December 27, 2008 - January 4, 2009

Join David for a week of Yoga and Moroccan culture to celebrate the turn of the year. We will have daily yoga lessons, delicious Mediterranean meals and some adventure travel.

We will stay at the Dar L’Ouissa Hotel for the week.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE HOTEL

Camel rides on the beach, belly dancing lessons, Mediterranean cooking classes, live music!

International Student Base

Price includes:

• Ground transportation from Marrakesh to Essuaria
• Daily breakfast and dinner (the mid-day meal is NOT part of the package as breakfast will be served at 10:30)
• Twice daily yoga lessons
• New Year’s Celebration Party with Live Music, Dancing and Moroccan Feast
• Shared Deluxe Hotel Room

$1899 (US)

Payments made by electronic bank transfer - contact David for Information

If you wish to pay by Credit Card, there is an additional $50 fee

EARLY REGISTRATION SPECIAL

$1799 (US)

if paid in full by October 15th

JUNE 10 - 15
Teacher Intensives
de YOGA STUDIO
Den Bosch, Holland

TEACHER / ADVANCED PRACTITIONER INTENSIVE PROGRAM
This series is designed as a way for yoga teachers and advanced practitioners to explore new aspects of Asana practice. The morning asana classes will be in David’s Mindful Spirited Vinyasa format which brings attention to the physiology of the postures, focus of the mind and presence to the heart. Afternoon sessions will be interactive lecture and discussion format.

Wednesday June 11
10:00 - 12:30 > Asana Practice (lunges and hip openers)
14:30 - 16:30 > The 8 Limbs of Ashtanga Yoga: Yoga philosophy and the 8 limbs of Ashtanga Yoga. We will explore how we live the 8 limbs both on and off the mat as Yogi’s in today’s world.

Thursday June 12
10:00 - 12:30 > Asana Practice (standing poses)
14:30 - 16:30 > The Dynamics of Touch: Exercises designed to learn the art of adjusting, we will work together and explore giving and receiving adjustments in various yoga poses.

Friday June 13
10:00 - 12:30 > Asana Practice (Inversions)
14:30 - 16:30 > Sequencing Poses and Finding your teaching voice

prices in Euros:
6 sessions: $180 ($30 ea.)
4 sessions: $140 ($35 ea.)
3 sessions: $115 ($38 ea.)
2 sessions: $80 ($40 ea.)
1 session: $50

PUBLIC CLASSES
Friday June 13
19:00 - 21:00 Friday Night Candle Light Live Music Vinyasa
₡45

Sunday June 15
10:00 - 12:30 Asana Workshop: Lunge-O-Rama
₡45

BOTH CLASSES FOR ₡80

So now, they are calling my flight to New York to board…so I will leave this post as this and start the next final reflections and sentamentos do Brasil from the air…

That afternoon, I took off to a very magical retreat experience in Teresopolis, just outside of Rio.  There were 14 students who came for the weekend and we were welcomed at Vajrabhumi retreat center, which is a Hare Krishna based retreat center.  I had the pleasure of riding up with a student who is just an angel of a woman…we had a very good time with the ride and it felt almost like family for the 2 1/2 hour journey to the mountains.  The retreat was Fri / Sat / Sun / Mon morning (Monday was a holiday in Brazil) and I led classes every morning and afternoon.  As always, there was a HUGE variety of yoga and life experience, from other teachers to the brand new practitioners.  The classes all seemed to have very deep and profound effects on the students and the location provided a natural sanctuary for transformation.  We ate well, connected on heart and soul levels and by the end of the 2nd day it felt like everyone was extended family.

