She was not yet famous but one dose of her energy and I knew she was gonna be big…it was only a matter of time.

I will never, ever forget our first encounter…how I was just lying there, half naked, short of breath, in a state of emotional, spiritual, and physical rapture.

I followed her around the world…Cuba, Italy, Mexico, Hawaii, Belize, Costa Rica.

When she got excited, she spoke in her native tongue. She was foreign. I couldn’t think of anything sexier than her barking out orders in an exotic language.
.
She taught me so much about life…and touched my soul in ways and places I didn’t know possible.

She went to another level of stardom after she graced the cover of Time Magazine in the early 2000s. I remember saying under my breath, “This will change everything.”

And then she was on Oprah and it only added fuel to the fire.

Could it Last?

The romance somehow endured the stardom right up until 2006, when the love died, seemingly overnight.

From 2006 up until very recently, I suffered greatly and missed her love.  I have never told anyone before about this pain.

Who is this celebrity???

Cher?

No.

Diane Cannon?

No.

Kathy Bates?

No.

Her name..YOGA.   The above account details my falling in and out of love, not with a person, but with the ancient practice.

Crash & Burn

When I first started in 1996, yoga was just getting big.

But she became a full blown celeb in the early 2000′s spawning yoga fashion trends, big league prices, and varying effects on our attitude.

Maybe you yogis can relate? So many of us fall hard and heavy into a deeply sensual relationship with yoga.

We take a training, go on a retreat, buy all the stuff, tell everyone we know about yoga…

…until that one friend or relative gets annoyed: “If you freakin say one more thing about goshdarn freakin yoga, I’ll light your freakin mat on fire!”

And then, over time, many of us burn out on yoga.

It used to be that any pose, any adjustment, any spiritual teaching would be like the first raindrop on parched desert soil.

But then, like an addict, I needed more poses, more adjustments, more spiritual teachings. I wasn’t getting the yoga high I used to get.

And I became bored, lazy, it was a job.

To be perfectly honest with you, I’ve been running on fumes for years.  How many times can you do down dog before you just wanna explode your mula-freakin-bandha?

A Startling Revalation

But then last week I awoke in the middle of the night (those 5pm espresso shots are never a good idea) and I picked up a classic spiritual book, The Power of Intention, and turned to just the right page (so it goes when we are willing to Listen).

The author Wayne Dyer writes, “Every time I see a coin on the street, I stop, pick it up, put it into my pocket, and say out loud, ‘Thank you, God, for this symbol of abundance that keeps flowing into my life.’ Never once have I asked, ‘Why only a penny, God? You know I need a lot more than that.’ “

There was a yoga class I took in New York City a few weeks ago.

It was a new teacher, in her early 20′s. The asana was basic, as I’m sure many of you would say is the best possible way to describe my less-than-thrilling asana teaching.

But this new teacher’s energy, passion, and old soul wisdom were off-the-charts fresh and invigorating.

In a city (NYC) of Dharma Mittras and Dayna Flynns (AMAZING), it was a newbie teaching basic sequences, counting breaths, and lovin every freakin second of it…that lit my yoga soul on fire all over again.

I think it’s fair to say this Law of The Penny applies not just to yoga but to anything with a delicate alchemy…from marriage to parenting to writing:

When we’ve lost the juice, look NOT to the fruit, but to the seed.

-Keep an open mind when that brand new yoga teacher is subbing for your favorite superstar. Their fresh energy has a way of seeping past a sheath of doubt and injecting new love right into your heart.

-Embrace your spouse in a way you haven’t touched her for many moons. If doctors would only write scripts: “A strong, long, deep hug…2x day…morning…and night.”

-Catch yourself next time you are walking and you see a glittering penny on the sidewalk.

As a wise one said, “As we become curators of our own contentment on the path to abundance, we learn to savor the small with a grateful heart.”

Want to practice with me? Check out my upcoming classes, workshops, and retreats below:

Yoga Retreats

–INDIA: Join Ashley Ruback and Cathie Caccia (August 1-11, 2012) on a Hiking, Monastery & Yoga Adventure to Ladakh & Agra, India. Ashley has been leading trips to the ancient subcontinent for many years is a seasoned travel expert and amazing yoga who will provide you with a soft landing and deep adventure into the treasures of India. And Cathie Caccia is a 25 year veteran teacher from Sun Valley who will bring a Buddhist perspective to the journey. Visit here for more.

