Darlings,

It's all about what you can uncover in your practice. Whether it's a set sequence or flow, find what you need, take it, process it and share that energy with those around you. It's all good.

When I practice, I'm a philosopher. When I teach, I'm a scientist. When I demonstrate, I am an artist. BKS Iyengar

And he's SUPER into alignment.

Every great yogi knows how important it is to keep the body in line so that you can progress. It's important to find the room to explore, answer the deep questions within a hold, a breath and find the freedom to explore your VISION of a pose. Not every pose was made to look the same. Not every body is the same.

On June 9th back in 1973, Secretariat wins the Triple Crown - The Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes. He was the first horse since 1948 to win the 1.5 mile race...and in 2 minutes 24 seconds...a dirt track record for that distance. He raced 6 more times and won 4 and when he died in 1989, it was revealed that his heart was 2x bigger than the average horse. This might have made him race harder but really, if that doesn't reveal true, deep, heavy love for something, I don't know what does. He brought people and crowds together in celebration.

Even ESPN rated him Number 35 in the top 50 athletes of North America. He was the only non human to make the list. In achievement, this little horse brought people together in achievement and love.

Yoga!!!

Celebrating electricity and Ben Franklin on June 5, 1752, the first climb of Mt. McKinley June 7, 1913, the first roller coaster opening June 5, 1884, The first hot air balloon launch June 5th 1783, Secretariat and you...whether you are practicing yoga for the first time or 108th time, the reach is infinite in possibility. It all starts here.

Stay present in mind and limitless in heart and use history as fuel to inform you in your practice.

You were given this body.

You found this place to practice.

You have the opportunity now.

To dream

reach

and succeed in all that you do, on and off the mat.

Whether it's yoga in the traditional sense or yoga in your day to day, tap into the moment and celebrate the offering it has for you to be the best person you can be.

Here's my hand, grab it and come climb, race, breathe and rise up with me.

The view is awesome,

Lady

Darlings,

This week, our collective intention has been to dream, reach and succeed, whether we poop out in practice or commit to every move and breath, it's all yoga if you are in yourself and commit to yourself.

We aren't little anymore and there isn't a playground to swing from high heights or swing and flail about. What we have is our yoga mat. As teachers, we give you the safe alignment but it's up to you what colors you choose to fill in those lines or outside those lines to make your picture come alive.

When we come to a class, the combination of people in the room will never be the same more than once. When we come to a class, yes it's cost effective but mostly, we go for the energy...what we create and what we get from others.

This is where I love to look back in history. It's been around forever. So has yoga. But, Yoga hasn't been a part of the popular culture till only the last few decades. If we can find yoga outside the mat, outside of what we think it is, it will enable us to see the yoga in EVERYTHING!

In history there is war...is it not so within?

In history there is celebration and win, is it not so within?

There are rules.

There are cues.

There are sequences.

There is a discipline.

All of these are to be respected, but...

at the end of the day, it's what we do with this that really matters.

When you are safe and in line, that's when you can explore.

Superb.

My only job is to lead you safely to what you want to see.

On this day, June 7th back in 1913, Hudson Stuck, an Alaskan missionary, lead the first successful ascent of Mt. McKinley, the highest point on the continent of America. A whopping 20K feet, sometimes our yoga practice feels like climbing up a mountain.

Check in each step of the way. Pause and look at the view. How does it feel from here? What does it look like? Who is there with you? What does it sound like?

What do you find?

You have the opportunity to be here - on the mat.

You show up. You put in the effort in so soar.

People always say, "Motivation is great but it doesn't last." Just tell them, bathing does not last either, that is why I recommend it daily. Zig Ziglar.

Move, sweat, breathe, connect, bathe in your glory and share it with us. We need it.

~Lady

What I see...

"I'm on the edge of glory. And I'm hanging on a moment of truth...with you" - Lady Gaga

On June 5^{th, 1752,} Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the US and one of the most innovative American’s of all time kept a secret he thought he’d be ridiculed for.

