Upon the Blue Ridge Mountain, there I'll take my stand

Love that I'm starting this blog with Jerry Garcia and David Grisman's album "Been All Around this World" and eating granola in California. An overcast day in San Diego, but we all know it will clear up by 11 and be a beautiful day...again! My plane for Boston takes off tomorrow where I will spend a few months practicing and teaching yoga before traveling back to school in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Asheville, North Carolina.
This blog will focus on yoga and conscious health as I travel around and develop my practice as a teacher and student. Any extra suggestions, articles, posts etc are warmly welcomed!!!
For the past 2 years I have been teaching yoga in the bay (Oakland, Berkeley, San Francisco), and decided to continue my studies in writing at Warren Wilson College with some of the best professors around. Despite a true valiant effort there was NO way I was going to spend two years taking math classes before transferring to university. I am lucky my parents can afford to send me to a private college where I can take classes that matter to me...not calculus.  Though I will miss Berkeley and teaching at Corepower Yoga immensely, I recognize the importance of developing my writing and adjusting my focus to become an editor of (hopefully) Yoga Journal to take yoga to the next level. As my teacher Ganga White says, "Yoga is evolving...The caterpillar doesn’t know what a butterfly does. You can only project where you are going by what you know. But future possibility is way beyond what you can project. We don’t know where we are going–the possibilities are unlimited".

I practice mainly power yoga and vinyasa, though any class that can strike a balance between sun and moon, light and dark, yin and yang is all good to me. The best yoga classes by far reside in the bay area. All the Corepower Berkeley staff is amazing especially Monika Kaufmann, Becky Roskop, Carla Torres (Hot Power Fusion and C2), Lacey Calvert and Mariah Rooney for Yoga Sculpt (yoga with weights- intense and awesome workout). Outside of that studio Stephanie Snyder, Sean Michael Hall, Gretchen Mehlhoff,  and Judy Bussell. Until recently I loved the Forrest Yoga classes in the bay, but now it is really slowed down and strict on what they can and cannot teach and I am not digging that. Freedom in yoga brings freedom to the self.
This list is just SOME of the instructors to check out if you are visiting the bay!
San Diego has proven to have some awesome classes as well, my favorite being Amy P at Corepower Yoga.

San Diego is one of the most workout focused cities I've ever been to. Everyone is wearing Lululemon clothes, running, carrying yoga bags, boot camp in the park, etc. It has been inspiring! I've cut out bread and focused on eating delicious veggies and fruit from the farmers markets in the area and feeling awesome.

Tip of the day: Eat a big salad of seasonal vegetables with a bit of protein (beans, chicken, whatever) you will be full. Simple!

More to come! Stay clean, focused and as Michael Franti says:

"exhale from the heart
not from the lungs
*speak* from the heart
not from the tongue
Listening is understanding
and finding compassion
love is the action of soul satisfaction
a tongue can make wishes and also fine kisses
taste a sweet cake and also cast disses
but nothing compares to the voice from within
without it we might just be mannequins
up to no darn good shenanigans
learn to be skilful movers of the stones
that block the heart and turn humans to clones
learn to forgive, set free the bones
touch with your flesh, take off the rubber gloves
love like your life depends on it
because it does"
-Speaking of Tongues by Michael Franti