–SEDONA:  I’m leading a retreat to the spiritual wonders of Sedona’s majestic Mii Amo. Taking place December 6-9, visit here and get ready for a spa-lovers paradise in the desert.

My Classes in NYC

I teach the following:

Tuesday at 6pm (Exhale Midtown)
Wednesday at 7pm (Yoga Vida) starts April 18
Thursday at 9:30am (Exhale Midtown)

Upcoming Events

May 2-6        Tulum (Yoga Retreat at Amansala)

May 18-19    Phoenix, Arizona  (The W Hotel)

May 24         Yoga & Chocolate  (NYC/Yoga Vida)

June 1-2       Charlotte, NC  (Y2 Yoga)

June 21-23   Milwaukee, WI  (Tosa Yoga)

Today is the day that all things are equal – day equals night, night matches the day, and the new season of spring bursts into bloom like a beautiful flower. There are thousands of different ways to celebrate the season of bright sights and creative rejuvenation — we’ve chosen to celebrate by launching the new and improved yoganonymous.com.

For the past two years, we have provided the community with the best events, articles, and up-to-date news and information on the quickly growing yoga scene. We have listened to all of your feedback, talked to teachers, studio owners, and students alike; and over the next month we plan to roll out a bunch of changes and updates to our new website that have our digital community poised to be the number one destination for all things yoga related on the internet.

The name “YOGANONYMOUS” says it all. It is not about us, we’re anonymous – it’s about you, the teachers, the studios, the events, the writers…it’s a place for the community to come together as a whole to write articles and express their views, for teachers and studios to get the word out about their events and offerings,  for yoga enthusiasts of all levels shapes and sizes to check in on all of the happenings in the rapidly growing world of yoga, and perhaps most importantly, a place for us all to connect and form a supportive and informative digital community.

It is with a proud heart and extreme gratitude that we bring you our new website. It has been one heck of a ride thus far and we are just getting started. Thank you for all of your support and stay tuned for some exciting new updates over the next couple of weeks!

With gratitude, <3 YOGANONYMOUS

So yeah…it’s kind of like what this guy is saying:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Darkside is the collaborative project behind 21-year old electronic mastermind, Nicolas Jaar and bassist Dave Harrington. If you haven’t heard Jaar’s solo stuff, I highly reccomend you check out his EP’s Space is Only Noise and Don’t Break My Love. Darkside is Jaar’s signature dizzying, minimal electronica- gone rock with the addition of some seriously funky bass. Check out the EP here!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Looking for some more yoga music? Check out our *free* YOGANONYMIXes

“Don’t Move” is the latest single from elecro-beat engineers Josh Carter and Sarah Barthel, from their new EP, Nightlife. The track transitions through the sounds of horns and keyboards layered on top of a bubbly loop and Barthel’s lyrical hook. Give the song a couple of listens and you will hear the beautiful dimensions of sound and texture, making this a standout track on a standout album. Download the track for free via RCRDLBL.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Looking for some more yoga music? Check out our *free* YOGANONYMIXes

Yoganonymous favorites, Fleet Foxes have posted a new video for one of their best songs off their 2011 LP, Helplessness Blues. The gorgeous tune gets a visual boost from the trippy, animated clip, which was directed by Fleet Foxes frontman Robin Pecknold’s brother Sean Pecknold.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Looking for some more yoga music? Check out our *free* YOGANONYMIXes

Welcome to our “Jam of the Week” – a place to discover new music that you can incorporate into your practice, or just rock out with anytime of the day…

“Diamond Heart” is a beautiful five-minute bonus track off of Active Child’s album, You Are All I See, which will be re-released on November 1. Pat Grossi’s soulful falsetto layered with impeccable electro-dub beats create a truly unique sound that maintains heaviness amongst it’s ethereal vibe. I got the chance to check out their live show during CMJ week here in New York, and have since had the album on repeat. Active Child is currently on tour in the US, and will be supporting M83 when they come back to NYC. (Check out tour dates and more here).

Click here to view the embedded video.

