it's november... already?!?
all i seem to remember is being caught in the whirlwind of september: yogamonth and the challenge i posed to myself to take a yoga class everyday, each time at a different yoga studio with a different teacher. bhakti fest and the three days of ecstatic kirtan in the searing heat of the desert. the global mala event and the endless cycles of 108 sun salutations that i found myself doing all over town.
and when it was all over, i rested. i allowed myself the luxury of being able to skip my yoga practice when i felt like it. i abstained from kirtans to give the chanting voices in my head a chance to be silent. i decided i was just going to go with the flow and do whatever i felt like doing. including doing absolutely nothing at all.
the next thing i knew, i was dressed in costume at a halloween party on the 31st of october. what?!?! how did an entire month become nothing but a blur? now THAT's scary.
so now i'm flipping through my calendar, trying to recall an entire month that just whizzed by...
the first week:
- the much-anticipated concert featuring the LA philharmonic's new musical director, gustavo dudamel, at the hollywood bowl. it was a free event, and everyone in town was there, from concert hall subscribers, to hollywood bowl regulars, to those who had never been to either venue but were there only because it was FREE. but the fact that close to 17,000 of us were all there enjoying beautiful world and classical music together under an evening summer sky was awesome.
- the grand opening of the eco-friendly the green yogi in manhattan beach and its week of free classes. (it's amazing to me how all these yoga studios continue to pop up all over town; just in the past few months, FOUR new studios opened up in santa monica within blocks of each other: bhakti yoga shala, yogaco, yogis anonymous, and the yoga studio at the preece and toff salon at fred segal -- though even after taking richard rahn's class their first day in business, i have yet to find their website!)
- getting ready for my trip to the philippines to attend my high school reunion. including shopping for gifts to give my family and friends. and waiting in line at the federal building in westwood to expedite my passport renewal when i realized my old one had just expired. you'd think i would've checked when i bought my plane ticket back in august. but nooooo...... :(
the second week:
- my trip to manila to visit my parents and my sisters and to spend time reuniting with my high school classmates. it was also my chance to check out the residual damage to my parents' home after the catastrophic rains of typhoon ondoy caused the floodwaters to reach the five-foot level INSIDE the house (thankfully, they had time to move the more valuable items upstairs to the second floor, although there clearly was damage that was still in the process of being fixed or replaced -- waterlogged walls, furniture, appliances, cars). while there, i was so busy that i barely had time to get to the ONE yoga class that i took at pulse yoga in makati. i was hoping to also get to the bikram yoga studio in greenhills, but because of transportation and timing issues, it just never happened. sigh.
the third week:
- the ojai yoga crib! thanks to kira ryder and the crew at lulu bandha's yoga studio in ojai, i finally got to experience the joy of the crib. three days of yoga in a magical town with fantastic teachers, healthy food, clean air, the nicest people... and my green bike! how could anything be more memorable than that? the entire weekend rightfully deserves a write-up of its own, so i'll do that... soon :) in the meantime, i'm so enamored with ojai that i'm trying to find another reason to go back!
the fourth week:
- getting back into the groove... taking yoga classes with teachers i hadn't seen in a while. chasing tweeting food trucks. catching up on back episodes of "glee". watching michael jackson's new "this is it" documentary at the new multiplex at LA live. and restarting my marathon training in preparation for the upcoming stadium-to-the-sea LA marathon in march.
thirty-one days of just going with the flow. and sure enough, there it went. whoosh!
it's definitely time for me to get back on track, isn't it?
and when it was all over, i rested. i allowed myself the luxury of being able to skip my yoga practice when i felt like it. i abstained from kirtans to give the chanting voices in my head a chance to be silent. i decided i was just going to go with the flow and do whatever i felt like doing. including doing absolutely nothing at all.
the next thing i knew, i was dressed in costume at a halloween party on the 31st of october. what?!?! how did an entire month become nothing but a blur? now THAT's scary.
so now i'm flipping through my calendar, trying to recall an entire month that just whizzed by...
the first week:
- the much-anticipated concert featuring the LA philharmonic's new musical director, gustavo dudamel, at the hollywood bowl. it was a free event, and everyone in town was there, from concert hall subscribers, to hollywood bowl regulars, to those who had never been to either venue but were there only because it was FREE. but the fact that close to 17,000 of us were all there enjoying beautiful world and classical music together under an evening summer sky was awesome.
- the grand opening of the eco-friendly the green yogi in manhattan beach and its week of free classes. (it's amazing to me how all these yoga studios continue to pop up all over town; just in the past few months, FOUR new studios opened up in santa monica within blocks of each other: bhakti yoga shala, yogaco, yogis anonymous, and the yoga studio at the preece and toff salon at fred segal -- though even after taking richard rahn's class their first day in business, i have yet to find their website!)
- getting ready for my trip to the philippines to attend my high school reunion. including shopping for gifts to give my family and friends. and waiting in line at the federal building in westwood to expedite my passport renewal when i realized my old one had just expired. you'd think i would've checked when i bought my plane ticket back in august. but nooooo...... :(
the second week:
- my trip to manila to visit my parents and my sisters and to spend time reuniting with my high school classmates. it was also my chance to check out the residual damage to my parents' home after the catastrophic rains of typhoon ondoy caused the floodwaters to reach the five-foot level INSIDE the house (thankfully, they had time to move the more valuable items upstairs to the second floor, although there clearly was damage that was still in the process of being fixed or replaced -- waterlogged walls, furniture, appliances, cars). while there, i was so busy that i barely had time to get to the ONE yoga class that i took at pulse yoga in makati. i was hoping to also get to the bikram yoga studio in greenhills, but because of transportation and timing issues, it just never happened. sigh.
the third week:
- the ojai yoga crib! thanks to kira ryder and the crew at lulu bandha's yoga studio in ojai, i finally got to experience the joy of the crib. three days of yoga in a magical town with fantastic teachers, healthy food, clean air, the nicest people... and my green bike! how could anything be more memorable than that? the entire weekend rightfully deserves a write-up of its own, so i'll do that... soon :) in the meantime, i'm so enamored with ojai that i'm trying to find another reason to go back!
the fourth week:
- getting back into the groove... taking yoga classes with teachers i hadn't seen in a while. chasing tweeting food trucks. catching up on back episodes of "glee". watching michael jackson's new "this is it" documentary at the new multiplex at LA live. and restarting my marathon training in preparation for the upcoming stadium-to-the-sea LA marathon in march.
thirty-one days of just going with the flow. and sure enough, there it went. whoosh!
it's definitely time for me to get back on track, isn't it?
posted by joni at 11:25 PM
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