SUMMER SCHEDULE

Community.

This morning was the last beach yoga of the season. I was sad to see it go, but the air was cold, the sand was like ice, and bundled up with hoodies and a beanie just barely kept us warm enough. I got a bit weepie when I was driving over the bridge this morning, watching the glorious sun rise. I truly don't know where I would be without this strong, supportive, beautiful community. We all lift each other up and challenge one another to be the best person that we are capable of being. We nurture one another, comfort each other when times are tough, and encourage each other to push through. But best of all, we laugh together...a lot. I feel most connected to God when in nature and when surrounded by strong community, so to practice along the seaside in the early hours of morn, engulfed by a circle of stupendous human beings...well, it fills my heart. I have learned so much about myself through my relationship with all of these yogis, so from the bottom of my heart, thank you. See you next year beach yoga!

"Relationship...is the mirror in which you discover yourself. Without relationship you are not; to be is to be related; to be related is existence. You exist only in relationship; otherwise you do not exist, existence has no meaning. It is not because you think you are that you come into existence. You exist because you are related..." - J. Krishnamurti

Beth

Only one month left of beach yoga!

Supply and Demand

My 4th of July headstand....

Apparently yoga on the beach is super awesome. So now I will be teaching TUESDAY and SUNDAY on 41st street beach from 7-8am in Ocean City. It's $10, (don't wear your bathing suit...yoga clothes please) and bring a yoga mat or towel. Namaste!

41st Street

1st beach yoga of the season! I'm only doing Sunday mornings this summer. 41st street beach in OC, 7am.

YOGAYOGAYOGA

patthabi jois said that "yoga is 99% practice and 1% theory".

so get off your ass and get to class!! 

Tuesdays:

9:30am @ Ocean City Zen Den

5:30pm @ Atilis 

7:30pm @ Heisler Training (*yin)

Wednesdays:

9:30am @ Ocean City Zen Den

5:30pm @ Margate Zen Den (*Meditation + Pranayama)

7:45pm @ Living Well CrossFit (*yin)

Thursdays:

10am @ Atilis

Fridays:

7am @ Atilis

9:30am @ Ocean City Zen Den

Saturdays:

8am @ Ocean City Zen Den

9:45am @ Margate Zen Den

Sundays:

7am @ 41st Street Beach Ocean City, Sunrise Yoga

9:30am @ Ocean City Zen Den 

*Ocean City Zen Den:

9th + Asbury, Ocean City

*Margate Zen Den:

101 N. Washington Ave, Margate

*Atilis:

3206 Dune Drive, Avalon

*Heisler Training:

Route 9, Swainton

*Living Well Crossfit:

950 Tilton Rd, Northfield

Mondays:

7 Week Workshop Series July 1st - Aug 12th

6pm - 8pm @ Ocean City Zen Den

July 1st: AUM - The Meaning + Practice

July 8th: Surya Namaskar - Saluting the Divine

July 15th: Chakra Exploration

July 22nd: Chanting and Devotional Singing

July 29th: The Power of Pranayama + Kundalini

August 5th: Connecting Through the Heart Chakra

August 12th: Blindfolded Yoga - Exploring the Senses

*preregistration is required

Summer Sun + Fun.

John Lombard in Tripod Headstand.

The last few minutes of class (recess: move into a posture that feels best for you) before final relaxation @ beach yoga. (41st Street Beach, Ocean City)

This beautiful card, along with a Lao Tzu book of poetry + a packet of Morning Glory seeds, were gifted to me at beach yoga by my beautiful friend Lorraine. My good friend John DiGenni introduced me to the Serwakta family, and I am so blessed to have them in my life. Lorraine, Brooke, and Tommy: thank YOU for sharing your positive love and light upon me.

After yoga I met my parents at the beach in Strathmere for two hours of relaxation and sunshine before heading to Sunset Pier to waitress for the night. The beach was beautiful and work was steady :)

After work I felt the need for a few laughs and a cocktail - so I forced Johnny to hang out with me for a bit. Hung at his house and had many, clutch-your-ribs holy-hell-my-face-hurts laughs and then headed home for bed. Life is beautiful.

