{happy weekend}

Happy Friday! I hope you all have a wonderful, wonderful weekend! I was talking to one of my friends in class last night who also owns a small business. She was asking me how I've been doing with everything, and I frankly told her that I have good days and bad days. Days where I feel energized and then days where I am exhausted. Usually, I am exhausted after teaching. I get home about 8:30, make a little something to eat, sit on the couch, turn on the tv and just relax/zone out... but she made an interesting point to me last night. She told me that sometimes it's more energizing to make yourself do something fun. I got to thinking about that and she is probably very right. Since, I've started the yoga studio, I haven't made a ton of time for hanging out with friends or anything else! So... I am going to try to mix in a little more fun. Maybe even get my nails done, which I haven't done since I lived in Houston... October! I also think I am going to take time to do some things around the house. Fun things, of course!

Wishing you all a fabulous weekend. Do something that makes you "Oh so happy!!" :)

images via pinterest

Oh, so true

Hello my dearest. Hoping your week is going great. We have only been on the cleanse for a few days now, and although, I myself am thinking, what the heck did I start? I am happy to hear all the great feedback from everyone on it. On another note, the past couple of days, I have been plagued by the what ifs? Ever get them? What if I would have... done this, done that, been this, had that. I've been thinking a lot lately about how things unfold. Sometimes it can be hard to really believe that you are exactly where you should be. During this time of fashion week in NYC, I look back and wonder "what if I would have stuck with it?" But then my memory shoots back to my NYC days. I stopped loving fashion, loving getting dressed in the morning, I didn't like the late nights or social aspects of the whole thing and I constantly felt exhausted. There was nothing I could do to change it, although I definitely tried to. We don't always know why our soul goes in a certain direction. I always thought that I would live in NYC and work for a magazine and now I am teaching yoga... in Arkansas. I know there is nothing in the world I would rather be doing and I know everything I have been through in my life has been leading me here, but there are still times when I look back and grieve... for what was and what never will be. And you know what? I think that's okay. We can't get caught up into the idea of what we wish for our lives in our heads and we also can't get wrapped up into thinking that everyone else has it so much better. I think that we have to above all things listen to what our hearts say, and forgive ourselves.   Forgive ourselves for wishing we could be something different.

I think that is what we have to do. Forgive ourselves for wishing we could be any different and recognize our own life unfolding in a perfectly imperfect way. :)

Anyway, I just wanted to share that. Hope you all have a great evening. Off to teach class! 

New Month and a Fresh Commitment

Happy Monday my dears. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Mine was pretty good and pretty low key. Although, I am getting a little bit better balancing everything, I still feel quite tired on the weekends and lean more towards my couch than doing much else. Oh well!

This week kicks off a 21-day challenge that Maitri is doing. I have to say that people were asking me if I'm excited because I am the one putting it on, but my answer.... it is going to be just as hard for me as it is for everyone else! I love my morning coffee. I look forward to waking up, fixing a cup, sitting at my computer with it in hand. However, this morning I just decided to make a new tradition. I brewed some lemon ginger tea, and have actually found it to be equally satisfying. I know coffee is really acidic in my body. I can feel it. So, I am curious as to how I'll feel without it! Also, I am addicted to crackers. I love Nut thins, and all things with a little bit of salt. Lately since I am going, going, going a lot, I eat crackers with almond butter and then for dinner I'll eat more crackers or cereal and that will be it. Yea... not that healthy. I think this 21-days will be a nice, fresh start. I am hoping that it will be time for everyone to press the reset button, but to also notice where our habits are... and the ideas of what we "need" to function.

This is really my first cleanse ever. I have talked about it before and done it halfway, but never fully committed. We shall see how this goes! I will keep you updated. Lots of love and light!

images via my new roots

Finding Compassion

Good morning my dears. I hope all of you are doing well. The past few days, I have woken up feeling more like myself, than I have in months. As I have started to settle into everything.... a new town, new house, and a new business, my heart is feeling light again, instead of plagued by heaviness. I teach yoga every day or almost every day and I have to say that there is nothing in the world I would rather be doing than what I am doing right now. Pretty cool, huh? I don't think I have ever really felt this way before. I saw a sign the other day and it said, if you had all the money in the world, all the time in the world, and all the resources in the world, what would you do? My answer that I silently said to myself... I am doing it....

