and now for something completely different.

mmmrph.  so much for all of my excitement over having another regular class - no one showed last night.  kind of a downer.  definitely made me question myself and my teaching... but, i am hoping that after labor day things will pick up.  *fingers crossed* that paired with a few other things, which of course i have no control over.  and may very well have nothing to do with me or my "quality" at all, but nevertheless still made me call my worth as a teacher into question, i guess you could say i am a bit insecure. but. i am trying not to equate my worth and my quality of teaching based on whether or not anyone showed to a class at a studio i have only really taught at once.  or anything else i don't really have control over for that matter.  of course this is a completely foreign concept to me, as i usually think i am at fault for not succeeding, which is why you might be able to guess, i wasn't able to stay in the acting game.  the constant rejection hurt my soul too much. 

 in other news i am slowly starting to get settled into my new room (same apartment just switched rooms).  i am super excited about this room switch because this room allows me to have space to do my home practice without having to shift everything in my room to do so.  i have really been lacking in my efforts to have a consistent home practice so i am hoping that having my mat ready, waiting and available will make hopping on it all the more enticing.  of course, i have been so busy i haven't had much time to finish setting up my room past the essentials so there my mat sits rolled up in a corner surrounded by the things i am just not sure what to do with yet.  

in anticipation of the coming free time (ha!) i am starting to look into places to buy some more yoga accessories.  i would like to have a bolster and a blanket  so i could do a restorative practice at home if i so desire - does anyone have any recommendations on where to buy these things?  i have done some pretty general internet searches but i figured actual  recommendations would be best over just choosing any random site that offers something that looks appealing. 


another request for my fellow yogis/teachers out there - as i am starting to teach multiple classes in multiple places i am starting to wonder how others keep track of what they did where?  i will usually have a general idea of what i want to do for each class and/or a focus pose or body area to work on each day, but i feel like if i end up teaching at the same studio the next day, i don't want to accidentally use the same flow lest i be seen as uncreative.  (even though, yes, i do fall in love with certain flows and use them over and over because i think they are just so cool... and i do think that is a good thing i just also want to be sure i am being original enough too you know?) also as i start to incorporate playlists into my teaching i want to be sure i don't use the exact same playlists two times.  i'm thinking i can solve this by just jotting stuff down in a notebook right after class, but if anyone has some amazingly awesome system they have and wouldn't mind sharing, i would be appreciative.  and here's hoping i will be teaching enough classes in the near future that i will need to worry about keeping track of all of these things.  


thanks for reading! hopefully next time around i will be in a bit more of a positive place. 


xxx

ch-ch-ch-changes...

things are chugging right along.  as the summer comes to a close i am always overwhelmed with the feeling of change.  this season more than any other makes me think of new beginnings (i know, isn't that what spring is for?) perhaps it has something to do with the fall and that being when i am so ingrained to know as the time for the new school year, new leases starting and the overall shifting from playtime to business for most of the working world.  

i have been in negotiations for a while with a few different studios/fitness centers to see about working out scheduling to start up a class at their facility.  and so far i have gained one more regular class to my schedule - starting tonight i will be teaching monday nights from 7-8:15pm at shanti at the armory in somerville.  i subbed the class last week and although there was only one person in attendance, i am hoping in the next few weeks i will get a few more people regularly.  it's a beautiful space and i really like the vibe there.  i am very much looking forward to it. 


i am hoping i will have a few more updates for you in the coming days and weeks so stay tuned.  as always i am updating my website with any subbings or new classes www.kate-yoga.com 


until next time. be well. 


xxx
 

sometimes we all need to pause.

i know i have been absent for quite a while on the whole blogging front.  a multitude of things have contributed to this end but, please know this is only but a pause and not a complete stop to my musings.  to be honest, recently, i have felt like i don't have very much to say.  at least nothing i am proud of or feel would be enlightening to others whatsoever.   i haven't (again for many reasons) been able to live or speak from my center lately and it's been causing a lot of turmoil for me.  at first i didn't want to deal with it... we all know how that story ends right? me sobbing non-stop over the smallest things?  yup.  sounds about right.  so now i am trying to take the time and take care of me for a change.  it's something i am not really accustomed to.  it's so much easier for me to give to someone else than to give to myself, not to even mention, to ask for someone to give to me.  

as a good friend of mine recently pointed out, "you need to take care of yourself, because no one else is going to do that for you.  no one else is going to put you first."  and why should they?  it's hard enough to care about someone... but to then be selfless in that caring and giving? why should they?  

so that's where i'm at.   please take my hiatus as i work on some things (and urge myself to believe that i have something to write that others would want to read) as merely a pause.  an expectant pause waiting for a new life.  a new wave of inspiration.  a new hope. 

and with that, i shall leave you with a quote from one of my favorite shakespearean plays: "o time, you must unravel this, not i; for now this knot's too tangled to untie"

i wish you all well.  namaste. 

xxx

my moment of zen part two (or the anatomy of a sunset).

i took these photos last night in about three minute intervals.   enjoy. 

