Amigos do Mundo,

Since the last post, the effects of a very potent Full Moon have moved on…but not before effecting many people with varied emotions from my parents in North Carolina to a variety of people in Florianopolis. It seems as if many of us were guided into pretty deep and somewhat dark places in the last week and as the season’s changed with this Full Moon, so did our vibrations.
With the beginning of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere, longer days, blossoms and animals doing it will signal the transition for an elevation of vibrations and celebrations of surviving the darkness of winter. Here in the Southern Hemisphere, we transition to Autumn start a more introspective and restful period….although the weather and lifestyle of Brazil has never really seemed to be either of those things to me! Regardless, I am feeling a renewal of my energy and although my feelings of alone-ness and random bouts of self-criticism are still present, I am learning to befriend the shadows.
I’ve been practicing hyper-consciousness of all my vibrations in the last few days from the effects and directions of my mental vibrations (thoughts and ideas) to the vibrations of my emotions and of course, as a yogi, of my body as well.
My asana practice over the last few days was pretty deep with mornings spent practicing my feet / knees / hips - hands / elbows / shoulders sequence that I am really enjoying. Many students refer to this as Feet Torture, but as my teacher Nicki Doane says….”there is some pain on the path to freedom!” So I’m taking the time with my feet and hands to access deeper places. As my practice educates my teaching, I have been teaching that the feet and hands are the keys, the knees and elbows the doorways and the hips and shoulders the great halls of openness for us to experience physical opening and subsequently energetic awakenings. This is what is happening as I take time (with a clock to hold steady and evenly) with my morning discipline. Then I have a few long down dogs (3 and 5 minutes) and follow a flow of what my body is calling for. I’ve been doing 7 and 10 minutes of headstand and twice as long shoulder stands as well and feeling very content with my practice. I got to attend a class by my friend KaKa at YogaShala this week as well which was a nice vinyasa based on the Ashtanga second series. It was delicious and I hope to get myself to at least one or two group led classes a week as that experience also satisfies a need in my body for a strong sweaty practice.
I listened to an Abraham Hicks recording on Monday that talked about recognizing when our thoughts are on the things we do not want and making a clear and conscious shift of thought vibrations / brain waves in order to attract the things we do want in our lives. It’s been powerful for me to observe my feelings and thoughts gravitating towards things I want to change because it is our (my) natural tendency…and it’s been super potent to catch myself and ‘flip the script.’ so to speak. I can really feel a strong emotional tidal shift when I catch myself going down the vortex of self-defeating thoughts and as I turn my attention (even if it’s just in my fantasy mind) towards that which I want to attract into my life, as Abraham says….it sets the stage for our dreams to become our realities. I am finding myself drifting towards thoughts of ‘being alone and sad’ and pretty quickly shifting them…please note, these thoughts are only about 20% of what’s going on for me…the other 80% is very very good. This has been something I have been needing to work on as well as I am generally a VERY happy and positive person, but the strength of the 80% super has been neglecting me the pleasure and challenge of becoming 100%…which I believe is totally possible…and, in fact, the 20% of the thoughts I wish to transform are also part of my total satisfaction with my life…I want the full spectrum in order to really be IN life and to be the Entire Sea of Awakened Consciousness…not just one ‘happy fish.’

I’ve been in Belo Horizante in the state of Minas Gerais all weekend with a program at Jai Vida Yoga. It is the only place in Brazil that I have been away from the coast and I find the people here to be especially nice. They let you in traffic when you’re trying to get through, they wave and smile and they even wave and smile in public! I am hosted here by Renata Sumar and her Jai Vida Studio, however Renata is in Florida having just given birth to her second child! Parabens!!! So her friend and Mineiran Saint ‘Santa’ takes amazing care of me. Her name really is Santa, which means Saint. She got me at the airport, brought me to her home and takes excellent care of me. She’s making ‘macarao com molho’ (pasta w. Sauce) and salada for dinner and is taking me to a waterfall tomorrow before my class…I think she’s around 60 - 65 and makes me feel very much like a ‘Yoga Pop Star’ at a homestyle Ritz Carlton! Oh…she doesn’t speak a word of English…mais minha Portuguese e super bem agora! We talked the whole way home from the airport in Portuguese…those thought waves are working nicely

My weekend program was a big success with all the students (and subsequently. me!). My Friday night Flow class blew the group of 16 wide open with live music (me) and a juicy flow class with my new groovy Friday night playlist! Saturday building backbends was a strong practice for them, but many in the room (most of them teachers) came to me afterwards and told me they had never practiced like that before…and my friend Lu told me that every time she has done full wheel backbend for the last several years, her back hurt…and today, for the first time, it did not and in fact it felt great! I feel really clear and sold with my teaching….which carried into the Foundations of Asana practice on Satruday afternoon. This morning (Sunday) was The Natural Link and every time I teach it, it ‘works’….it was an excellent experience and then we had a great ‘thank you…I love you’ session that went both ways! More photos and posts coming soon.

Shanti Om - D