My experience as the leader of the weekend was strong.  With each time I am able to lead retreat and create and hold space for people to transform in body, mind and soul…I receive the effects inherently.  The retreat also took place over the Jewish holiday of Pesach, which is the re-telling of the story of the Jews Exodus form Egypt (as found in the bible).  There were 2 other Jewish students on the retreat as well and I introduced the holiday, told the story and expressed how even though we are not ’slaves’ per se in the building and manual labor sense of things, but we all are ‘enslaved’ by things in our lives that prevent us from being totally free.  I invited everyone to take some time over the next 2 days and write on a piece of paper what is was in their life that they wanted to ‘free themselves’ of and just like the Jew’s exodus from Egypt, we cold free ourselves of these things at a bonfire Kirtan under the full moon on Sunday night!  I also did the exercise….but will leave my details to the fire 

On the Sunday night we gathered around the fire and were joined by a sweet little local Brazilian Hare Krishna family for the Kirtan.  I started the mantras and the energy started to elevate.  With the hare Krishna family in the house, I took it upon myself to make it a Radha and Krishna night and we sang 4 or 5 mantras all strung together and the energy got super juicy….a little bit into the crescendo, one of the students approached the fire and put her paper in…and we cheered!  And then one by one, those that were there and participating walked up to the fire and ‘freed’ themselves under the light of the full moon and mantras.  It was strong and full on.  Many great photos of the group, the retreat center and the Kirtan on my photos page…

At the close of the retreat….there were lots of hugs and kisses and I was really touched by the acknowledgments of the all the students who shared with me their processes of transformation.  This work I am up to is having a big impact!

And a HUGE thanks to Cristiane at Anahatta Yoga in Barra Point!  It was her idea to organize the retreat and all her efforts that made it possible.  Grande Abracao e Agradacer, Cris…pra tudo!

I got a ride home on Monday night and had organized a CouchSurfing kirtan at Carlos’ house.  I was a little tired, but alas, 7 - 9 people came over and had their first Kirtan!  Carlos and I had practiced some mantras together and we rocked the house.  I felt a strong friendship with him and thank the angels that brought me to his house to stay!  Early the next morning, I was up and on the road again back to Florianopolis where I was for 3 days.

I am now writing/riding on the bus back home after leading a full weekend program at Govardhana Yoga Shala in Curitiba.  It was one of the weekends of teacxher training for my good friend Camila’s teacher training and again was a complete success.  The classes, lectures, mantras and connections with students of yoga of all varieties left all of us opened to the grace of these teachings.  Today, we had a great debate over; Is Yoga a Religion?  There were lots of great points put forth.  My opinion on the matter is that no, Yoga is a science.  There is a specific and outlined path of liberation of Patanjalim\s Ashtanga Yoga that can be applied to any religion.  Body and Mind are fine tuned to awaken the spirit and it is up to the individual to decide what that awakened spirit does.  I have chosen to stay connected to my Jewish roots but have very Hindu branches!  But it is possible for practitioners of yoga to connect to Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha or any other God / Goddess through the path of yoga, but the path is independent of the ultimate result.  The road is not the destination and Yoga is that road to the destination of liberation.

I will spend 1 more day in my second island home of Florianopolis before heading to Sao Paulo on Tuesday and my final weekend in Brazil leading retreat at an Organic Coffee Plantation in the state of Sao Paulo.  The end of this chapter of an extremely opening and personal journey in Brasil  is very near and I already am experiencing Saudade, the Portuguese word for ‘missing a whole lot!!’.  I have arranged my return in January for another 3-4 month stint here….and at the same time, I am very excited to take these lessons learned about teaching yoga, deepened comfort with myself and new language skills out to other parts of the world.  Stay tuned for the next chapters….

Teresopolis Retreat Group:

GovarDhana TT Group in Curitiba:

After teaching to teachers…for the second time on this tour, I had an amazing experience teaching kids in another of Brazil’s Favela’s (slums). This venture was a bit more independant and slightly scary as I organized to enter into the Cidade de Deus (City of God) Favela. Many of you may have seen the film with the same name that shows just how rough, violent and out of control life is in this Favela. Through mutual friends, I found Fatima Lopes of the Brazil / Canada Cultural Center who helped me with everything. She and the cultural center work with a school within the favela teaching the kids art, music, computers, English and various forms of body movement. On Wednesday morning, i awoke early (6:30) to catch a bus from Jardins Botanico to Barra Point. I was by myself and with my guitar on my back. After almost 3 months here in Brazil and with my hair and tan….I have to actually convince people that I am not Brazilian (or try talking to them in Portuguese!). So the bus was no problem. Fatima told me to get out at a mall and take a taxi to the main praca at the entrance to the favela. I did and the taxi driver was very curious about why I was going to the favela alone with my guitar…I explained to him (in Portuguese) that I was a traveling yoga teacher and going to offer a class to the children. He told me he doesn’t go into the favela and I heard the same from many of my friends here. I told him that the children are so isolated in there that even their own countrymen are afraid to enter the favelas and that these kids especially need contact with the outside world if we are ever to break the cycle of violence and economic oppression that exists. He looked at me rather strangely and was happy to be arriving to the place where I would leave! Fortunately, as soon as I arrived at the Praca, Fatima called and said she was 2 minutes away and to wait the bus stop. This was at the ‘entrance’ to the favela and I felt totally fine being there on the street. It was a 3rd world country experience with busses, street vendors, workers and kids all over…and a random gringo with a guitar!

True to her word, Fatima arrived within 2 minutes and whisked me away in her car. We started driving into the Favela and she explained to me a bit about the school and the programs there as well as a little ‘tour’ of the favela. We got to the school within 10 minutes and the street outside was fairly empty except for a maybe 5 - 7 old men at the bar across at the street enjoying their 8:45 AM beer! We went in to the school and were greeted by the staff…soon, Socorro, the director of operations (a title I just gave her now!) arrived and was really happy to meet me. The kids were also arriving and she guided me upstairs to the room where I would teach. The last experience I had at Casa do Zezinho was a production…lots of kids, an altar, many cameras and people of all varieties wanting to see what we were doing. This morning at REI, the school, it was me, Fatima, Socorro and 23 children ages 9 - 14! As I walked into the room, one of the boys was in handstand! And the others were playing around…but they quickly all sat down and put their attention on me. I sat in front of them in lotus pose and smiled and looked at them. Many tried (and some succeeded) with Padmasana (lotus pose) and I began to give them an introduction to myself and to Yoga. None of them had ever heard of Yoga! A few had heard of India but they all knew about California! I introduced to them the idea that everyone in the world breathes so when we breath, we are actually connecting to everyone else on the planet…and not just people. They thought that was pretty cool…I gave a nice ‘intro to yoga for kids’ talk for about 10 minutes and then we were all ready to move. I asked them; ‘Where does the Sun rise’ in the morning…they were a bit confused…I asked them to point in the direction of the sunrise, and none of them knew. I knew where East was (it is one the first things I do when I arrive in a new city…align my inner compass) and turned them all there. Then we started a story of the sunrise and sunset with Sun Salutations….and were off and running…after about 20 - 25 minutes of lots of yoga poses and fun, we were all ready for a shift so I put them into savasana (relaxation). They all got on the floor and most of them closed their eyes like I asked! I sang to them a beautiful song in Spanish I recently learned (Promesa - by Shimshai) and brought them back from relaxation. I could see a subtle shift in most of their eyes and they were certainly more open and relaxed then when I first arrived. I gathered them close and gave a little concert / sing-a-long….not mantras this time, but Michael Franti, Bob Marley, Marissa Monte and a Portuguese translation of Lokah Samastah Sukino Bhavanto (Todos os Ceres, Em todos lugares, Seja Feliz e Livre)…we were all pretty blasted open afterwards. Looking into their eyes and singing with them and seeing their smiles really touched my heart and the reflected smiles that came back to me acknowledged that they were touched as well.

After the show, they were working on a dance coreography that there were really excited to show me! I sat a the front of the room and was elated to watch their dance…they were great! Coreographed moves, all moving together and with style and rhythm…muito legal! When the piece ended, I was almost in tears and they were all super happy. One of the helpers at the school then arrived with a shirt from the school for me. I gladly put it on and took some photos with them…and Fatima had a great idea. They have been following some of the Olympic Torch travels and Fatima suggestd that perhaps I could take this shirt from their special school in the favlela of Rio and take photos of me wearing it in all the places I go…and send them back in email to them. I LOVE this idea and am very happy to get to share stories from the world to these kids while they have a sense of connection to world through the shirt! Stay tuned for stories and photos!