However, even though I have known this, there was something keeping me from fully enjoying it. I would get home from classes and sometimes cry and replay back all the things I did wrong in class or I would find myself worrying about the business. But, the past week or so, I have slowly let go of my attachment to the classes. I no longer bury my head and cry (I mean sob) after class, and think of all the things I did wrong when I get home... I have realized that there is no possible way I will be able to control what people think about the classes. Each and every person who does yoga is looking for something different. I have a certain teaching style and am learning to have the courage, strength and confidence to just let it be, and not try to change it. I talk a lot about having compassion for who we are in class and you know what? I think I am finally learning to have compassion for myself, as a very imperfect human being and teacher. All I can do, is put my heart and soul into each class, give my all... and then, let it go.

Isn't that all any of us can do? Give it our best and let go of the results? It's a lot less stressful than worrying so much and it gives us permission to enjoy. Enjoy the experience. Enjoy the journey. The only thing required: is to show up, for yourself and your life and to notice when you are happy.

So right now, I would like to acknowledge the fact, that I have put my heart and soul into this yoga studio, and I am so blessed  to go there and teach every day. I wouldn't have it any other way...
Thank you to all of those who have supported me in this and who have been there in class breathing, helping me to let go a little more each and every class. I am not really a teacher... just a co-creater of this practice and I feel honored each and every time I'm given the opportunity to guide a class.

Anyway, I just wanted to share all of that. Lately, I have just been a little depleted and once I find myself some space and time at my computer I have been tending to sit here like a bump on a log not knowing what to share. This morning, I woke up with a very different feeling, not one of depletion, but instead one of sheer and utter happiness. :)

{Happy Friday!!}

 Funky designs for sports bras from lotus eater yoga! :) They are so cute!!! 

I absolutely love this mission statement from Sarah Barrow! She is awesome to work with and I feel so blessed have her help! 

 This was taken after a very sweaty class last weekend!! Amie, from Yoga Ananda came up to help me teach! :)

Very blessed have support near and far. These flowers were sweetly given by my bff in NYC. 


Hello my dears! Happy Friday! I hope all of you had a great week. Things are starting to slowly calm down and come together with the yoga studio. Even though, everything has basically been done, I have still been working on getting some fun things going-- designing tote bags, postcards, and my friend is also making hand-dyed yoga clothes, made just for the studio, which is awesome! It is great to know where the clothes are coming from and that they are being made with lots of love and intention. Thank you, Rebekah and Sarah and to all the other people who have been so supportive from the beginning of all of this!

It has been really hard for me to gather my thoughts lately and just sit down and write. I don't know if it's because I try to give as much of myself to my students and then once I'm done teaching, I'm completely spent, or if I am just not sitting down long enough to focus. Either way, I really do hope to get back to a normal blogging schedule. :)

Yesterday, I taught my 6:30pm class with the intention or the theme of stepping out of your comfort zone. And you know what? That is exactly how I have felt lately... Not with the teaching part, but just in starting something... I don't think I have ever really put myself out there like this and I do completely feel like I am out there... on a ledge. Naked! Almost like my heart and soul are out there for everyone to see. Which is great, but at the same time it makes me want to freak out! So, I ask you to bear with me during this transition. I'm having to dig deep for lots of courage, faith and compassion for myself at this time, simply because it has been very easy for me to get in my head and get  discouraged. I think with anything different... we all have to have is faith, because you never know how things are going to go. Right now, I have to completely let go, and let God with this and trust that the decisions I have made, have been the right ones.

Today, this week, this weekend... give yourself a break. Let yourself have room to grow... even if it means stepping out of your comfort zone, and I will try to do the same!

Lots of love to you all!

Task of the day:

... to just enjoy it! To slow down, take a deep breath, and realize that everything is going to be okay.

"You are more than a series of experiences. You are the light that surrounds them.
And if you’re too busy to stop and actually look at what it’s all adding up to, then that’s what you should be busy with."

Wishing you all a lovely day. :)

 image via a ribbon at a time

Creating Space

Hi all! With lots of things going on, I feel like I am trying to keep my head above water and am finding it challenging just to find space and time to breathe. However, I did sign up today for Baron Baptiste's 40 Days to Personal Revolution. It is completely free and comes with practices, meditations, diet, basically everything I need in my life right now! Even though it has been a little hectic and a little crazy lately, I am feeling very grateful and extremely blessed. My friend Amie came in town to host a workshop with me and it was fantastic. We had the perfect amount of people in each class, which just happened to work out. It was really wonderful. :)

I am very thankful to everyone who came to the workshops and for all the support!

I hope you all have a great week!

And if you wish to do the 40 Days with me, you can sign up here: http://www.regonline.com/Register/Checkin.aspx?EventID=1173289

You will get emails during the week, along with practices, meditations and principles to cleanse the diet.

"The greatest power we have over ourselves is our ability to change our minds about ourselves."

- Baron Baptiste