So this will be my last post til the new year. I am going into a 10 day silent retreat starting tomorrow with both Logan and Russel. I am very excited to drop in with myself and spend time being still. This is a new experience for me and I am sure it will be a challenge to sit in mediation all day, but thank goodness there is a daily yoga practice to break up the long hours of stillness. I will be in spirit with all of you during the holidays and I wish you a beautiful transition into the new year. May we all set aside what no longer serves us and welcome in our dreams! Now is a time to empty our cups so they can fill with the spontaneous magic and aliveness of each moment. Just believe....

Two weeks of classes completed yesterday and now today we have off! I love the yoga philosophy here so much that I will stay for the 2nd month of classes and go deeper. The alignment of my whole skeletal structure has transformed in only half a month! Im astonished!
I have been very naughty today and just ate a bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon, drank a latte and ate a couple bites of chocolate cake. It surprisingly exciting to eat western food! We are headed to the other side of the island to check out these herbal saunas. I will see how my stomach copes after the heavy food. I feel my entire system growing more sensitive and at the same time strong.
I love our little island life. A hammock over the water, a good book and fresh smoothies. Oh and spicy food, I never thought I would handle the extremes that I now crave! I can barely get enough of these Thai chiles!

Just entered week 2 of the 1 month yoga intensive here in Koh Phangan. I feel my whole being expanding into its fullness and the first step in that process is letting go of all emotional, mental, physical and spiritual constucts that confine. Its an unraveling - the work of a lifetime that I am just beginning. My perceptions of the subtle qualities in life are deeply growing and I find myself between impatience and awareness, boredom and exhaltation. What a journey!
I have been practicing awareness of the many mirrors this life creates. My experience of reality is a direct reflection of who I am to myself as are the many relationships that are present. We each have our place in this intricate experience of oneness. I find it difficult to give voice to these feelings and experiences. I hope I am making sense...

Its been a few days since my last post and it feels like much longer. So much has happened! We have finally sunk into the island pace here on Koh Phangan. It took us a couple days to find the right spot to rent for the month, but now we have and it is wonderful. Logan and I have a bungalow that sits about 10 feet above the ocean on stilts. We have a massive deck where I spend my afternoons enchanted by the rolling ripples and changing light. There are mosquitoes that come up through the open floor boards and torment me, but hey, it's a small price to pay. Russel has a smaller bungalow adjacent to us, which is perfect for him.
The three of us have enrolled in the first month intensive at Agama Yoga (walking distance from our beachy home) and are currently on day 4. Put shortly - it is amazing! I feel I have already learned so much and I know it is just building up. My day starts around 7 with a cold shower (no water heater) and class starts at 8:30 with a morning lecture and then 1 hour practice. We then have 11 to 4 off to eat, relax, ride our motorbikes into town for killer pad thai and drool over the ocean. Then we are back at school from 4 to 8 starting with lecture, sun salutations, building asana practice and followed by yet another lecture. The emphasis this school takes is on subtle energetics and the powerful healing nature of yoga with concentration. As the days progress we have less lecture time and more practice time. Each day we learn a new asana that is added to the practice. (Asanas are held for 3 to 10 minutes and the amount of time is also building.) Tomorrow we are going to learn about music meditation which will be a part of the daily practice.
Life is so good and I am very grateful to all the beautiful people at home reading this and supporting me in all the ways you do.

The first of many islands...

We arrived to Koh Samui yesterday. Toured around the island in the back of a pickup truck. Im loving Thai people, we have already experienced so many random acts of kindness and generousity. We snuck onto the private beach of a gorgeous resort and set up a slack line between to palm trees. All the Thai boys who worked the resort were so cute. They all stared and giggled and waved while we balanced from one foot to the next. One of them ended up giving us a ride part way to our hotel. Im not to impressed with the amount of tourism and trash on the island, but still a relief after Bangkok. Still experiencing jet lag....I wake up every morning when it is still dark. We are jumping on a ferry to Koh Phangan in a few hours. Im very excited and curious to be on my way to Agama Yoga.

Day 2

I ate some the spiciest food in my life last night, I sucked on ice cubes while tears rolled down my cheeks. Nothing gives relief to Thai peppers! Recieved a 2 hour massage from a girl that looked no older than 13, I couldn't relax feeling that I was supporting child labor. Bella says that you can never tell the age of Thai people and the girl was probably 18, I hope she was right. Woke up this morning while it was still dark and sat in gratitude while the sky lightened. I wondered the bustling streets with Logan in search of a smoothie stand. Finally found a place and after convincing the woman that 2 heaping spoons of sugar was enough, I enjoyed an icy smoothie with some superfoods from home stired in. We are planning on taking a tourist bus down south this evening. If we book everything well, we should be getting to the islands by noon tomorrow with the afternoon open the celebrate Logan's birthday. Im not sure if we are going to Koh Samui where we can stay at a retreat for free (owned by friend of Russel) or checking out Koh Phangan. Bangkok is interesting, but I don't feel up for handling the intensity and pollution of it for long. Tropical paradise here we come!

Day 1

So here I am, in Bangkok, typing away in a stuffy room while mosquitoes nibble on my legs. Im finally here, I made it!!! Wow what a joy and what a relief! The intense and tender weeks of parting from the Ojai tibe are over and now the door is wide open. This trip has already been so effortless and magical. For the first time in my life I slept for almost the entire flight. Upon arriving I synchronistically ran into Toby and Bella on a random street corner,which is really incredible considering that I had no idea they were comming til next week and they didn't know where we are staying. And with help from Toby I have already learned how to say coconut and where is the bathroom? YAY!