Sun Salutations to you all

Beautiful day and beautiful feelings.

GO hug someone you love and feel the sunshine spread even farther.

Namaste,

Jan

Saturday Serenity...

Today is the day I unplug from the computer and focus on family, house, dog, things I've been ignoring for days now as I've been marketing and tweaking the new business. So this is my Six Word Saturday ala Cate at Show My Face...

The Balanced Bride has swallowed me...

I've gotten out of balance in a not too subtle way. I'm turning off the computer now, unfurling my yoga mat, and diving into the Ohmmmm. Be back soon. But if you get bored you can always click below to enter my giveaway. Come on, you know you want to.

To enter sweepstakes for The Balanced Bride click here:

Namaste Ya'll,

Jan

Game On... which sounds like I'm into sports but really I don't know a football from a foosball.

Please do me a favor.

Go HERE and enter The Balanced Bride sweepstakes. If you live in Portland, Oregon you can win your choice of yoga, qigong, massage, coaching, or acupuncture. If you live anywhere else in the United States you can enter to win a long-distance dream interpretation by our expert Terri Mozzone.

Now this is my first foray into offering any kind of giveaway. I hope it makes sense and is easy for people to participate. As my loyal friends please do let me know if you find this onerous or difficult to participate in so I can adjust it fairly.

Last but not least is a special twist. For the people who read my blog AND comment HERE on this posting about entering The Balanced Bride sweepstakes, I will be giving away one YogaEasy DVD (North American version only... sorry to discriminate so horribly Angela!) and one MeditationEasy CD from Yolanda Pettinato courtesy of PetalsYoga. Just comment here after you enter TBB sweepstakes and you are in. I will use a cool random number generator thingy to pick the winner after July 24th. Considering I have about 6 readers I think your chances are pretty good. ;-)

Thanks again for helping me launch such an exciting new part of my life.


Hugs,

Jan

The Balanced Bride is born...here comes the sweepstakes!

Today Sarah, Brenda, Terri, (Izzy), and I launched The Balanced Bride at a Zen Fair in downtown Portland, Oregon. We had such fun chatting with people, introducing them to Brenda's amazing homemade herbal elixir to put in champagne, and promoting the new business. We had lots of interested people stop by and get more information. One gentleman has 4 upcoming weddings in his immediate family alone! I love collaborating with such amazing and creative women to bring joy to others. It was really a great day and Izzy had a blast helping out too.

After we left the fair Izzy and I wandered around downtown Portland. Something we've never really done before. Izzy also introduced me to Benson Bubblers which is a really neat part of Portland history and something she learned about in school.. Here's one if you haven't seen it before.


Neat huh? I also received the sweetest, most unexpected email from one of my yoga students today thanking me for helping her heal and find her balance. My heart is just singing.

So... are you interested in finding out more about The Balanced Bride sweepstakes? GOOD! Tune in to this space in the next few days and I'll have it all ready for you. Sorry for the tease. My webserver is down right now so I'm trying to work around that.

Happiest Day to you too,

Jan

Big Hello Day...

Today I met a new/old friend for the first time. I met my friend (name blank until I check with her for permission) from the blog Bodaat...blogging one day at a time. We had such fun getting to know each other and I got to know her kind fiancee as well. We had great conversations and I really enjoyed meeting them both. They came in town for a work convention but will get to spend a few days in Portland just exploring and wandering. I hope they love it as much as I do. I can't believe I forgot to ask her why her blog is named Bodaat? Hmmm... I'll let you know when I find out. She took a few pictures of us together but if they are as bad as I think I'm willing to pay her to either not post them or to photoshop Jennifer Aniston in as my double. (It's such a natural substitution really!)

Also we talked about her sister Aartilla who has this amazing blog and video show. Watch one episode and I PROMISE you'll be hooked.

I've also been busy, busy working on the website and launch of my new business with friends of The Balanced Bride. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE go check out the website and give me feedback. Be brutal. I can take it. Sort of. ;-)

Okay, that's it for today. Family is healthy and well and I am just looking forward to curling up on the sofa and watching As Time Goes By on PBS for the millionth time. I never tire of that series.! Here are some funny outtakes just for my in-laws!




Love and hugs to you all,

Jan

Another Can-Do Day.

Today was the second "Can-Do" Yoga class and we had 7 students show up to share and breathe together. The sun was playing peekaboo around beautiful cloud formations and at the end while the students were in Shivasana (final relaxation pose) 5 little sparrows were perched on the railing and tree above the students. They were watching and cheeping away. It really made me smile to think of how different it must be for the animals around the lake to have us there moving and breathing in their space in such a unique way.

I so enjoy teaching in the park. I think that I am receiving so much more than I am giving back to the Food Bank. The food being donated is tangible and important and I am so grateful to the students for supporting our community. But the feeling I get from helping people let go and relax into each breath is also amazing. If each person I teach has even a few moments in their day that are happier or easier, then the whole world shifts a few millimeters towards joy. That is food for the soul and pretty life-sustaining in its own way.

In other news:

Myra Lewin is arriving in Portland today from Hawaii and will be offering the following events this weekend.

