Darling Valentines,

In Lady Yoga fashion, it is my goal to look back in history to see where we have come from, find the yoga in the moments past to keep us rooted in the present and passionate about where we are going in the future.

On that note...

The history of Valentine's Day — and its patron saint — is shrouded in mystery. It's surrounded by romance and contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition.

Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the middle ages, and the oldest known Valentine card is on display at the British Museum. The first commercial Valentine's Day greeting card produced in the US were created in the 1840's by Esther A. Howland. Howland, known as the Mother of Valentine, made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as 'scrap.' And the rest, is Hallmark history.

Today, as we are practicing yoga, I'd like to celebrate the heart within, not the romance outside of it.

And, being that it's Grammy weekend and Lady Yoga is attending the Grammy's, I'd like to add some delicious quotes from my favorite musicians as we travel through practice.

The heart chakra is called the Anahata. It's the fourth Chakra up from the root. It's seed or root sound is Yam like Yum. It means, unstruck.

A balanced heart chakra is in acceptance of the self and others, their and thine own personal values and ethics. Balance propels us toward our unique direction in life and so it is in accordance that we 'strike's such a balance in breathing, stretching and sounding out our bliss.

It's expansion provides freedom and growth.

The color it represents is green. It symbolizes harmony, creativity, health, abundance and nature, combining yellow for the soul and blue for the spirit. Kind of like a zip lock back of love to share with others.

A strong and open heart chakra offers new energy and revitalizes tired nerves. It extends the lungs, arms and upper back, so it is not uncommon to celebrate in practice with a myriad of backbends aka heart openers.

Whether you are reading this blog, taking my Hot class in the style of Bikram or my level one class at Liberation, everyone can feel a lil' somethin' somethin' so enjoy....

It's a think line between love and hate - The Pretenders

The hardest part of ending is starting again. - Linkin Park

Love is designed to build and destroy, then rebuild again.

Love is a ride from passion to hurt then back again. Where can I buy a ticket?

Where there is great love, there are always wishes. - Willa Cather

To love abundantly is to live abundantly, and to love forever is to live forever. - Henry Drummond

Love is the flower you've got to let grow. John Lennon

Come live in my heart, and pay no rent. Samuel Lover

If you have only one smile in you give it to the people you love. Maya Angelou

Where there is love there is life. Mohandas Gandhi

Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the heart can hold. Zelda Fitzgerald

Love is when you meet someone who tells you something new about yourself. Andre Breton

All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt. Charles M. Schulz

If love is the answer, could you please rephrase the question? Lily Tomlin

We don't believe in rheumatism and true love until after the first attack.

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

What the world really needs is more love and less paper work.Pearl Bailey

The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing. Blaise Pascal

At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet. Plato

very being and extends slowly to embrace all that shall be.

Khalil Gibran

Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired. Robert Frost

Love conquers all. Virgil

Kisses are a better fate than wisdom. e. e. cummings

Love and desire are the spirit's wings to great deeds. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Love will find a way through paths where wolves fear to prey. Lord Byron

Loving is not just looking at each other, it's looking in the same direction.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Who, being loved, is poor? Oscar Wilde

Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs. William Shakespeare

It is better to have loved and lost than never to have lost at all. Samuel Butler

Don't hide yourself in regret, Just love yourself and you're set - Lady Gaga

We're all just walking each other home. - Ram Das

Love rests on no foundation. Is is an endless ocean, with no beginning or end. - Rumi

Sometimes I feel like throwing my hands up in the air. I know I can count on you. Sometimes I feel like saying, Lord, I just don't care. But you've got the love I need to seem me through.

You've got the love

Got the love

Got the love

You've got the love, got the love,

to see me through (Candi Stanton/Florence and The Machine)...

So, thanks and...right back atcha!

Lady

Darlings,

In Lady Yoga fashion, it is my goal to look back in history to see where we have come from, find the yoga in the moments past to keep us rooted in the present and passionate about where we are going in the future.

On that note...

Nelson Mandela was born 18 July 1918 and served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the leader of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa but was arrested in 1962, convicted of charges that sentenced him to life in prison. He served 27 years and was released on 11 February 1990,

He received more than 250 awards over four decades, including the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize fighting non-violently for freedom and equality.

While in jail, his reputation grew and he became widely known as the most significant black leader in South Africa.

In our practice today whether on the mat or on the blog, let's use Nelson Mandela's words as a vehicle for liberation from our own ties that bind us to whatever is holding us back. Each time we decide to become more present, more aware of where we are, right now, we are able to fully decide each moment we take from then on. In consciousness, not neglect or multi-tasking, can we truly live our our potential. It's so easy to get distracted from a myriad of things from our iPhone to American Idol to our kids, boss, spouse wanting our attention. Until we can fully be present for ourselves, can we be super-present for everything else.

In inspiration....

Do not to dwell on the deep wounds of the past but move forward.

A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.

After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.

Does anybody really think that they didn't get what they had because they didn't have the talent or the strength or the endurance or the commitment?

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

To be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.

Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.

If there are dreams (about a beautiful South Africa), there are also roads that lead to that goal. Two of these roads could be named Goodness and Forgiveness.

If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.

If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.

It always seems impossible until its done.

It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.

Let freedom reign. The sun never set on so glorious a human achievement.

Money won't create success, the freedom to make it will.

There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires.

There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.

There is no such thing as part freedom.

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered. –Long Walk to Freedom

We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.

When the water starts boiling it is foolish to turn off the heat.

The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.- Autobiography

Freedom would be meaningless without security in the home and in the streets. - speech, April 27, 1995

For each - the body, the mind and the soul have been freed to fulfill themselves.- speech, May 10, 1994

The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. - Autobiography

After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. - Long Walk to Freedom

Man's goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished.

bellowing the flame,

Lady