Movie List!

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So I bought a Juicer. Oh yeah!

Unfortunately my landlady is using it waaay more than I am, but I’ve been a busy girl, so Whole Foods and their gouging inflated prices have been burning a hole in my Yoga Teacher’s Training fund with daily intakes of 24oz veggie juices.

I gotta get my shit together.

This major $50.00 purchase at Big Lots (yes, Big Lots. I know!) was due to a variety of documentaries I’ve been devouring on Netflix Instant.
So here’s the list. Maybe you’ll find it interesting, maybe you’ll take a pass and go through an In’nOut drive-through to rebalance the state of your unhealthy universe which I’ve offended with my suggestions.
Either way, I find the possibility of having a choice really great! Why not? It’s your life. Live it to the fullest however you want. Just don’t forget to add some happy veggies and some fresh water to that equation sometimes.

Now onto the list!

“Hungry For Change”
“Foodmatters”
“Fat Sick & Nearly Dead”
“Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes In 30 Days” (YouTube)
“Forks Over Knives”
“Vegucated”
“Generation Rx”

I also liked these handful of docs which dealt with the feeding of one’s soul. Some of you may find ’em quite patchouli or religiously laced, but it’s the message which counts, not the messenger.

“Happy”
“The Workshop”
“Ken Davis: Fully Alive”
“Enlighten Up”
“Ashtanga NY”
“Thrive: What On Earth Will It Take?”
“Ayurveda: Art Of Being”
“Sufi Soul: The Mystic Music Of Islam” (YouTube)

If you’ve got any more flicks you want to add to the list, feel free to shoot me a comment or two.
For now I’mma take Mr. Spock’s advice to “live long and prosper”.

BQOTW: Sharath Jois

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“No coffee, no prana”

                   — Sharath Jois

Who’s Sharath Jois you ask?

He’s the grandson and heir apparent to the Pattabhi Jois’s Ashtanga yoga legacy. If you have a Netflix instant account I would strongly suggest checking out the documentary “Ashtanga NY” to get a better glimpse into the practice and the men who have been the modern day driving force behind it. Please disregard the celebrity interviews, except Willem Da Foe who of course is lovely in his own way.

Once you’re done with that and you want to see more, jump on over to YouTube and watch early 90’s videos of the ‘who’s who” of the Ashtanga world being led by P. Jois into what I lovingly call “an exercise of grace under pressure”.   Because of it,  I’m now inspired to take my own journey of discovery and practice Mysore at least three days a week.  Sometimes waking up as early as 4:30am (as in half an hour ago before writing this).

One of Pattabhi Jois’s famous quotes went something like this, “No mula bhanda, no yoga!”
Right away it reminded me of Sharath cheeky statement about coffee which I’m sure he got from his grandad anyway.
I had to make it my BQOTW.

A long time ago I had a grandpa too, and he was my  first best friend.

I wish he had lived long enough to guide me into becoming the best I could be at something.
The very same way Pattabhi Jois doted over his grandson.
I get their connection, and I appreciate their relationship as well as crave one of my own.

Some people say that Sharath has sold out to the dark side and brought a stain to his grandfather’s legacy by allowing the further commercialization of Ashtanga**. Does it feel shady? Sort of. Has it affected my dedication and love to the practice?  Absolutely not!

I sometimes suspect that if his grandfather were still alive he might have chosen a similar path. Perhaps reining in his egotistic ambitions a bit more as not to lose focus of the myth built around the traditions of the practice. Regardless, people are up in arms, and sides have been drawn. How exciting!

As for myself, I’m still relatively new to the Ashtanga world, but I already know where I firmly stand. I don’t really care which side is which, and I am grateful that every day I can stand on my mat and chose to be either foolish or sublime. For me the practice is  a prayer in motion and an opportunity not only to see where it can lead me, but where I’m willing to go when I take myself out of my comfort zone.   And yes, I do drink coffee before my led class on Sundays, but never before Mysore!

