A Fresh Sea Breeze

As many of you know, we’ve moved to Victoria BC, on Vancouver Island. It has been officially two weeks since we arrived, and the days have just flown by! We’ve been busying ourselves with tasks such as finding an apartment to rent, purchasing a few essential items like a table, dishes, some chairs, a mattress to sleep on... you get the idea, and most importantly seeking out a space from which we can begin teaching Ashtanga yoga Mysore classes from.

We purchased some plants a couple days ago. This, in my opinion, seems to be the ultimate symbol for ‘putting down roots,’ and beginning to grow in a new place, in a new way; integrating into a new community. The change and ‘newness’ of everything is very exciting for us, and all around we’re seeing so much possibility and potentiality. So, needless to say, we’re enjoying ourselves immensely.

Even in all this though, we’re being conscious to keep living from moment to moment, and doing our best to keep focused on what is immediately present and positive. For if the mind is left unchecked it wanders much too easily over into the territory of worry, and begins to feel the heavy weight of the future closing in. The mind tends to create anxiety, and gravitate towards what is negative, especially during times of transition, or under circumstances where there is a lot of uncertainty. It is especially important then during these times to be even more aware, and vigilant in guiding our thoughts towards inspiration, and lightness.

We’ve received many encouraging emails from so many wonderful people from around the world, and I can’t explain how much we appreciate all of the support from everyone. It has helped to keep our spirits high from day to day, and to feel closely connected to a larger global network of yoga practitioners and friends. These notes are such a blessing to us as we continue our search for the perfect space to transform into a little yoga haven. We know it’s coming…

Do you ever have those moments in your life when you just feel like you’re in exactly the right place at exactly the right time? Well, I’ve been having these moments all the time here. I feel so fortunate to be realizing a dream that I’ve held onto for the past decade. To live in a place that has always held a very special place in my heart, and then to be able to share the teachings of this profound practice with others who are also here. It feels like every experience from the past has been culminating to this very moment in time, and really I feel like I’m merely witnessing the unfolding of it.

Each day I begin to understand more what Krishna means in the Bhagavad-Gita when he says, “all actions take place in time by the interweaving of the forces of Nature; but the man lost in selfish delusion thinks ‘I am the doer’.” (BG 3:27). Now it is just learning to surrender even more, and then be open to receive.

Peace & Love,
Harmony

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Here is something I recently read, and felt compelled to share...

"Isn't man an amazing animal? He kills wildlife by the millions in order to protect his domestic animals and their feed. Then he kills domestic animals by the billions and eats them. This in turn kills man by the millions, because eating all those animals leads to degenerative - and fatal - health conditions like heart disease, kidney disease, and cancer. So then man tortures and kills millions more animals to look for cures for these diseases. Elsewhere, millions of other human beings are being killed by hunger and malnutrition because food they could eat is being used to fatten domestic animals. Meanwhile, some people are dying of sad laughter at the absurdity of man, who kills so easily and so violently, and once a year send out cards praying for "Peace on Earth."
- Preface from Old MacDonald's Factory Farm, by C. David Coates

If you want to enjoy a good, fast, and hilarious book filled with many sad truths, check out a great little gem called Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. Definitely worth the read, and if this book doesn't motivate you to change a few things, I'm not sure what will!