In Yoga, we practice Yamas (restraints) and Niyamas (observances), these are basically rules to help you live your life better and achieve higher spirituality. I try to focus on 1 from each. The niyama that I try to practice is santosha, which is contentment. Because I like to shop too much :) True, shopping is fun, but let's face it, you can't take it with you, which leads me to the yama... Aparigraha, or non-attatchment. This is a hard one. I came face to face with how much I have to learn about this yesterday. We took Bootsie (my sweet little kitty) to the vet. Standard check up of her teeth because she seems to be struggling to eat dry food. She also being on a diet has lost too much weight. Four pounds!!!!! That's alot for a kitty. So the vet said her teeth looked good, but she wanted to take some blood to check everything else.. Ok, how bad could it be, right? I just had blood taken yesterday also... But kitties are different. She tried one arm first, not enough blood, second arm, not enough blood. So the vet says, I'd like to give her oxygen and anestitize her so I can draw blood from her neck, it's the kinder thing to do. I will tell you I didn't flinch, and said, ok, do what you have to do. But I kissed my kitty, told her I loved her so much, and hubby and I left the room. I then preceded to act non too kindly to hubby. Did you know about this?? I asked him (he made the appt for her)... OOOhhhhh not very yogi of me, already... And then the fear.... "she better wake up or I'm going to be really pissed off." Nice, very nice. I'm so very nice to him at this point. Why? because I am paralyzed by fear that something is going to happen to my little girl. Please understand, If you don't have a pet, you probably can't relate, but I've had her for 14 years. I love her. I didn't take a yogi approach to this situation. I totally forgot to breathe. I lashed out at my hubby, my rock, the love of my life. Because I let fear creep in. I forgot that as Buddha says, in the end we are left with only ourselves. We will lose everything. Hard thing to practice, aparigraha. God showed me that yesterday. Lesson learned, I have a long way to go in my practice. Kitty is ok, she was woozie for about an hour. I can't stop kissing her...
Hubby and I attended our first concert of the season on Sunday. We went to see Depeche Mode at PNC. This is an outdoor venue and let me tell you, it was chilly. I grabbed my pashima on the way out the door and I was glad I did. People were buying blankets from the vendors. Not a cup of hot coffee in sight only icy beer. What's wrong with icy beer? Nothing when it's warmer than 45' outside. But when your chillin....brrrrr..... Anyhew, concert was excellent. Dave is looking a little older than the last time I saw him but, despite 2 cancelled shows before our his pipes were right on. He also didn't stop moving around. Reminded me of Michael Stipe from REM, dancing around for the whole show. So I last saw these guys before I even met my Hubby. Has to be about 15 years ago. You could tell the die hard fans right from song 2. Question of time. That's going back to the Black Celebration album, which is one of my all time favorite albums. I bought the new Playing the Angel cd. I'm enjoying it, it grows on you after a couple listens. So all in all good start to the concert season. Next up.. Foreigner and Styx.. and we are in the 17th row, oh yeah, it's gonna be a good one.
Posted on this blog. Life has been busy. Lots of stuff going on. Knitting in peace. I really enjoy sitting in my sunroom and knitting. I bought myself a new chair from Pier One. I am working on making this room an oasis of peace. I meditate in this room. I love this room. I will post a pic soon (promise). I am posting some knitting stuff..This is a hat that I worked on. I like the basic idea of the newsboy cap, I'm just trying different yarns and different stitch patterns now that I feel comfortable with it. This brown hat I used a yo stitch to create a cool pattern of holes running throughout. Cute, right? I thought so. Hey, anytime I do something on my own I'm proud. 
This bag I felted and played around with the handles. I used one of my antique buttons on the flower. This is manos yarn (what else, right?). The flower I knit from Louise Harding's book. Speaking of books, just bought the Nicki Epstein's book of knitted flowers. Cool stuff. She's so talented. Let's see, on the knitting front I also won a $50.00 gift certificate to LYS. I decided to drive into pennsylvania for their 1 year anniversary. 20% off all yarn. Hey do any of us yarn addicts need a reason to go to a LYS???? It was a rainy sat and hubby was feeling ill. So I drove 40 mins in the rain, dropped $130.00 and got a phone call 2 days later that I won the raffle. Yeah!!!!!! Lots of new cascade 220 (among other 
purchases) and I won! Cool beans. This other newsboy is with another new yarn I found on the rainy day shopping trip. It's a little bit thicker than manos, the colors are gorgeous!!!!!!!So, on the yoga front. Still teaching. Still practicing. Started a relaxation exercise called 61 points. This was as per the recommendation of my yoga teacher (Jaime, see website at www.spandayoga.com). I bought a cd from the Himalayan institute by Rolf Sovik. I had practiced this before after Jaime's class, so if your starting out you should try 31 points first. Anyhew, the first day I tried the cd was a monday afternoon after a particularly hectic day. I was exhausted when I came home. I did the 61 points and I felt like a new woman! So relaxed and recharged I took a body pump class before I taught that night. Oh yeah. This is good stuff. I highly recommend it. I will soon be incorporating it into my class. This past weekend I went to the LYS (wow Local Yoga Studio- how weird is that, the two things I love have the same abbreviation). I went to take a power yoga class. I have taken this class several time before and the owner teaches it. She is an awesome teacher, us newbies can only aspire to be like all of those that teach us. She always says things in class that I need to hear. I mean ALWAYS.... so this week she talked about non-attatchment. Removing jewelry, etc.. What to do you wear on your body (aside from clothing) to your yoga class? I usually take off my wedding rings because they affect mudras. This class I had on a bracelet, a bracelet that was amma's (see www.amma.org) so I didn't want to remove it because it's blessed, but I did. What I couldn't seem to remove was my attatchment to all the things going on in my life currently. And That affected my practice greatly. See, one thing I have learned, you can't take a power yoga class (or any other yoga class) when you are mentally distracted. It's just more evident when you take a power class. I am the first to admit, I spent alot of time in child's pose. I spent some time crying. I felt every burning fiber in my legs in warrior pose. I tried to focus on my drishti point, hmm. Definetly a reminder. Let it go. Check yourself at the door. Be present on your mat. It never hurts to be reminded of the things you are trying to teach your students. Thanks Tracey. 
Just one last pic. Two more felted bags, and my venture into embroidery.....
dear... They ate my oriental day lilies for the second year in a row. I did the planters in fron red with purple mini bells. I also hung the large petunia baskets. Aren't those rhododendron gorgeous???? Their are more bushes on both sides and all around the house. The pic on top of the pink geraniums does not do them justice. There is a v
ariagated one in their that is just gorgeous. In the back I put this other planter with an orange/purple theme. There is a "cigar plant" in there. They have really cool cigar shaped orange bloo
ms. Last but not least, my window box. My sister Rachel recommended mixing yellow with the red and purple theme. (she's the master gardener). So I did 2 yellow and 1 red dahlia, red and purple verbena. I will retake these pics at the end of the summer, so we can see the growth!!!!
