happy yoga day USA

yep, it really is yoga day USA! today i taught 2 workshops - hip hips and a jivamukti workshop, had a meeting with a consultant, and headed home to organize my paperwork, pack, and prep to leave town for a week tomorrow. how does paperwork accumulate - mail, receipts, idea images, documents from meetings, checks, pages pulled from magazines, things to review, etc? it's amazing how much we process on a daily basis, isn't it? as an organizing queen, i've designated certain wicker baskets for my various businesses and have them tagged accordingly, and gotten very cute files to put all this paperwork in (damask, stripes, dots, whimsical pastel aviary drawings). these things make me so happy. i hear there are even SCENTED files out there - what more could a girl want?

i'm already behind in my online leadership course through naropa so i'm glad i'll have an entire week to immerse myself into it in boulder. i plan to print everything and read it on the plane. ah, not the most impressive start to this journey but my heart is totally into it - just a bit delayed mentally at the moment.

while at a sugar and champagne fundraiser for the humane society on thursday, a sugar-filled canine pulled my camera from his owner's hands and, as it tumbled to the floor, that was the end of my camera. i feel unable to capture the moment like i usually do since i always carry it. we ordered another through our amazon prime so i'll receive it in boulder and be sure to pass along anything exciting worth capturing. photos really do share so much. it's like a visual journal. if you have a digital camera (i read they are coming out with PINK ones in april!), i encourage you carry it for a week and capture what speaks to you. it's a fun creative task that is sure to produce interesting results.

in closing tonight (gotta write next week's column and record tomorrow's podcast), i wanted to share with you an amazing few sentences from jivamukti yoga that SO speaks to the message of yoga:

we are here in this life to realize one thing: unconditional love, the source of our own being. a yogi can measure their progress by how much peace they are experiencing in life. peace of mind is disturbed by finding fault with others and with external things. start to develop appreciation for all situations and for all creatures, humans as well as other animals. let go of all selfish petty desires, perfecting yourself so as to become an instrument for divine will and a benefit to all.

wow, isn't that powerful? it's easy to think that progress is measured by achieving handstand (my current struggle) but it's by how much peace we are experiencing . . . now that's one to ponder!