After the class, Fatima and I talked a bit about how to bring more yoga teachers to the school and ways we can support each other and then she took me back to the bus stop for my ride home. I had great feelings of joy and happiness having seen and brought smiles to the faces of those children (see the photos on the photo page!) and also was inspired to create more opportunities for myself like this in other cities on my tour….if you happen to reading this and have a school / community center I could teach a free class to kids….let me know!!!! I also had feelings of great peace and gratitude for the blessed life I am living right now which were balanced with feelings of sadness and despair of what will happen to the lives of those children and to the millions of other children who live in poverty and violence. One thing I did notice with these children was that none of them looked ‘hungry’ per se…but after the class, I saw them all eating cookies and packaged junk food….this is a major hurdle in the health of the planet….shifting the tide of diet and nutrition. Brazil is rich in fruits and vegetables but there is a terrible over consumption of junk food, packaged food and sugar. When you order your fresh juice a the local corner suco stand, you have to request No Sugar or else it comes with 2 heaping spoonfulls…in Gods naturally sweet fruit juice!!! Caramba!!!! These children (and most children in the favelas) do not have the guidance or direction to learn to eat healthy and take care of themselves, which is like violence against themselves…then they are faced with gunfights, drug trafficiing, and lawlessness on a daily bases with violence on the outside. There is a lot of work to do….

Fatima and her Organization can be found here:

http://www.centroculturalbrasilcanada.org.br/

As my life is about balance…and often that takes the form of radical extremes, my afternoon experience was equal but opposite and incredibly educating in a different way. My good friend in Rio, Antonio Tigre, has been teaching yoga to children for several years now and he called me in the afternoon for a little hike. It was a welcome call and trip to the top of a park overlooking the lagoon of Rio and then it came to go as he had a class to teach at Nirvana, Rio’s super posh chiky-micky yoga studio. After my experience of teaching to kids in the favela, I wanted to learn from Antonio so he invited me to his class in the afternoon. He was amazing and although he acted like a kid the entire time, they respected every word he said. He guided them through a few poses and then had 2 or 3 games that were super fun (I played with the kids!). Then I watched as Antonio saw 2 girls in the class doing something different from the group…he walked over to them and asked what they were doing. They explained it to him and he quickly called all the others around….and had the children make us a brand new game on the spot….he allowed them to make the rules, the guidelines, how and where to start, etc….it was truly inspiring to see him empower these kids and for them to use their creativity and imaginations and to be allowed to run with their ideas to make a new game! Antonio told me this is the work / philosophy of one of his teachers and I look forward to trying it out next time I teach to kids…plus the games that he created that are very fun and effective.

From the City of God to Nirvana….classes of Yoga for kids who live lives within 10 miles of each other, but completely alternate universes…this is much of life in Brazil and very unique!

Rio is a huge city planted in the middle of the jungle with massive rock formations all over the place. This wildness lends itself perfectly to the wild nature of the residents and the energy of life here. It feels much more 3rd world then other parts of Brazil, but is still full of great culture and music and food and I feel safe and easy being here and around.

My first night in town, I went to a Forro (Brazilian country dancing) party with the www.couchsurfing.com community of Rio. I’ve been involved with CS for a while now, but this is the first city I’ve been to organized gatherings and events and I have arranged to hike a mountain with a group of CS’ers Sunday and will offer them a free yoga class on Thursday night as well! Then on Tuesday I had my first class and it was sold out! The new place I am teaching in Rio, Blyss, is very will organized and run, but it is small. I have been teaching at Nirvana when I come to Rio, but due to some administrative difficulties, I am choosing to teach at Blyss where I feel very welcomed and well taken care of. However, it is a small room in a shopping center instead of the expansive glass enclosed paradise rooms of Nirvana. It’s all good though as Coraracy, the owner of Blyss, is truly a delight to work for and is a wild Carioca himself. He was translating my ‘palestra’ (lecture) on Sequencing classes on Tuesday and was getting very into it…I actually had to request that he just translate what I was saying instead of adding his own commentary b/c I could understand everything he was saying! It was all correct, but I chose my words very carefully and speak in a very deliberate way when teaching and I felt it lost a bit of that with this added comments…I told him the next day and he was very glad I told him and had a 100% improvement the next day I really realized what kind of control issues I have when it comes to teaching!! Entrega!!!