Memorial Day Madness

...And so another summer in South Jersey begins! My many odd jobs remain the same {more or less} : waitressing (but at a new restaurant, Sunset Pier), teaching yoga (just a lot more than the previous 3 beach classes), singing (at the same 3 spots: Dead Dog, Buschs and Stone Harbor Golf Club), personal catering (for the same wonderful family), Thai Massage, and freelance graphic design. I've removed cleaning houses from the repertoire, because quite frankly it sucks. The money is good, but it drains my energy and my soul!! So that's how I've been able to add in several more classes. Honestly: this was the longest, most painful Memorial Day weekend that I can remember. All of my jobs were great, and I love Sunset Pier, but this was the first summer that I've gone into after a winter at home. Usually I fly home the DAY BEFORE Memorial Day Weekend from wherever I was overseas, and I hit the ground running. I'm excited to work, excited to be home, and excited to replenish my funds (because at this point I already have the next travels planned, and only have to be home for 4 months before jetting off again). A long winter home, and no promise of spending next winter away...well, I just didn't have the same 'umph' that I usually have going into the start of summer. All throughout the weekend I had customers at the restaurant ask me what school I go to, because clearly anyone who waitresses must be a student right?? {I am a pretty easygoing person, but this question really irks me!!}. When I tell them that this is my life: work work work work for four months and then plaaaaaayyyyyyy, the response is always the same: "Well, what do you DO when you travel?". I believe that this is what's wrong with most travelers, particularly with American travelers. They always have to go for someTHING, or someONE, to experience a certain place or sight. I can't really tell you what it is that I do, because when I'm traveling I just am. I just relax into the present moment, enjoy my present company, and just take each day as it comes with all that is has to offer. I can describe my travel experience as satori...

A story about SATORI:

When I was reading OSHO's "Tantra" last night he told an anecdote about Satori that I really would love to share. It's long, but it is a beautiful story that I hope you read, digest and enjoy:

In my childhood I used to go early in the morning to the river. It is a small village. The river is very, very laxy, as if not flowing at all, and in the morning when the sun has not yet arisen, you cannot see whether it is flowing, it is so lazy and silent. In the morning when there is nobody - the bathers have not come yet - it is tremendously silent. Even the birds are not singing, in the early morning, no sound, just a soundlessness pervades. And the smell of the mango trees hangs all over the river. 

I used to go there, to the furthest corner of the river, just to sit, just to be there. There was no need to do anything, just being there was enough; it was such a beautiful experience to be there. I would take a bath, I would swim, and when the sun rose I would go to the other shore, to the vast expanse of sand, and dry myself there under the sun, and lie there and sometimes even go to sleep. 

When I came back, my mother used to ask, "What have you been doing the whole morning?" I would say "Nothing", because, actually, I had not been doing anything. And she would say, "How is it possible? For hours you have not been here, how is it possible that you have not been doing anything? You must have been doing something." And she was right, but also I was not wrong.

I was not doing anything at all. I was just there being with the river, not doing anything, allowing things to happen. If I felt like swimming - remember if I felt like swimming - I would swim , but it was not a doing on my part, I was not forcing anything. If I felt like going into sleep, I would go. Things were happening, but there was no doer. And my first experiences of satori started near the river; not doing anything, simply being there, millions of things happened. 

But she would insist, "You must have been doing something." So I would say, "Okay, I took a bath and dried myself in the sun," and then she was satisfied. But I was not, because what happened there in the river is not expressed by the words I took a bath; it looks so poor and pale. Playing with the river, floating in the river, swimming in the river, was such a deep experience. To simply say, "I took a bath" makes no sense, or just to say "I went there, had a walk on the bank, sat there.", conveys nothing at all. 

If whatsoever you have been living can be conveyed by words, that means you have no lived at all. 

And so SATORI is my state of being when I travel. Every day is magical and can't really be expressed in words, or else it would sound like nothing at all. But for all of those customers that need an answer, I tell them I jumped off a waterfall, or swam in a lake, or ate some exotic food. And they smile at me, sometimes in awe or jealousy or confusion, and I smile to myself because I know how wonderful the moment truly was. 

Coffee. A proper, delicious, hand crafted, strong cup of coffee. Hallelujah. 

Was super grateful to spend the morning with my Dad today while he enjoyed his breakfast

Put the cap on my truck today so I can store all of the necessities for my 20 jobs....

Putzing in the garden. 

Summer Schedules

Yesterday was my last class at Surfside Fitness in Avalon. I was fired after class, which I pretty much saw coming. I've had a million different jobs: nannying, yoga, music, surf lessons, waitressing, cleaning, massage, catering...and this is my first time ever being 'terminated'. Considering the terms, I gotta say that I'm okay with it - but I will say that I am going to miss my AVALON COMMUNITY very very much. Fortunately Arianne Green, my boss at the Zen Den, is amazing, supportive, appreciative and generous. She has opened a studio in Ocean City (9th + Asbury) and has given me my pick of classes. I'll be teaching there on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings {the schedule begins on Memorial Day Weekend}. Also, this will be my 4th year teaching yoga on the beach @ 41st street. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays I'll be doing a 7-8am all levels flow for $10 donation {beginning in June - sunday June 3rd}.  I will only be teaching two YIN classes this summer and they will both be on Wednesday night. Wednesdays 5:30pm - 6:45pm I'll be teaching a yin flow at the Zen Den in Margate and later at 7:45pm I'll be teaching a yin class at Living Well CrossFit Center.

I am really looking forward to the summer ahead -- it is going to be a good one: filled with music, beach, fishing, yoga and friends. Thank you to the outstanding community in Avalon who came out all Fall, Winter, and Spring to support me and to join in on the beauty of yoga. My apologies that I won't be in town this summer- but I'll see you in Ocean City and then come Fall 2012 I'll be back in Avalon!!

Namaste!!