{Merry Christmas}

I know this is a day late, but Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone! I hope you all are spending this wonderful time doing something you love with the ones you love, and if you're not with family, I hope you find the love where you are.
This time of year is always nice to slow down a little, to remember to take some time for yourself, even in the midst of all the holiday parties, festivities, and running around. I am soaking up some much needed family time in the snow and doing some yoga at my favorite yoga studio in Breck. It's so nice, just to breathe a little. I feel like I've been going 90 miles an hour and I can tell my body is a little more tired than usual or perhaps this is the first time, I'm actually taking a break and not pushing it. I am one of those people that will run in the morning, ski in the afternoon and do yoga in the evening. This year, I am slowing down. Enjoying the rest and simply soaking up a little bit of everything. Wishing you all a merry holiday! I am going to try to post a little more this week. :)

Sending everyone lots of love!

image via pinterest

In Life & Love

It's almost the end of the week, which means it is almost time for a break. I can't wait for some good quality family and friend time.

I've spent the morning traveling through some fashion blogs and videos by Garance. No matter if I work in fashion or not, it's still in my blood and my bones... I think there are some things in life, we love no matter if they are in our lives or not. I am no longer in the fashion world at all, but there is still something that draws me to it. The authenticity, or the rawness of a fashion show, ohhh how I love it. I remember the first one I ever went to. I sat there, taking everything in, and I cried, I know it probably sounds silly, but I cried because there was something so honest about it. These designers put themselves out there to be critiqued and with any creative process, often the heart and soul is involved, which means that it can be very personal. It's something that captivated me at the time, because I knew I didn't have that kind of courage then. I knew that I couldn't put myself out there like that. But, funny how life works... I may never be in the fashion world again, but even with teaching yoga, it calls for the same kind of authenticity. I think that God places people and things in our lives to help us along the way. I think that if we look back on all the things we have loved, from people to places to jobs and everything else... there is some common link. Perhaps, something we were supposed to learn, something we were supposed to get to help us along in our journey.  Sometimes we have to let things run their course, we have to let our lives and ourselves unfold. "There are all kinds of love in this world, but never the same love twice." F. Scott Fitzgerald

I like this because it's true. I have fallen in love many times over, with a city, a mountain, a sport, a place, a person... it is never the same, because as we evolve, grow and journey down the road, it is necessary to have people, places and things that teach us along the way. 

I hope you all have a very wonderful Thursday. Enjoy!

Maitri Yoga and the birth of a logo...

Hello my dears, I hope all of you are having a great day. I finally have a logo and the website for the yoga studio is almost complete. Woohoo! As I approach, the actual opening of the studio, I can't help but feel like in many ways it is already open. I've been teaching an evening class, and with such wonderful friends and people who believe in this studio as much as I do, I am feeling an enormous amount of gratitude. My wish is that Maitri gives to others what yoga has given to me. I wrote this morning that when I stepped onto my mat in Houston, Texas, I never dreamed that it would lead me back to exactly where I started. I was born here in Fayetteville, right up the street from where Maitri Yoga studio is located. The studio itself used to be my mom's doctor's office. The doctor just happened to be the one who delivered me and as my mom has pointed out to me, I was in this space where I'm teaching yoga, before I was ever even born. Kinda weird, yes? Even if you had told me a year ago that I would be teaching yoga and living in Arkansas, I would have told you that you're nuts! But I think the universe has plans that we never could have dreamed up or imagined ourselves... and often times those plans are the biggest proof that the universe is always at work.

This yoga practice has been a gateway back to myself, back to my core and back to my roots. As humans I believe we can be really hard on ourselves. I think in all of this we somehow forget to have compassion for who we are. It's almost like we forget that we aren't meant to be perfect, much less have everything figured out, so we just start judging ourselves. This practice is one that meets you exactly where you are. It is one that met me exactly where it needed to. It didn't ask me to know exactly where my feet and hands were supposed to go on the mat, it simply called for authenticity, and the willingness to show up and I mean really show up.

The reason why I chose the name Maitri Yoga is because the word, maitri itself means loving-kindness or compassion. It simply suggests that we embrace all the parts of ourselves. The dark and the light, the happiness and the heartbreak, the fear and the courage. It's just about bringing all the parts of you together, not shaming yourself, but instead embracing it all.

It is only through our humanness and imperfection that we can connect to each other because that's where the compassion lies, that's where the heart is. Yoga is not about the perfect pose, it's about the willingness to be imperfect, to be seen, to be vulnerable and to breathe through it all, release, forgive and let go...

