shevy and Ayanna

This is TurtleBean, the gift I got from the Secret Santa exchange. The staff and teachers also gave me a super beautiful necklace, excellent over the knees socks and they made a donation to Jewel Heart. Wow.

And then it was over. Dave and I cleaned up everything in a couple of hours, I blew out the candles and it was as if it never happened. Impermanence.