Tussday night I got to go to a GREAT live show. Roge, a Carioca MPB singer / songwriter and his band….and guest singer Seu Jorge for a song as well! They were recording the concert for a CD and it was a great show. Then on Thursday night I went to another show of Baniio de Budha which was another yoga teacher’s band and they put on a GREAT show! 3 women / 3 men….all excellent musicians singing all kinds of songs from Brazilian to Pink Floyd to America. Very entertaining.

Over the weekend I went to another concert of Paulo Moura who is an incredible Jazz clarint player. I only found out about it in the afternoon after my workshops (which were great…new students, old students and many opened hearts and bodies) and tried to contact a few people I knew in the city. As it turns out, I didn’t get a hold of anyone and ended up at the show by myself. I have noticed that very few people in Brazil do things by themselves here. I went though the normal ‘whoa…what are you doing by yourself’ scenario and have learned to fairly easily flip that script and be content in enjoying a show by myself. The music was great…I talked to the strangers next to me at the bar (an older woman of about 55 who has just come back from a daily heath and wellness seminar where she tried Yoga!) and then come home to bed for a good nights sleep before an early wake up call.

On Sunday, I was up at 6:40 so I could go to hike Pedra da Gavea…a huge slab of granite mountain just out of the city center of Rio. I met up with some couchsurfers (this site has been a gift to me here in Rio!) who got me on the right bus at 7:30 in the morning to meet them at the base of the trail. On my way out the door, I passed Carlos, who’s house I am staying at and who is an incredible Carioca character, as he was on his way home from celebrating his football team’s victory all night! Yeah Fluminense!!! He’s a super yogi as well and we’re meeting tomorrow for a 7:00 AM mysore practice…But, back to the hike. The bus at 7:30 AM was completely packed. With my tan and attitude these days, I pass for Brazilian so I felt fine and cool on the bus. Until I had to ask about my stop! I asked a guy in front of me if we went by ‘Passareila da Barra’ yet. He said no, then turned away….OK, well I guess I’ll figure out some other way to know when it is…Then, within a few minutes, the bus was coming to a station and a nice woman looked me in the eye (one of the only ones on the bus) and told me this was my stop. Fortunately, she was telling the truth I got off and found the couchsurfers Iris and her husband Du and 2 of their friends, Gabriel and Claoucia.

The 5 of us set up the mountain at a pretty strong pace. Soon, Du and I broke away and worked a HUGE sweat and climb. Eventually the others cought up at the base of the peak where we had to do a bit of rock climbing to get to the peaks. Once we did, there were actually lots of people already there b/c ‘trilhas do rio de janeiro’ hiking club had their weekly hike at this place this week! But it was good fun on the top anyway. Lots of photos and incredible views in all directions of the city and sea and mountains.

3 hours to the top, about 2 hours on the top, and 2 hours descent. Made for a great all day adventure.

I’m a bit sleepy now so off to get rest.  I will wake up early to go to Mathew Volmer’s Ashtanga class at 7:00 AM.  It’s a strong practice and he is a strong adjuster so I’m getting ready for that.   Then I have my last official classes at Blyss tomorrow….

lots of other happenings to give some snippets:

I am officially enrolled in Acro-Yoga teacher training Aug 1 - 17 in California!  I am super excited to make this training and share this new aspect of Yoga, Acrobatics and Massage with you!!

Coaracy from Blyss and I filmed 2 sequences to put on YouTube today.  He will do a little production work on them and they should be good in about month.  I will send my newsletter with the release!

