Snow eh!

I was excited it was only -8 degrees Celsius! The deep freeze we were living in was unplugged a week ago, and I was looking forward to actually getting on the mat without being frozen; even more so to having a long lingering practice...

Then I looked outside... Now maybe if you are melting in Thailand it looks like a winter wonderland, but dang the extra 15 minutes I thought I had for my practice was just re-assigned to snow removal.

With no one around and a feeble grumble I started sweeping the car clean.
I was reminded of what my teacher would say, "the mind wants to be negative," and in the snow that morning it wasn't hard to watch this mind gravitate towards negativity... (especially when I can remember loving days like this as a kid).

There is no debating that in Canada we have 4 seasons. In the winter season things slow down, even our practices, and so it becomes even more important to remember ahimsa in our interactions. This ahimsa, "non-harming," or "non-violence," applies equally to ourselves as it does to anyone else that we interact with. To practice Ashtanga Yoga, we must bring attention to all the limbs and luckily asana helps us with this.

Of course in the end, seasons come and seasons go, postures come and postures go, stiffness comes and stiffness goes. To dwell in impatience and criticism of ourselves or others, or the situations we are in, is to misunderstand the necessity of practicing ahimsa, and to miss out on a great opportunity to practice yoga more fully in our lives.

But Dang! I'm looking forward to spring!
Until next time... Be Blessed! J

Canadian Winter

Dang!! It's cold here in Canada!! ... It was 3:00 am and -49 Celsius (-56 Fahrenheit) the last couple days when we were making our way to the shala to practice, now for those of you tuning in from Thailand for the first time, that is like living in your freezer. Public transit wasn't running because the doors were freezing open or closed, if you could start your car the wheels were frozen more square than round and bumped along for the first 10 minutes of your drive, and if you had any uncovered skin exposed it would freeze causing frost bite in under 2 minutes... Even the "momma deer" wanted to bring her baby inside...


Oh, how we were missing India and Thailand...


I guess you can't help but question your life choices when it seems more sensible to hibernate than to crawl out of bed from under piles of warm blankets. Even in the heated room of the yoga shala my body never wanted to get warm and I felt the the mental resistance to doing my asana practice.

Oh, the tricky mind, it wasn't to hard to see that I had formed a strong attachment to the warm climates of India and Thailand, developing a craving for the internal heat that makes me feel so bendy, and the desire to "perform" asana rather than "practice" asana in the moment. Patanjali who gave us the eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga tells us to achieve our goal we must practice and be non-attached or non-dependant.

This week it is the Canadian winter that is reminding me to take heed of Patanjali's words, to practice with sincerity and detach from the results. Yoga is so much more than asana, and it's clearly time for me to review the Eight Limbs of Ashtanga Yoga.... but more on that in a couple of weeks...

Finding Happy Guy...

We all go through periods of darkness, where we feel that in every direction we are facing an uphill battle. In these times of inner struggle and conflict it is reassuring to think about something positive... like the true story about finding “Happy Guy.”

Some of you may have heard this story before, but it is one that brings a smile to even the saddest of faces.

Seven years ago, my cousin Nate found a photo in the rubbish bin of a hotel room in Banff, Canada. He kept the picture with him, and returned home to Melbourne, Australia, where he posted the photo on his family's kitchen fridge, and ever since that day "Happy Guy" has been smiling at the family from his spot in the kitchen. Everyone who visited the Sturdy house would always ask about the photograph, inquiring: "Who is that?"
"It's Happy Guy" the family would respond, and then the story of how the picture of a complete stranger ended up on the fridge would follow.

So, why did Nate feel so attracted to this particular picture of a smiling stranger? For no other reason then simply looking at the picture made him feel happy, and how could it not?-!
Earlier this year, Nate and his brother Devin, started a group on Facebook called "Who Is Happy Guy?" The goal of this group was to find and meet the man whom they had formally nicknamed.
They started a "Happy Guy" website (http://www.whoishappyguy.com), and made "Who Is Happy Guy?" tee-shirts, and awarded them to anyone who made an extra special "Happy Guy" effort, and that was the beginning of their Global Search.


The result: Making millions of people happy!

Folks from all over the world started to post Happy Guy's picture up and would take photos of it to show all the different places that Happy Guy's smile had reached, and with each new photo you just couldn't help but smile also, proving the age-old saying that "a smile goes a long long way."
Recently, Happy Guy was found!

Although the search has ‘officially’ come to an end, like all good stories the journey is at least as important as the destination, and the tale about how one man's smile made millions more smile is a message in itself:
When we are happy we spread happiness, and when we are in pain we spread suffering.

So, when you're feeling down on your luck, try to think of Happy Guy, and hopefully that inner smile will start to grow, and light your way home.
For it is only when we are able to let go of our feelings of lack and distress that we can open ourselves to participate in the liberation of all living beings.

Thanks for the inspiration Nate & Dev, and thanks to Happy Guy for sharing his smile with the world!

In The End There Is Always A Beginning.

We are preparing to leave Mysore, our home for the past eight months. We have one week left in India before returning to Calgary, Canada, where we will begin to reintegrate into North American life after our last three years living abroad. As our time here starts to draw to a close, it seems natural to reflect upon the friendships we've made and the experiences we've had.

It is difficult to put into words all the changes we have been through, the places we've seen, or the people we've met. Each person and place has imprinted their own uniqueness upon our hearts, and dance through our memories in beautiful colors. We will probably only realize how much we have changed and grown once we are placed against the familiar background of the city we left and again return to.


We attended a beautiful concert here in Mysore last Friday performed by Nick Evans and Colin Zak. There was a wonderful feeling in the air. So many students gathered to listen to their friends sing and play together, and enjoy a night of dinner and communion with each other. It was a fabulous evening. The last song they played summed up the general sentiments of all who were present: “The power of love, a force from above… healing our souls.” The presence of love was palpable in the air.


This is one aspect of being in Mysore that we will miss the most as we start our journey back to the West - the bonds of the friendships we’ve made here are strong. They are fortified in the intensity of this practice, and forged through our sweat, tears, struggles, and triumphs every morning. As we strive to create yoga within ourselves, we find that we’ve also established a deeper connection and union with others.



So although we realize you can never really say goodbye to those you love, we will give a big hug, and say, “see you around” to many amazing people as we leave. We will have time for one last chai at our favorite “dirty dog” chai stand, and remind ourselves that every ending is only a porthole that opens into a new beginning.

A Goddess of Magic, Love and Life.

Some images of Mother India.

May she inspire us to believe in magic, to love unconditionally, and to live as though there were no tomorrow.

For I am the first and the last
I am the venerated and the despised
I am the prostitute and the saint
I am the wife and the virgin
I am the mother and the daughter
I am the arms of my mother
I am barren and my children are many
I am the married woman and the spinster
I am the woman who give birth and she who never procreated
I am the consolation for the pain of birth
I am the wife and the husband
And it was my man who created me
I am the mother of my father
I am the sister of my husband
And he is my rejected son
Always respect me
For I am the shameful and the magnificent one


Hymn to Isis, third or fourth century BC,
Discovered in Nag Hammadi

Isis is the moon goddess of Egyptian mythology. Like Mother India, she is an expression of the inherent power of the divine feminine. She embodies great strength and a fierce spirit. She holds a capacity to love deeply, to give life and take it away, and represents the source of sustenance and protection for all of humanity.

May we allow her presence to nurture our hearts and minds as we live, love, learn, grow, and practice peace in our daily lives.

Jai Ma!
Victory and praise to the Divine Mother!