 

 xxx

my moment of zen.

this weekend was supposed to be one filled with friends and relaxation - however due to varying circumstances i find myself on a retreat with none of the expected guests.  i am currently up at my family's cottage in west danville, vermont on joe's pond.  it's a little slice of heaven.  

when i was little, i used to move up here every summer with my family and spent my days playing capture the flag or kickball or blob with the neighbor kids, swimming with my big brother and sister and listening to the rain fall on the thin roof right above my head at night.  no tv channels, and up until this year no internet or cell phone service. there's no better way to spend a summer.  i will be leaving early sunday, a day earlier than planned, for lots of yoga coming my way back in boston, but until then i will enjoy my little slice of heaven and a much needed break. 

here's what i woke up to this morning: (and though it isn't very clear, that is a loon friend hanging out at the end of our dock).

more to come i am sure, as this place is just full of photo ops. :) 

xxx

a day in the life...

today was a busy day in the life of a wanna-be yoga teacher.  recently i've been presented with a few subbing gigs and of course i pounced on them.  however, i got to experience first hand a taste of being a member of the wanna-be self-employed crowd mixed in with the very much full-time employed crowd.  

8-9:45am - work downtown at my desk job
9:45-10:15am - book it on the t from downtown boston to harvard sq, walk to karma yoga. 
10:30-11:45am - teach vinyasa flow at karma yoga
12-1pm - teach another vinyasa flow
1:10-1:20pm - book it back downtown on the t from harvard square
1:20-1:30pm - get caught in a downpour with (of course) no umbrella
1:30-4:30pm -  at the desk job scrambling to get everything i need to together before i... 
4:30-4:50pm - head back on the t to harvard sq to teach
5-6pm - teach my slow-flow vinyasa at wellbridge
6:15-6:30pm - caught a bus home 

after writing that all out i must say - i loved getting to teach three times today.  it was wonderful.  it was only the in between parts that made me feel harried and not on top of my game.  it's hard to find the balance following the path you love and the path that pays the bills.  it reminds me of when my first nephew, liam, was first learning how to get around.  he would be sitting on the floor, then figure out he wanted to go somewhere - rock forward onto all fours and then do this adorable shimmy rock forwards and backwards thing trying to somehow propel himself forward.  and when he didn't magically start to move, he would plop back down on his butt and give out a little whimper.  he could see where he wanted to go and he saw other people going there, he just couldn't quite connect how to do it himself.  but as babies do, he kept trying (who knows how many times) until eventually, and what seems in a blink of an eye, he started going.  

maybe (in a very simplified and elementary view) that is what i am doing now.  shimmying forwards and backwards hoping that one of these times i will just magically propel forward.  hey maybe one of these times it will actually work - now wouldn't that be something?    


xxx

yoga on the charles

yesterday marked the first yoga on the charles class. it's a free class being sponsored by the cambridge river conservancy and runs every sunday this summer until september 5th from 5pm-6pm outside by the charles river on the corner of memorial drive and dewolfe street. lululemon is generously donating 25 mats that they will bring to and from the site every sunday for anyone who needs one to use.  ever since i signed on for this a few months ago,  i have been so excited about this event.

we had a modest turnout, under 20 people but for the first time this being done - not bad.  the main teacher led sunday's class and there seemed to be more assistants than we knew what to do with.  the main teacher's style is not one i am very familiar with, and in all honesty, i cringed a few times with her choices of counter poses or instructions... but you know it's all yoga.  and there's no reason for me to be yogier than thou every style and teacher has their merit even if it isn't my style of choice - so i went with it.  and sadly even with my good intentions i still had the experience that sometimes too many yoga teachers at a class are a little like too many cooks in the kitchen.  i had two people approach me with with seeming territorial run ins which was very unfortunate and a little disappointing.  maybe it is partially my fault for just assuming that like minded people (such as yoga teachers) would give a person the benefit of the doubt and think the best of others and maybe go with the flow a little more.  but maybe not.  i am trying to just let it pass but for some reason these small interactions have just stuck with me right in my gut.  yuck.  moving on.   i can't control anyone else, i can only control myself and how i react to it. 


i will get to teach the class on july 25th - so if you are in the boston/cambridge area, come on out.  i'll rock some flows and vinyasas and it will be a fun time.  

some yogis rocking out at yoga on the charles this week.

xxx