I am teaching at City of God Favella on Wed. morning.  I will go with love in my heart and both eyes open and aware!

My retreat here this coming weekend has only 3 spots left!  I am attracting the other 3 students now!

Someday, I’m going to write a book!

Many more photos from the hike in the gallery, go to:  ABOUT > PHOTOS

I have just landed in Rio de Janeiro after another incredible week in Florianopolis. I’ll re-cap the adventures and then when I have a bit more time post a bit about two things I’m pondering lately; dedication vs. discipline and taking risks…

After the very positive experiences in BH, I returned to the island sanctuary of Floripa. The weather was a bit cool so I took a few days to just be…some beach time, good practices and a lot of ’shanti time’. I taught class at Yoga Shala on Wednesday to a small group and gave a great Vinyasa Flow to them….lots of new stuff for the students and well received. Then I had 2 great adventure days leading into the teacher training weekend…

I called my friend Manu on Thursday and she was excited to hear from me and invited me to go to ‘circus’….not to ‘the circus’ but to play on Silks hanging from the ceiling. I have seen many performances of them before and was excited to try them. We arrived at UFSC (local university) and there was a class of Silk happening so Manu and I stretched a bit and then did some Acro-Yoga and other acrobatic tricks…she’s a bit of a circus performer type and showed me some great new stuff. It was great to be her base while she jumped and flew all over! Then we went to the silk and she gave me a little lesson and up I went. I was amazed at how safe I felt with using my hands and feet (Yes….the keys!!) to hold myself about 4 or 5 meters in the air. She gave me instructions from the ground and I made my way upside-down, split between two ropes and a few other poses that were really great. It was extremely tiring for me and the women who were there in class and the other teachers really amazed me with their strength and grace. I posted pics on my photos page (about > photos) and you can see my with my first circus act!!!! I had the pleasure of dinner with a new friend on Thursday night as well that brought some light and high vibration back to me. Thanks Claudia!

Then on Friday, the adventure continued with Paragliding! I got a call around mid-day from a friend I met who takes tandem rides on a parachute and it was truly special. We went to the top of Morro do Logoa and there were lots of pilots eager to fly as it had been a few days / weeks since conditions were good…Richard got everything set up, gave me a 3 minute lesson, really!, and strapped me in. There will be some other photos of that coming soon. Then he got the chute up in the air, gave me the instruction to start walking forward and the next think I know he’s behind me strapping in and the lift of a giant parachute pulled my feet off the ground and we were airborne. That initial sensation was really amazing. Something I have always wondered about….running off the side of the mountain until the wind carries you away. It was magical…then we cought a few thermals (warm updrafts of air) and up we went. The total flight was about an hour and the system is super easy. There was a seat on my pack and I literally just sat there and took in the amazing views of flying above Lagoa and the surrounding area. At one point, we even caught a thermal while it was making a cloud and were in the middle of this forming cloud….WOW! And with about 10 - 15 other chutes in the air, it was a very special afternoon. On the way down, Richard wanted to do a few loops which felt really amazing to have the G-forces, but made me a bit nautious…As for the landing, there were less instuctions then for the take-off, but successful and fun getting back to Earth. I felt completely spaced out afterwards for a few hours and Richard commented that being in the air like that (paragliding or hang gliding) is one of our only chances to be completely supported by the air in the natural way and I truly felt that in all my being. I got home, took a nice hot shower to prepare for class that evening and barely was grounded enough to make it to class. But alas, I’m a professional and made it happen.

The weekend was teacher training at Yoga Shala. I was an invited guest teacher of my good friend Camila’s training and had a super powerful weekend of teaching 18 very eager and interested students. There was lots of technical information as many of them were fairly new to asana practice (which I found very interesting seeing as it was teacher training, but I think many of them want to develop their practices deeper and then possibly teach) and lots of ‘David’s theory of vibrational living’ talk and….the Hands and Feet are the Keys that can open the doors of the Elbows and Knees which will lead you into the Kingdom of openness in the shoulders and hips! This analogy and methodology is going to be the fuel for my book…coming sometime in the next 5 years

Then Sunday afternoon after teacher training, I had some quality time on the beach with my new friend and am now working on a new song….It never gets easier to say Good - bye.