Ahh, and not to mention how good it feels! Yoga works on us, without even knowing it... the change is from the inside out and outside in. :)

Wishing you all a wonderful day! Just wanted to share this with you guys.

Life Lately:

Hi everyone! Happy Tuesday! Since I missed posting Monday, I figured I would give you all a glimpse into what in the world I've been doing with my time. The top two pictures are of the yoga studio. It is coming along quite nicely! Almost every piece of furniture I have stumbled upon randomly, yet it seems to be taking on a life of its own and it knows exactly what it wants to be without me even thinking about it too much. Do you ever feel that way in life? Like things just show up, and somehow everything fits? That's kind of been how the studio has come together. The fourth picture is one inside my house. My mom painted this abstract for me and I absolutely love it and again it's a perfect fit. It is soft against my light yellow walls, but adds lots of character. The painting I like to call is "Spiritual Connectivity." She added lots of things in the painting that appear hidden, crosses, and picture of herself... but, if you look closely you can see them. My house is filled with very meaningful things to me, some have been with me since college and some things have come to me from my grandparents that have been in our family for years. We are big on that kind of stuff. :)

The last picture is of course, my sweet Addie. She is enjoying her backyard very much, often coming in with muddy feet and prancing her paws all over the place. I never stop cleaning!

I hope you all are having wonderful day/week! I can't believe it is almost time for Christmas. I still need to do my Christmas shopping. Hoping to get some done today!

Lots of love to you all! 

Joy, Hope, Peace, Believe

There are so many things in life that I find myself wondering about, and today is one filled with them. As I think about the people in CT, the families, the children, the teachers and the people in the community, I can't help to think about the world as a whole. There seems to be so much tension, so much disruption in the world today and around this time of year-- a time for giving and receiving, a time for great faith, peace, love, joy, hope and believing, it's very hard to hear of something so tragic. My heart goes out to all of those in Connecticut.

Praying this afternoon for peace, serenity and healing for the families affected, and for the world. My heart is praying for all those who are hurting, who are in pain, that their hearts may be filled with light, warmth and love.

Praying for more kindness, compassion, peace and hope.

Wishing everyone a blessed weekend. Perhaps send a blessing or a prayer out into the universe for more healing, and less pain. More love and less hate. More self love and less self-loathing. More faith and less fear.

Love to you all.
image via pinterest

Sacramento Street's Rustic Christmas from M&G

                         

Happy Wednesday, all! I hope you guys are having a wonderful week. With Christmas wreaths up at my house and a few little decorations here and there, I am starting to feel settled into living in a new place. Which is a really, really good feeling, because as I'm starting to get a little more grounded in my home, I beginning to feel a little more grounded in every other aspect of my life as well. Finally, getting my feet on the ground. :)

This morning when I was looking through blogs, I came across this beautiful table setting on Sacramento Street. Ah, I don't know if there is anything I love more than a rustic table setting. Perhaps it's the simplicity of them... I'm not really sure. Whatever it is, I love it. Caitlin did an absolutely beautiful job. She has me sold! See some of the great items she used on Mark & Graham.

Hope you all have a lovely day!

{Happy Monday}

Happy Monday, everyone! Hoping all of you are having a great day.

It is freezing outside today, which means it's actually starting to feel like Christmas time and I am planning to kick off the week by enjoying it. I'm finally starting to feel better, after weeks of feeling somewhat off balance, off center and heavy. The heaviness for whatever reason, maybe it's been all the crying, or just simply letting go, but it feels like it is lifting off my shoulders. Which is very nice! :) I've been thinking a lot lately about giving and receiving. What I wish to give... and one thing that I've really noticed is that, we can not give unless we have been willing to receive and vice versa. I think one of the things that began to feel so heavy was the pressure of achieving, and then I realized that there is nothing to actually achieve, I'm just here to share through yoga and writing and being a friend, sister, daughter... what I have received. I used to feel really bad for ever accepting anything. Whether it be a compliment, a gift or just anything like that... it would make me uncomfortable. I didn't want to receive it. And then I read something in Yoga Journal about how it is actually an insult to others when you don't allow yourself to receive the gift that others are trying to give to you. Whether it be a smile or anything else. Kind of an interesting way to look at things, isn't it? I have never really thought about it that way before, but now it makes so much sense to me. 

Now, I think to myself that it is only in our own willingness to receive that we can really give because without receiving then we become depleted and have nothing to give. So this December, remember to allow yourself to receive. Allow yourself to soak up really wonderful things, and remember that it is in "perhaps it is in receiving that we heal others and in giving we heal ourselves." :) That quote is from Soul Soup.