Looking for some more yoga music? Check out our *free* YOGANONYMIXes

Join Shiva Rea and Sonic Yoga for a full day of fun on Tuesday, November 8th for the Temple of Tala Rasa. More information below from Sonic’s website:

Teacher Rasafication: 5 Anchors for Living Flow in the Fall

9am – 12:30pm

At Sonic Yoga. 754 9th Ave., 4th Fl. Dive into an experiential teachings of the essential practices for living a grounded and creative life during the season of mutability and change. Fall is known in the rtucharya or seasonal rhythm of Ayurveda as the “vata season” known for accelerated movement and lack of grounding which challenges the creative power culminating in the fall. The Vata season is the easiest time of the year to allow the stress of doing to overwhelm the deeper flow of yoga. Rather than a lecture, we will flow through an calming, experiential, embodied teaching of the five anchors for living vinyasa through the Fall-Vata season with wisdom, peace and creative actualization of the seeds planted in the new year. Please bring a journal, a bathing suit and towel for Prana Flow self-massage, a small bottle of sesame oil, and a yoga mat (and a mug if you would like to sip healing tea).

Temple of Rasa – TalaRasa: Vinyasa and the Embodiment of Healing Rhythms

3pm – 5:30pm

The rhythms of stress are encroaching on daily life and our ancient attunement to the flow of nature is speaking through our cells to return to ways found within indigenous cultures and yoga to bring our state into rhythmic balance. Beginning with a 15 min visual exploration of essential insights about our rhythmic nature and the power of entrainment – rhythmic syncopation at the heart of flow in yoga, creativity, relationships and living vinyasa. We will dive in through Prana Flow: Energetic Vinyasa pathways to create a movement meditation and breath flow practice that is centering, rejuvenating, creative and stress dissolving. With the magical vibration of live rhythm with some of the master drummers of NYC, we will create an environment of transformation by returning to the natural wisdom of the cells to listen, recalibrate and move with a syncopating love that palpates the space whenver Shiva is back in town. his amazing event will be held downtown at the Angel Orensanz Foundation.

Temple of Rasa – Dynamic Vinyasa: Movement Meditations of Ecstatic Rhythm

6:30pm – 9pm

We are born as movers and shakers. We need to ignite and we need to shake it off. We are called to sound of rhythm close to our hearts and are destined for freedom from the way we are born. Join an dynamic but rejuvenating class for yogadventurers, vinyasa lovers, tantrics, bhaktas, and those who fee the power and limits with releasing around their breath, spirit, natural rhythm and joy. Shiva will share her Burning Man TEDx talk for 10 minutes before we dive into some of the world’s oldest movement meditations as preparation for with a full-on prana flow, meditation and realization of the rhythm-maker within your heart. This amazing event will take place downtown at the Angel Orensanz Foundation.

Click here for more information and to register today!

*This event will sell out, be sure to register soon

Additional East Coast Tour Dates:

November 9th - Washington DC – Hosted by Ananda Shala & Flow Yoga Center

November 10th – Wakefield, RI – All that Matters

November 11th – 13th – Lenox, MA – Kripalu

Visit Shiva’s website for more info and to register!

__

Click here to learn about Shiva’s New Year’s Pranafication retreats to Costa Rica!

More information below from the website:

About Buddha Nose

Our Concept:

~ To inspire beauty through stillness and simplicity.

~ To promote nature-centered and sustainable practices.

~ To encourage healthy lifestyle.

~ To support community and advocate compassion.

Our Belief:

~ That our well-being awakens our mind-body connection, our relationships to others and our planet.

~ That beauty is about feeling good, and the simple act of doing something good for ourselves, makes us feel beautiful.

~ That our inner balance affects our outer beauty.

~ That inner wellness inspires self-awareness.

Our Values

Organic – Buddha Nose uses only USDA certified organic ingredients when available, and we are very proud to have 4 out of our 12 products carry the USDA organic seal. We continue to work towards certifying the rest of the line.

At this time in the US, the FDA does not have any regulatory standards that can certify body care products organic. Therefore those products that carry the USDA seal are certified by the same standards that regulate our food. These standards make sure farming practices are sustainable and free from the use of pesticides and growth hormones. The USDA organic food standards are some of the most stringent in the world, in order for a product to carry the USDA seal it must be composed of at least 95% USDA certified organic ingredients and the remaining 5% must be ingredients that the NOP, the National Organic Program, recognizes as “approved” ingredients.

Because there are some ingredients used in body care products that are not present in our food products, like vegetable glycerin, or particular essential oils that may not yet be available organic, they are not included in the “allowed” list and in some instances may prevent a product from carrying the USDA seal.

