OK… so I’ve not put much effort into building MommyOm over there on facebook. I know… way slow to the party!
So, please help me get this facebook train moving! Giveaways to come soon for facebook like-ers. Announcements to come soon, but don’t let that stop you! No matter when you like MommyOm, you will be included!
It is festival time folks, and here’s one to kick off the season that is bound to inspire and enlighten while getting you movin’, groovin’ all at the same time. In amongst the music and vendors, yoga, speakers and workshops will be in abundance at the fast approaching and much anticipated 6th annual Lightning in a Bottle Music and Arts Festival 2011, presented by The Do Lab.
Yoga plays an integral role in Lightning In A Bottle, lead by the likes of Shiva Rea and Micheline Berry, but what sets this festival apart are the unique series of workshops to satisfy any number of interests. Want a cool way to make use your old clothes? Check out the Revolutionary Remix Upcycled Fashion and Costuming with artist Sara Rodriguez. Interested in a new way of looking at your connections to yourself, your relationships and your community? You’re bound to find a new perspective with Jessica Viola and The Life Garden. Wanna eat algae? Learn what spirulina can do for you and how to grow it at home.
Lightning In A Bottle is also family friendly where, in addition to the music, food and fun there is also MagiKids Village and Mystic Family Circus. There they’ll find a fun, magical place to experience the festival. From exciting activities and little shows geared towards children, to arts & crafts tables, the Kidz Village is the place for parents to go with their kids. It also provides a safer zone for children to play and roam more freely and playful educational activities to engage in. With arts and crafts, a play area with fun circus props, face painting and more along with entertainment suprises, your kids are sure to have a great time of their own at the festival.
Click HERE to see the multitude of interesting and inspiring workshops available at Lightning In A Bottle in only a couple of weeks!
Get educated, enlightened and inspired this Memorial Day weekend (May 27-30) and will be returning for the 2nd straight year to the beautiful Oak Canyon Ranch in Irvine, Ca.
This is a definite must see! Head over to Lightning In A Bottle for more info!
Happy Earth Day, all!
In honour of all things earth, lets talk what we can do to combine our love of yoga with our love of this wondrous host that sustains us.
1. Get outside with your mat. OK, so it still might only be slightly above freezing in some parts (ahem. mine.), but I bet it warms up some by this afternoon. Even if it’s just a quick sun salute out on the lawn… bring your practice closer to the soil on this special day!
2. Walking meditation. Find a favourite spot outside, take off your shoes, and walk it. Back and forth, with method and deliberation. Feel the sensations in your feet: every grab of your toes, the pressure in your heels. Breathe deeply. Welcome thoughts as you patiently dismiss them. Yes, to your neighbours, you’ll sort of look like a victim of the bodysnatchers, but who cares?! They’ll have no idea what they’re missing and you’ll feel invigorated by the experience!
3. Sitting meditation. Again… find a favourite spot outdoors, arrange your preferred seat, and sit. Be. ‘Nuff said.
4. Get outside with the kids. There is nothing to ground you to our Mother, like fully embracing that within yourself. Even with the screaming, crying and whining… OK, maybe that’s just my brood.
5. Unplug for mercy’s sake. Turn off the God-awful tube, X-Box, PS, wii, computer (… yeah. right.) Nothing says we love you Earth, like conserving a little energy and getting people away from screens gets everybody expending a little for a change.
6. Today… water is for drinking. Take a break from flushing, washing, watering.
7. Sit down with your family and make a “Conservation Commitment”. Talk about some ways you all can impact the Earth less, why it’s so important and sign a contract that seals the deal.
8. For this day, as you move about your daily lives, keep conservation in your consciousness. When I approach the fridge and grab for something, I like to ask, “does this really nourish me?” Same goes for your activities today, “Does this help or hurt?”
It’s a beautiful, wonderful day. Thank Earth.
… that, no doubt, will totally lead to our spending more money on their stuff! But everybody will feel better about it.
You have to hand it to yoga apparel juggernaut, Lululemon. Even during tough economic times, they’ve totally found the golden ticket into our wallets- hmmm… feed the kids? New yoga pants? That’ll be a new pair of Lululemon Groove Pant Organic, if you please.
Seems that despite the tightening in our wallets, we’ve still found that little extra to drop on the clothes we feel assist in tightening our behinds…. or is it in expanding our consciousness?
Whatever drives people into the stores, and now it’s online presence, Lululemon has found what so many other businesses wish they could, a way to double it’s stock over the course of less than a year… in what continues to be economic strife for many!
But, I digress… and while Lululemon certainly doesn’t need the endorsement of a backwoods mommy blogger… I just wanted to mention, that as they continue to grow, making money hand over fist, they do know the value of building community and promoting health.
In that spirit, once a week, Lululemon shops across the continent, push aside their racks of clothing and other products to provide a make-shift studio, and with instructors provided by local studios, offer free yoga, or “the gift of yoga” to the masses.
While the gesture may be extended from an ever-growing corporate entity, it’s a wonderful one, in keeping with the underlying philosophies that are the foundation of yoga.