June 19, 2009
7:15 - 8:45 pm Hawthorne Wellness Center
3942 SE Hawthorne Blvd.
Portland, OR
Bruce 503-730-7047
Energy Management in Relation to Food and Daily Living

June 20, 2009
1:30-4:30 pm Poise Studio
4700 SW 185th Ave.
Beaverton, OR
Phone: (503) 591-8700 Ayurveda, meditation and postures

June 21, 2009
2:00 - 3:00 pm
Cedar Hills Recreation Center
11640 SW Park Way
Portland, OR
Phone: (503) 531-0414
FREE Book Signing and short talk

Please join in if you are available this weekend.

Hugs to you all,

Jan

Can-Do Saturday

The kick-off for Can-Do Yoga in the Park was a great success. By my standards anyway. 5 students showed up, 25 cans of food were collected, and many more people walked by and were intrigued enough to take a flyer for next time. The weather was cloudy and cool but it really felt just right. We shared space with two fishermen on the pier and that felt like a nice community sharing as well. I have to admit though, that I was a little relieved that they didn't catch a fish right near us during the yoga class. Poor wee fishy flopping and gasping its last breath on the pier next to my mat would have been a bit challenging to cope with. Not impossible of course, but certainly not my idea of relaxing.

The universe continues to look out for me day by day, as evidenced by a bit too much excitement yesterday afternoon. I was rear-ended by 5 other cars at a red light at about 2:00pm. Still not sure of the details of who did what, BUT we were all okay afterwards and the damage to all cars was minimal to non-existent. WHEW!!! To walk away from a 6 car pile-up is no mean feat and I am EXCEEDINGLY grateful that I am healthy and well today as are I pray, the other drivers and passengers.

It's really strange how everything these days to me seems to be a blessing. Labeling things good or bad is not really a place I immediately jump to anymore. I still see suffering and pain and even still "fear" this for myself and others, but it doesn't paralyze me the way it used to in the past. It also doesn't linger very long either if I do let my mind roam around in those waters for a while occasionally. About 3 weeks ago I had a pretty full-blown panic attack about Swine Flu and even as I was feeling this fear, I was pretty clear about how irrational I was being. In a fairly short time I moved through the fear and felt a sense of peace about whatever might be coming my way. I certainly still feel waves and ripples of discomfort or fear but they simply don't engulf me the way they used to. All this from yoga, meditation, and practicing mindfulness. If I were to label this, I'd have to say it was "good". ;-)

Namaste ya'll,

Jan


Six-Word Saturday

Each Day I Breathe, Then Repeat.

No pain is big gain...

I did something totally out of character today. I practiced yoga in the park (in preparation for CanDo Yoga which starts this weekend!) and then I walked into a day spa and had a massage. Yup. I've only had one full massage once before in my life, and today just seemed like a good day for it. I've been a bit run down and not sleeping well and I just decided that I should try something different.

Well, I can tell you that I walked out of that 50 minute massage a different person than the gal who walked in. I suddenly and dramatically didn't have any pain in my shoulder and neck. None. I didn't even realize how long I've been living in pain until it was gone. I could turn my neck left and right without guarding or wincing. HOORAY! So it wasn't a total fix as I'm still pretty sore tonight, but to have even a glimpse into that pain-free world was a joy.

The bigger eye-opener for me was realizing just how oblivious I was about my own body... again. I spend each class exhorting my students to listen to their bodies, make wise choices, and be in the moment. Uh, hello? I didn't even consciously think that I was having neck and back trouble. I just thought I slept a little funny last night. The massage therapist told me that I had a huge amount of inflammation on my left side. Really makes you wonder doesn't it?

So am I alone in this regard? What really obvious thing are you missing in your life that could be fairly easily remedied? Just curious.

So grateful to be a little more open in my posting,

Jan

The irony of dead batteries...

Sitting at home today waiting to recharge my batteries. Both the one in my car that is by all accounts totally dead and may actually need replacing, as well as the one in my body which for the last few days has been telling me to STOP, conserve a little, and take a break! Hopefully the one in my body will recharge quickly and will outlive it's warranty by about another 50 years or so. The car? Oh well, whatever. The funny story about the car battery is that my darling daughter was playing around in the car last night and thinks she might have accidentally left a light on that finally finished off an already ailing battery. She was in tears this morning when we started to get into the van to go to school and it was locked and wouldn't open with the key gadget thingy. (official name) She tearfully "fessed" up to her mistake and for just a beat I was sternly telling her "not to ever play around with the lights again" and then I just let it go and breathed. Not the end of the world. I even laughed with her about it on the way to school in Daddy's car. I also told her how much I appreciated her telling me the truth so quickly because that saved me alot of worry about what else could be wrong with the car. (as it turns out, that may have been premature because that sucker just won't start!)

In any case, it was a good opportunity to live mindfully and the irony is that this battery malfunction has forced me to stay home today and recharge internally as well. I really wasn't feeling up to all the running around I had planned for today anyway, so now I'm where I should have made the choice to be in any case. Relaxing at home. Okay, not totally relaxing because dishes need to be done and laundry sorted etc... but definitely a more low key day than the one I had planned. And in this moment, I'm actually glad my car battery went kaput. Go figure.

Hope your batteries are charged and ready for a wonderful weekend with folks you love,

Jan

p.s. PLEASE go check out the jewelry of my student and friend Ree here: She is a sweet gal and I think her jewelry is just lovely!