I’m sitting now in the Florianopolis airport awaiting my delayed flight to Sao Paulo and reflecting upon the last week here in this island paradise. As for the agenda and details, it was great. I had my Vinyasa Intensive Weekend at Yoga Shala and felt great about the whole weekend program.

We started with a Friday night Candle Light Vinyasa that was a very juicy class. There’s not much flow style Vinyasa happening here and this group was ready to go and experiment with new sequences, postures and ideas. I channeled my dear friend Janet Stone from San Francisco who’s Friday night flow classes inspired a great deal of the class I led and I am ever grateful to Janet for her guidance and love when I am in SF. Saturday morning I led my building to backbends workshop and we had Shanti Town restorative practice Sat. afternoon. Sunday morning was Inversion Immersion and there were several breakthroughs for the students who were initially intimidated by inversions. I taught about 85% in Portuguese and felt great about that…my translator, Susana was ever present though and whenever I stumbled with my words or needed support, she was right there without missing a breath. We’ve been ‘working’ together for several years now and she is a great teacher and inspiration for me.

The students all had positive experiences and there were several new students to practice with me as well as some friends whom I have known for a while. Teaching something new and both physically and emotionally challenging creates a very deep relationship with students. There were a few tears shed in the backbends class and after the weekend program, many of them were hungry to explore deeper paths of Vinyasa Yoga. It’s an interesting feeling for me to be here as an expert with the experiences I have teaching globally and my experience teaching various classes and workshops and I am feeling more and more comfortable as a ‘Vinyasa specialist’ expanding the common boundaries of what many people think is ‘yoga.’ It has to more with how I am teaching ‘the way you do anything is the way you do everything’ instead of the approach to asana, however many students are really excited about the technical aspects of their practice that I am helping them with…mostly hands and feet!

On Sunday night we finished the weekend with a Kirtan at Yoga Shala and in addition to the chanting, we celebrated Lu’s birthday…the manager of Yoga Shala. It was a great vibe and Markus on Mrdungam helped a lot in keeping the vibes steady. I introduced The Giving Coin that I have to the group and explained how this coin and the other 107 in circulation in the world are shifting the global economy…one transaction at a time. Most of the people there (there were about 30 at the Kirtan) were really inspired by the idea of Paying it Forward and I passed the coin for everyone to see and feel it and share some energy with it. I will teach this Thursday at a school in the Sao Paulo favlela and pay the class forward with the coin. I am excited to put it into circulation, and will also miss having this beautifully crafted piece in my possession….ahhh….non-attachment!

On the social front, I had a very interesting week of connections with new people who opened up some vulnerable places in my heart. In traveling as I do, I meet amazing people and also because of the work I do and outlook on life I carry with me, I tend to make a big impact in the people who I relate to on deeper levels. This is a double edged sword as although these connections are magical and quite pleasureful, saying good bye does not ever get easier! Also, it makes me really explore the areas within myself where my higher being comes face to face with my physical and emotional needs and finding balance between honoring myself, my truth and desires while also honoring the emotions and feelings of others becomes a delicate dance. I consciously and consistently run myself through a Yamas and Niyamas check to make sure I am living within the values that I truly believe are necessary for being a good person…and man, it’s a tough test!

Ahimsa Peaceful Action: I feel very good about this one. I am super conscious of my words, thoughts and actions as positive vibrations in the world. I have some areas to develop here in terms of hurting others feelings when we open up an a deep heart level and then I leave. This form of ‘violence’ does not feel as directly impacting as physical violence but I know it is very real and causes tensions in the lives of others. I have been eating a lot of fish here in Floripa and this could be an Ahimsa violation as well….but I’m OK with it for now. There are great Sushi by the Kilo here in Fpa!

Satya / Truthfulness: Speaking my truth has never been much of a problem for me, it’s discernment that proves to be a challenge! See Ahimsa, which comes first. When does my truth create harm for others and how do I balance being completely honest with honoring the hearts of others. I am clear within myself that the expression of my truth with verbal and non-verbal communication is important for me and I can also see where my truth stings. This was something that has been pointed out to me before and I am ever refining the delivery methods of ‘what is so’ for me. There are also times when I feel that I could still be honest but not tell the whole truth in the idea of being peaceful with my communication.

Asteya / non-stealing: Again…pretty clear that I’m all good with this one. I do not steal tangible things (money, clothes, etc…) and do my best not to take complements, praises and energy that does not belong to me. After the kirtan on Sunday, several people came to me with tears in their eyes saying how much I touched them. Although I accepted the complements and see where they were coming from, I also reminded them that I am an ‘espelho’….a Mirror and that as I am working to polish the reflections in myself through my practices, they are seeing the light inside themselves.

Bramhacharya / moderation: OK, this one tough. I do not view bramhacharya as celibacy as that is not part of my discipline. However I do what I can to maintain balance between my social time that often is not the most healthy with my life as a yogi. I enjoyed some mornings of sleeping in and a few days of gently asana practice after some late nights and I feel totally cool with that. I am consistent with my ‘no more then 3 days without a practice’ discipline and know deeply in my being that I blessed to travel and teach yoga…so I must be consistent with my practice. I was not moderate with my pizza consumption this week…the ‘rodizio’ (all you can eat pizza as they walk around and serve it to your plate) is a soft spot for me….as is the Buffet de Sorvette (Ice cream buffet)….good thing I am OK with splurging a bit

Aprigraha / non-hoarding - taking only what you need: See above about the pizza and ice cream. Other than that I am at peace with my consumption. One thing I have been very conscious about is the amount of plastic-ware and bags served with meals and shopping here. There is not much awareness to the over use and abuse of plastics here in Brazil. My friend Ari who collected his trash for a year has really awakened something inside of me as well as several other traveling yogis who will keep and collect their trash during their travels. I was going to wait until I got to Europe to start this myself, but think I will begin sooner to help raise awareness here in Brazil…stay tuned for this update.

Well….I’m not really feeling like covering the Niyamas in this post….I will do it later, really!

The life I have been living in Florianopolis was very recharging for me. The time to be leisurely with my waking, practice and activity schedule was really good for me…and now I feel rested and ready to start a busy several weeks of teaching. I am very excited to teach at the the favela this week and of course to return to Yoga Flow Sao Paulo where there are students and friends from several years of return visits. The simple and tranquilo life of Florianopolis appeals to me a lot. The people I met there have all made impressions on me and I look forward to returning. I learn from them the simplicity that life has to offer when we practice contentment. Many of my friends here do not make much money, do not travel much to far exotic places and are very happy with their lives. I always here “wow, what an exciting life you life” and I am completely aware of this….and I also see the lives of others and appreciate in them the stability, community and consistency that their lives have for them.