**(Yoga For Trophy Wives: Who’s Yoga Is It Anyway?)

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My most beautiful grandfather “Dede”


Boring Life

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I already posted this on Facebook, but I created it with this blog in mind. It’s a minuscule tip-of-the-cap to Casey Neistat. Plus it kept me present making me photograph at every occasion I had. I kept forgetting, but somehow I was constantly brought back to memory of intention.
Maybe I don’t need to be just a yoga teacher. Maybe I can still dedicate some of my energy to yoga and photography. With any luck they’ll both take me places into the world and out onto adventures!

Music List!

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(I’ve decided to make this an ongoing post, ’cause there’s too much music out there to share without getting tied down to a one-time entry. So here we go!)

I must confess, I frakin looove my yoga music.
Aside from Zero7 I love any music that will set you on the verge to Catatonia.
Some find it boring, so I choose to keep my sounds to myself and always let you pick the radio station when we’re in the car or on Spotify/Pandora mode.
However, when I’m alone, it’s a horse of a different color.

So I’ve decided to create a music list of my favorite yoga music, even though I don’t practice to it anymore. I’ve learned to move to the sound of my breath, because everyone knows that movement follows breath. At least in the Mysore community they do.
Come to think of it, they must be a bunch of fast breathers ’cause by the time I’m done with my last Suryanamaskar they’re already halfway through the series.
Holy hell!

Anyhoo, to the music….

“Feel” by the Bombay Dub Orchestra has for to be my favorite of them all. Check out the Thievery Corporation version as well. They sound alike in many ways but why the hell not?

Also check out these other songs from BDO. “Dust”, “Junoon”, “Junoon” (Bombay Dub Jaipur Active Remix), and “Mumtaz” (DJ Drez Jahta Mix).

 

Ok, let’s list ’em before I lose my mind with all this unecessary writing:

“Brahma Nandam ” – Deva Premal

“Dhobapara” – Chinmaya Dunster

“Dreamcatcher” – Bahramji & Manesh De Moor

“Durga Shakti” – Shaman’s Dream Project

“Guru Brahma” – Shaman’s Dream Project

“Hawaii” – Meiko

“In Sunlight” – Tina Malia

“Indra” – Thievery Corporation

“Kala Infinite” – Bill Laswell

“Le Reveur” (Thievery Corporation Remix) – Tapis Rouge

“Mustt Mustt” (Massive Attack  Remix) – Nusrat Fateh Ali

“Sunset” – Nitin Sawhney

“Om Namo Bhagavate” – Desert Dwellers

“Underwater Love” – Jerome Isma-Ae

“Visions Of Zen” (Original Mix) – Sutra Rhythms

“Up With People” (Zero 7 Remix) – Lambchop

“Peaceful Being” – Manesh De Moor

“Silent Ganges” – Manesh De Moor

“Born Again” (Cycle Mix) – Domez M.

“Tao Of Heaven” – Anuvida

“Rememberance” – Benjy Wertheimer

 

 

Badass Quote Of The Week

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This week’s BQOFT is brought to you by a man I both love and loathe.
I personally don’t know Casey Neistat, so having any sincere emotion for a complete stranger is pretty unusual for me. I’m generally neither here nor there about someone until I’ve shared breathing space with them, and no, this planet doesn’t count.

Mr. Neistat is a self-taught filmmaker who’s HBO show, “The Neistat Brothers”, is a wake-the-fuck-up call to anyone who’s been asleep too long and forgot how to dream. Yes, for sure someone like me.

Maybe I hate him for living his life to the fullest, and maybe it’s his hipster aura which at times can grind.
But the truth is that he’s doing it, every day he’s getting past faith or fears, and living in knowing.

Every time I’ve watched his videos I get inspired to pick up my camera, and damn you HBO for not only canceling the series but removing it from my HBOGO. “Girls” just won’t cut it in this instance.