He went out on a night filled with thunderstorms to fly a kite. His mission - to collect a charge in a Leyden jar when the kite got struck by lightning, enabling him to demonstrate the electrical nature of lightning. Franklin became interested in electricity in the mid-1740s, a time when much was still unknown on the topic. Although he didn't 'invent' electricity, he spent almost a decade conducting electrical experiments.

He helped ‘channel’ it’s sources and benefits for our common understanding and usage deciding that electricity was not the result of friction, but that the mysterious force was diffused through most substances, and that nature, force and charge is always restored to its equilibrium. He developed the theory of positive and negative electricity, or plus and minus electrification. In our terms - the battery, He also coined the term conductor and the lightening rod, used to protect buildings and ships.

Yoga, people.

Every time we come to the mat, we are plugging into the source that provides us with energy. We are moving and breathing in such a manner or force that and diffuse through each interaction we have with others. Every time you practice YOUR yoga, which is on the mat or living your passion or truth, you are exchanging energy, building energy for yourself, transmitting energy through your action and thoughts, exchanging energy with those you come in contact with.

The battery has both a positive and negative charge. Sometimes, you have a negative reaction, you are zapped of energy from something or someone - the guy that snapped at you at work or the woman that cut you off in traffic. You've expend energy and you need to fuel back up. You do that through rest, nourishment, your passion, your yoga.

Through Benjamin Franklin's passion, skill and observations, he was able to discover, uncover and reveal the force that was already there, but needed to be processed and understood for our consumption.

In this day and age, our mindfulness is on conserving energy.

I set a collective intention in our classes because the unique combination of people that show up to a class is never the same twice. We use the energy from those around us and the energy within to restore, replenish and ignite that electricity within, for our yoga practice and to live our fullest charged life.

Observe, ignite the electricity within and finally, conserve it so that you can spend it wisely when you leave the mat, leave the blog and go out into the world to exchange it with others.

Ben Franklin's further observations foresaw some of the greatest inventions and developments of the 19th century from bifocals to ventilation, fertilizer to lead poisoning. It's the 2000's but there is more to discover and more to uncover.

Don't hide this. Don't keep it a secret or judge it. Light it up and share it with the world. We're waiting.

Quotes on Energy/Balance/Observation

Energy and persistence conquer all things. Benjamin Franklin

You are responsible for the energy you create for yourself and you’re responsible for the energy that you bring to others. All life is energy and we are transmitting it at every moment. We are all beaming little signals like radio frequencies and the world is responding in kind. - Oprah Winfrey from her last show May 25th, 2011

Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you. Oprah Winfrey

Without contraries is no progression. Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love and hate, are necessary to human existence. William Blake

The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have. Norman Vincent Peale

With out passion you dont have energy, with out energy you have nothing. Donald Trump (and a little money doesn't hurt either...Lady)

Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance. Brian Tracy

Thinking is more interesting than knowing, but less interesting than looking. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Balance your thoughts with action. If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done. -Bruce Lee

Take the time it takes so it takes less time. - Unknown

Accept challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory. George S. Patton

Take responsibility for the energy you bring into this space. Dr. Jill Taylor

Tutor 1: What does it feel like when you're dancing?

Billy: Don't know. Sorta feels good. Sorta stiff and that, but once I get going... then I like, forget everything. And... sorta disappear. Sorta disappear. Like I feel a change in my whole body. And I've got this fire in my body. I'm just there. Flyin' ike a bird. Like electricity. Yeah, like electricity.

Electricity sparks inside of me and I'm free. I'm free. Oh, I'm free – Elton John for Billy Eliot the Broadway Musical

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. Nelson Mandela

Everybody has a calling, and your real job in life is to figure out what that is and get about the business of doing it. It lights you up and it lets you know that you are exactly where you're supposed to be, doing exactly what you are supposed to be doing. But you also have to know what sparks the light in you so that you in your own way can illuminate the world. Oprah Winfrey

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. – Isaac Newton’s third law of motion

If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins. Benjamin Franklin

Zzztt!!!,

Lady