In particular, it offers those people who can’t afford a yoga class an opportunity to benefit from great instruction at no cost… or those folks who prefer their yoga for free so they can spend their money on yoga wear!
Regardless the motivation on either part, it’s good for yoga and if you’d like to find a class at your nearest Lululemon, visit www.lululemon.com or click HERE for more information.
With New Years resolutions already falling by the wayside, yoga studios all over are capitalizing on the lack of resolve by offering another chance for instituting change.
To get your sorry butt off the sofa stir the embers of motivation, perhaps a little challenge might be in order. The 30 Day Yoga Challenge might be what you- and I, Buddha knows!- need to be finding our way to the mat more regularly.
Beginning February 1st, we shall all commit to practicing every day. Every day. If you miss a day, it’s to be made up on the following.
Remember, it’s a Challenge.
Perhaps you find it easier participating with a class, such as that at Vancouver’s Yogapod, as many studios are offering such programs. The beauty of this is, of course, you can always do it on your own.
Choose your venue. Choose your style… and for heaven’s sake, feel free to choose the time of day and the length of practice that works best for your schedule. Keep in mind that this has less to do with the 30 days you’ve committed than to instituting real change in your life and health.
As I consider my own commitment, I know that here in the sticks I don’t have the benefit of a studio that can provide me with such a program. I’m on my own. With no one but my lone reader many readers to keep me honest.
30 days? Dare I say… I’m in?!
You wouldn’t think of the tiny province of Nova Scotia as being a hotbed of activism, but it’s amazing what can happen when you combine the spirit of yoga and, well, the spirit of people.
With the help of his staff, Jeff MacKinnnon, of Breathing Space Yoga Studio, and his Yoga 11 class partnered with Ian MacHattie and fotocan.org to raise the money for 60 houses, costing $500 each. The 60 houses will make their way to the devastated and struggling country, hit by a 7.0 earthquake a year ago, killing 220,000 and leaving 1.8 million homeless.
Part of the fundraiser featured a class of 94 students at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College on Monday, which is the largest ever in the region. MacKinnon was trying to break that number Thursday at Cobequid Educational Centre which was also the culmination of the CEC’s first semester of Yoga 11, and featured 86 participants. To meet the 60-house goal, the last $775 was raised through the class.
Wanderlust is a retreat unlike any other… and it ain’t just for California gurls anymore.
The two-year-old yoga-slash-concert extravaganza will offer two locations for the summer of 2011, appealing to the green-, yogi-, and folk- hearted on both coasts. If you can’t make it out to California, maybe you’ve a hankerin’ for maple syrup and an extra excuse to get to Vermont is in order! An added bonus, they are a month apart, so you’ve plenty of time to save your pennies not missing one in favour of the other.
The details, instructors and musicians, are still to be announced next month, but if last year’s line-up is any indication (the likes of Shiva Rea, Baron Baptiste, Doug Swenson and Moby, Bassnectar, Brazilian Girls, respectively) then these retreats will be sure NOT to disappoint.
The beautiful thing about Wanderlust, it isn’t just a retreat for yoga-loving singles. Families are welcome and encouraged, with the Wanderkind Kids Program, presented last year by Om Kids Yoga, Truckee. It was the number one spot on site for kids to have an exceptionally cool experience, custom tailored to the interests of Wanderlust families.
I’m afraid it’s been a busy month in the world of MommyOm… I was under the impression that, as Staples keeps reminding us, “It’s the most wonderful time of the yeeeeeear!” because September means Back to School and thus find myself way behind the 8-ball and totally slow on the uptake in this being National Yoga Month!
For those of you not completely lost in the bliss and sudden abundance of peace and quiet in your lives, perhaps this month might also mean taking advantage of the various specials held at studios around America and getting acquainted with yoga for the first time. For others, such as myself, it means considering what yoga means in my day-to-day life and perhaps re-committing to a regular practice… or maybe I did that last month?!?!
Whatever. Whether it’s Back to School or National Yoga Month, do yourself a favour and check out a local yoga class this month. It might be just what you need to fill up all the time you’ve recently acquired!
Happy Yoga Month!
Personally, I can’t imagine I would get into a class of 10,000 people… but clearly, for at least 10,000 people this is exactly what blows their hair back.
In the spirit of the first full day of summer, The World’s Largest Free Yoga Class in Central Park takes place in less than nine hours, beginning at 6pm, and will have the remarkable distinction of being the only yoga class to actually be visible from space. Yikes!
The class will be led by uber-instructor, Elena Brower and hosted by Reggie Watts. Clearly, an event such as this, it’s not just the 10,000 ujjayi breaths you’ll be hearing throughout the class… the likes of Buddy Wakefield, Grammy nominee DALIEN, aka 13 Hands, WAH!, O’Nkosi Rhythms and others.
Here’s a little more info… grab your mats and jump a plane. You’ve got only nine hours to get to New York’s Central Park to get your breath on… with only another 9,999 other people!