I suggest checking out his YouTube page, and here’s a coupla samplers to get you started.
Now let’s go do something!

Here’s a link to the video which has the BQOTW:

And here’s a link to a Tedx Talk where Neistat waxes poetic about himself and his background to a bunch of kids:

I Tend To Overthink Things…

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Kinda like this blog entry.
What to write about? Which blog to write it in?
(I have one too many and do absolutely nothing with them)
I’m hungry, lets take care of it after we eat. What should I eat? I really want some baked goods from Scratch, but I’m changing my life plan and attempting better food choices these days. Ummm, I really want a latte. Ok ok, turn on “Hungry For Change” on Netflix and maybe it’ll pass.
It’s not passing. Give it a minute. Maybe 10.

All this and more runs through the circuitry of my pea-brain activity.

I’m still hungry, where’s my iPad?

New Blog Time!!!!

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That’s right ladies and gentlemen!

…ok, Orchid.

We’re moving! Every VanGogh must go!

It’s time to expand and share with my Facebook peeps the flavor of my writing flair (oh jeez). But I can’t do it with this blog. Adventures In Strangeland has always been TMI inspired.

Since I’ve given up cock (indefinitely), yoga has once again become the center of my attentions.  Hey, I’m just taking a break, so to speak.  Seeing what else is around the corner.

Since I’m finally going to start my Yoga Teacher’s Training by mid-2013, then why not create an entire blog about my journey? I’ve chose three names for my new erudite disaster, but I want your opinion.

1) Cobra and the Moon (symbolic and not necessarily just about yoga)

2) Ouroboros Yoga (very serious, but my favorite in symbolism. However it may sound a bit too… too… pretentious)

3) Adventures On the Mat (the most innocuous of the three. Relatable?)

So whatta ya think?

**Btw, third blog entry for this week. Winning!

***Update:  Changed my mind, I like it better here. I’m sticking to Strangeland and that’s that!

Married Life (Part 2)

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Gina & Dave

Ahhhh… isn’t it nice when on any Saturday afternoon in Southern California you can get your hair done before going out to dinner with your best gays. All the while your adoring husband blows you a kiss through your kitchen window right before he goes off to his  garage makeshift guitar workshop?  Wanna know their secret?

Come close.

No closer.

THEY HAVE NO FUCKING KIDS!!!! 

Food for thought…

When I Grow Up I Wanna Be…

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… just like Maria Villella!

In fact the plan is to start taking her Mysore class by tomorrow morning, and not allow my intimidation to overtake my inspiration.

So a year ago I took my first led Ashtanga class, and after two hours of what I thought was an experiment in being punk’d, my exhausted, sweaty, dejected self hung her head and went home. I closed my bedroom curtains, went under the covers without bothering to disrobe or clean up, and proceeded to start crying for no one else but my fragile little ego.
I had been bested.
I, the great yogini herself, an epic fail! (Hey, what the fuck did I now?)

A year and countless requests from my teacher to join them for another try, I finally did.
This time around it wasn’t so bad. I held my own a bit better and saw that maybe I could survive such trials by fire.
That’s until a week ago…

Thanks to YouTube and my insomnia, I saw the light at 2:48am last Tuesday morning.

This “epiphany” came to me through an old 1989 video of Sri Pattabhi Jois (the big daddy of Ashtanga) leading a workshop of a who’s who in the yoga world.  It was one of the fiercest show of grace under pressure I have EVER seen. Now all I want to do is become the most proficient of Ashtangi and meet Chuck Miller!
Talk about pulling a 180, talk about a change of heart!

Maria Villella is an inspiration and part of of my journey. At least I hope so. With my luck, we’ll probably completely hate one another from day one and I’ll quit and go home for another good cry. Then again my ego has agreed to temporarily take a back seat on this one. Let’s just hope it keeps its seatbelt on and its mouth shut through this adventure for once…