All of the ingredients used in Buddha Nose products are totally free of all synthetics and chemical preservative systems. The skin is our largest organ, and by using only organic ingredients, we not only respect the health and well-being of our bodies but we also respect the health and well-being of our environment.

The Story

Amy Galper was a New York City based shiatsu practitioner who founded Buddha Nose, Ltd. in the spring of 2004 to encourage her mostly female clientele to “be still and breathe.” Recognizing the connection between the energetic dynamics of shiatsu, a Japanese form of bodywork based in Traditional Chinese Medicine, and with the essential oils of aromatic plants Amy created handmade beauty products in her kitchen to inspire the mind body beauty connection.

Amy graduated from The Ohashi Institute and completed the Institute’s instructor training program and studied aromatic plant medicine at The Ojai School of Massage. She maintained a private practice in New York City for 5 years and is a member of the American Organization of Bodywork Therapies of Asia, (AOBTA), and OASIS, (Organic and Sustainable Industry Standards) a pioneering organization whose purpose is to support organic and sustainable Health and Beauty consumer goods by establishing workable industry standards for organic and sustainable manufacturing.

Prior to launching her wellness business, Amy was an actress in New York with credits that included commercials, classical stage and film as well as experimental performance. She attended the Juilliard School, received her BA from Smith College, and received her MA from New York University. Several years ago, Amy experienced a “healing crisis” and was compelled to consider her illness as an opportunity to shift her perspective and make changes in her life. Now she focuses on the business of Buddha Nose in New York City, and spends time with her husband building their eco-conscious and self-sustaining “off-the-grid” home on their 30 acres in the Catskills.

Click here for more information on Buddha Nose and to shop today!

Join Prana Flow Yoga teacher, Roberto Lim, for ‘Que Rico: A Yoga, Eco-Tour, and Dancing Retreat to Puerto Rico‘ February 1st – 5th! Enter Promo Code: FAMILY and receive a 9% discount on the trip! More information below from the event website:

Que Rico: A Yoga, Eco-Tour, and Dancing Retreat to Puerto Rico

San Juan, Puerto Rico | February 1st – 5th, 2012

“Que Rico!” translates to “how wonderful.” Your experience on this five-day/four-night retreat will restore your natural sense of wonder and awe leaving you quietly murmuring “Que Rico” how wonderful again and again. Join Prana Flow® teacher, Roberto Lim of Boston, MA, as your daily Yoga and meditation guide.  Enjoy a week of movement, exploration, amazing food and great company. In addition to the Yoga, you will also explore Fajardo a bioluminescence bay, learn to salsa and dance the night away to deep afro-house music with international DJ Max Pela (Uhuru Afrika/Afrobeta Bodega).

You will stay at Acacia, a boutique hotel with a roof-top deck and a less than five minute stroll to the beach, full amenities, gorgeous views. Expand your horizons in this much needed oasis from the cold of winter.

Retreat packages start at $895 (per person in double-occupancy suite) or $1695 (for two in a partner suite), and includes all yoga, opening reception, four nights lodging, four continental breakfasts and post-morning yoga fruit smoothies, two Salsa dance lessons, Friday evening eco-tour with transportation, and Saturday evening dance party. Airfare and other meals are not included.

Register early to ensure your spot on this retreat because space is limited.

Itinerary

Wednesday Evening, 5:00pm ~ Opening Practice and Reception

Thursday ~ Practice Morning, 9:00am and Afternoon, 4:30pm

Friday ~ Morning Practice, 9:00am, Afternoon Salsa Dance Lesson, and Evening Eco-tour to a Bioluminescence Bay

Saturday ~ Morning Practice, 9:00am; Afternoon Salsa Dance Lesson, and Evening Hors d’oeuvres, Drinks, and Dance Party with Guest DJ Max Pela (Afrobeta Bodega/Uhuru Afrika) at Piropo

Sunday ~ Morning Practice, 9:00am

Location

San Juan, Puerto Rico is a four-hour non-stop flight from either Boston or New York City. The retreat will be held at Acacia, a small boutique hotel on a quiet street in Condado, a neighborhood very close to old San Juan and a short three mile cab ride from the airport (SJU). There are many dining options within walking distance from Acacia in Condado.

Click here for more information and to register today! Don’t forget to enter Promo Code: FAMILY for 9% off the cost of the retreat!