Hello!

I feel inundated these days with electronic communication. I don't know what happened...I used to love to e-mail...but I'm finding I feel overwhelmed with all the e-mailing, texting and impersonal electronic communication that's become a part of our life. I've tried to remember how long it is that I've been texting and I think it's about two years too many. It's reflective of our longing to connect and, yet, on some level it's insufficient and draining. I want to commit to being better and not getting caught up in it...but sometimes it's hard to go against the times. I guess I needed to let that out. Phhhewwww...sometimes a Yogini has just gotta vent.

OK, onto other things. So, obviously I'm feeling a little fired up. Perhaps it is the charge in the atmosphere from the expanded sunlight as we approach the Summer Solstice this Sunday. As Yogis, we are well aware now that the seasonal solstices and equinoxes are incredibly potent, powerful and spiritually significant times. I highly encourage you to honor some repetition of a derivative of the special number 108, which has been practiced by millennium during the seasonal changes by Yogis, rishis, sages, mathematicians and spiritually-minded people across the planet. This means anything such as 9, 18 or 27 minutes of meditation or Sun Salutations or mantras, such as OM, is an incredibly beneficial practice in igniting the positive shifts you wish to be made manifest within your consciousness and the collective consciousness.

This weekend I will be attending an awesome Yoga workshop in Austin, TX with world-renowned Yogi, David Swenson, who is an accomplished Yoga teacher and student of the late Pattabhi Jois. I have been aspiring to study with him for a couple of years now and I am grateful to finally have the chance. I've practiced to his 2nd and 3rd series Ashtanga Yoga DVD and it is amazing. It's been such a powerful tool for growing in my practice. This workshop comes at the perfect time and it's awesome it is taking place on the weekend of the Summer Solstice...he undoubtedly intended for it to be this way and for us to practice together to align with the Solstice. I can't think of anyplace I'd rather be this weekend...it feels great to say that.

Also, I had the best experience this week. I went to the King Spa & Sauna, a Korean Spa, in Dallas and it was awesome. Apparently, these are starting to open up in other places across the country. The best way to learn about it is on the website. If you go, plan to spend at least 3 - 4 hours there relaxing in the hot tubs, steam rooms, sauna rooms and maybe even getting some kind of really reasonably-priced massage treatment. The therapists are awesome. I've had a lot of massage from great therapists and this was one of the best.

I'll be sending out the True Yoga Newsletter soon. As we grow into the summer, it is all about taking the time to heal. This is the first summer I've connected to balancing my Yoga practice with more of a Lunar energy during the hot summer months. It's interesting because last summer I was encouraging all of us to strengthen and ignite. But, this summer it's making more and more sense to me to be more Yin during this time of predominantly Yang energy. There is already so much energy in the atmosphere, we don't have to do much to feel energized because there is so much sunlight charging us. So, it's better to take this time to soak in all of this positive energy, but not overdo it in your Yoga practice physically. Instead, be purposeful and powerful, but don't overexert. Take time to breathe and really be in the poses. The Yoga postures are meant to energize us and plug us into Prana in the most powerful way possible so that we feel calm and energized in our body, mind and spirit. So, the new awareness that has come to me this summer is to be more restful and restorative, rather than athletic in my practice. Then, as we grow into Fall and Winter, that will be a time to ignite a little more powerfully in the practice to stoke and awaken the flow of Prana which has literally been harnessed and stored in the cells of the body during the summer months. If we take time to be restful, restorative and renewing in our practice now, we will feel ready to face whatever ways we are being challenged to grow as we evolve into the Winter Solstice.

One other thing, if you haven't eaten at Bliss Raw Cafe in Dallas yet...you gotta go...it's awesome raw food cuisine. I've eaten there a few times since it opened and I love it. I've been cleansing this week on all raw food, mostly fruit, to prepare for the Yoga workshop with David this weekend. I'm so inspired by those of you who've decided to cleanse for the first time. Our health is an ever-evolving process. Did you know there are scientists who believe we will evolve to living on purely Prana and sunlight alone? If you are cleansing right now (which, by the way, the week before the change in seasons is the best time to cleanse) I'm sure the thought of that makes you feel hungry. I gotta say, the more I practice and grow in this practice of Yoga, it doesn't seem all that far-fetched. We just feel better when we eat well, and the truth is, we really don't need that much food. Alright...I hope you have an awesome weekend and enjoy this time of positive change within you and all around you as we evolve into the Summer of our Soul. Om Shanti and Namaste! Read more