Now in Rio, I’ve arrived at Casa Carlao, a Yogi whom I have not yet met, but we have mutual friends and he’s invited me to his home. The doorman greeted me and brought me upstairs and I’m about to wrap this up and take an Acai in Ipanema before 6:30 class (as a student!!) at Blyss. My program at Blyss starts tomorrow and I am really excited to be back in Rio. Oh, there’s a pretty serious epidemic of Dengue Fever here in Rio right now. So I’ve brought plenty of repellent. Supposed to re-apply every 3 hours to keep the mossie’s away.

As a quick overview….I’m feeling very supported by friends and family through email and Skype. I am fully immersed in the ocean of emotion that is my traveling life and I am holding a vision for some major growth which is poised on the horizon.

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

I had a good last few days in Sao Paulo with a return to Casa do Zezinho for a small and more intimate group yoga and music event. It was super sweet and I have some new photos in the Sao Paulo page of pics…and then a great afternoon being ‘the star’ again for www.informeyoga.com.br where my new friends interviewed me in Ibirapuera Park about my philosophies of yoga, Vinyasa, teaching and living yoga and then made a little short video clip that will soon be edited and posted on YouTube for the world to see! I am now back in Florianopolis and and very happy to be back on the ‘Ilha de Magia’ (Magic Island) where I am leading Greenpath Teacher Training Module II all weekend. The honor and pleasure of leading Teacher training never ceases to amaze me and my experiences of late (loneliness, self judgment along with bliss and ego inflation!) are serving me wonderfully with new rich material with which to lead and live yoga by example!

Before I left Sao Paulo though, I had an interesting insight…the traffic in Sao Paulo is really some of the worst in the entire world. My last day there, there was a traffic jam that was measured to be 90 KM long…really. As a result of the traffic along with a very lackadaisical society my insight was this: Traffic in Sao Paulo is a legitimate excuse for inefficiency!

The last post about comparison and judgments brought about a series of replies ranging from compassion and empathy to acknowledgment and sympathy. Its interesting to still be in the space of comparison of how things were in those moments when I was comparing myself to other teachers to what is happening now where I am comparing myself to my state a few days ago. All the observations are very insightful and as I have been teaching lately, the first steps of transformation are becoming aware of triggers and initiators of self defeating and distracting thought forms so that we can work with them. I am now more and more aware of my triggers and have also been listening to some pretty potent teachings on MP3 that are teaching me ways to ‘flip the script’ so to speak when I have these thoughts / distractions. If you have a chance, check out:

http://www.abraham-hicks.com/

and The Lost Teachings of Yoga by Georg Feuerstein…both are very mind and heart opening sources of knowledge.

I also received this thoughtful post from a friend which draws a clear distinction with with what I have been feeling and sheds some Yogic insight to the process:

“When you are alone you are not alone, you are simply lonely - and there is a tremendous difference between loneliness and aloneness. When you are lonely you are thinking of the other, you are missing the other. Loneliness is a negative state. You are feeling that it would have been better if the other were there - your friend, your wife, your mother, your beloved, your husband. It would have been good if the other were there, but the other is not. Loneliness is absence of the other. Aloneness is the presence of oneself. Aloneness is very positive. It is a presence, overflowing presence. You are so full of presence that you can fill the whole universe with your presence and there is no need for anybody.”
Osho The Discipline of Transcendence, Volume 1 Chapter 2
All the best from the Ilha de Magia…next post is going to explore the distinction I am working with between Dedication and Discipline. It seems to be coming up a lot as I talk to Yogis here in Brazil ad reflect upon my own dedication and discipline…

And for the record, since I’ve been back in Floripa, I went out 2 nights in a row and feel my energy and vibes on the up and up again! I had a great day on the beach on Thursday and made a beautiful and profound ritual and offering to Yemanja on Friday coinciding with the Full Moon…Look out ;)!!!

Light and Love,

David