Friday, July 31, 2009

Rain after the sun on day 31

It's the last day of July.  Gratitude?  Check.  Have relied on it all month and will continue to.  Morning of breakfast and catching up with a friend at my neighborhood cafe, biking around for errands and posting my Iceland flyers around town (you know you wanna come with me!), teaching my noon yoga class, staking up my tomatoes, and now taking in the new Riceboy Sleeps album (again, you know you want to come to Iceland to check out where this music comes from...).   There is a summer monsoon-like storm setting in for the late afternoon.  Perfect for this music.  Seems like a whole lot to be grateful for to me!  
Haven't been blogging or making playlists as much as of late because I'm still trying to enjoy life and take the summer as it comes.  Went to Nantucket with my love to take in the grey lady's mist, do yoga in nature, swim with seals, and reflect on the beauty around us in life.  
Hope everyone out there is doing the same, no matter where you are!  
Looking forward to August and a new mantra, a new sound, a new creative energy to enhance that beauty that sets us into who we are and what makes us feel alive. 

Monday, July 20, 2009

New Playlist: Cosmos Petals in the Wind

1. Arms & Sleepers:  Dear Charles, my muse, asleep, or dead
2. Lisa Hannigan: Lille
3. Lisa Hannigan:  An Ocean & a Rock
4. Neko Case:  Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth
5. Lisa Hannigan: Keep it All
6. "           "           : Venn Diagram
7.    "        "           :  Sea Song
8. Neko Case:  Vengeance is Sleeping
9. Lisa Hannigan:  Splishy Splashy
10.  "          "         :  I Don't Know
11. Neko Case:  I'm an Animal
12.  "           "   : Magpie to the Morning
13. Lisa Hannigan:  Courting the Blues
14.    "          "         :  Pistachio
15.    "           "        :  Teeth
16.    Neko Case:  The Next Time You Say "Forever"
17.      "           "   :  Middle Cyclone
18. Arms & Sleepers:  Jetty
19.              "                :  Algiers Point
20.            "                 : In the Empire of Builders
21.            "                  :  The Motorist

-Lisa Hannigan album: Sea Sew
-Neko Case album: Middle Cyclone
-Arms & Sleepers EP:  The Motorist


Thursday, July 16, 2009

This weekend, botanical beauty and vinyasa fun





Flowerfolk

Botanical Beauty 
by
Nazarene Zabel




It's finally been a full week of summertime sunshine...and this weekend promises some more summer fun in the making!  Here in Somerville and Cambridge, MA we know how to do it up right, supporting local business, farms, and artists.  So if you're not heading to the cape or a festival this weekend, then there are a few things you should check out!

1)  My talented and brilliant best friend, Nazarene Zabel, has finally debuted her own line of organic (mostly locally grown herbs) beauty products, called Flowerfolk!  She (an ethnobotanist, reiki practitioning, flame-haired gem) has been working hard to bring you all a fantastic array of creations that she's been selling at local farmers' markets.  There are lotions, lip balms, salves, facial steams, scrubs, toners, etc.  Plus, she's super knowledgeable about all things botanical...including what teas to drink, how to make cordials, tinctures, and more.  So this Saturday, July 18th, you should go chat her up and check out her stuff at the Union Sq. Farmers' Market!  Located at the square in front of Precinct and The Independent off of Somerville Ave., it opens at 9am and runs through 1pm.  You'll also find a nice selection of local farms providing veggies, cheeses, meats, flowers, breads, and baked goods.  
If you must miss this, then you have another chance this coming week to check out Naz and Flowerfolk:  Tuesday, July 21 at the Harvard Sq. Farmers' Market.  This is the one located just outside of Harvard Yard near Memorial Hall.  It runs from approx. noon-6pm.  
My fave Flowerfolk items you ask?  
Hildegard's Charm Rose/Witchhazel Facial Toner
Mossy Sister Sage Cleansing Scrub
*I've been using her stuff for months now and it feels so good to know exactly what I'm putting on my body and it feels even better!  You'll find stuff ranging from $4-30.  

2) Saturday, July 18th, after checking out Naz in Union Sq., I suggest heading towards Harvard to come Embrace the Heat with me in my July Vinyasa Yoga Workshop at Karma Yoga Studio2:15-4:30pm 
If you have been practicing regularly and feel like finding your edge and strength in your asanas, then come join me! 
We'll work on our legs, arms, and abs. Binding in warriors, chaturangas, crow and other arm balances...working with the heat instead of against it. ;)  I've broken up these more intense poses in sequences that will help you have fun with them and get nice and warm.  
Plus, there will be time as usual to sit and meditate or journal during your practice. Take your practice a step further than you might normally...in body, mind, emotions, and spirit. 
Drop-in only, so if you're around, pop in for an intense and awakening yoga afternoon. 
--$46, or 25% discount if Karma member--


*So, that's 2 great options for the weekend.  There's also the ArtBeat Festival in Davis Sq. all day Saturday (I suggest checking out vintage finds at Artifaktori if you're in Davis Sq.), loads of great music at Precinct or Toad, and time to work in your gardens and enjoy the sunshine.  So, keep smiling and feeling gratitude the rest of July and beyond!

xxo


Thursday, July 9, 2009

rely on gratitude


The sun came out for 3 days last weekend to bring us summer just in time for my birthday and the holiday weekend, and it couldn't have been a better one.  Those 3 days after a month of continuous rain and clouds made it all the more sweet and has encouraged my new mantra for the month of July:  Rely on Gratitude.  
With the most splendid friends, yoga students, family, community, and the awesome ability to get to do what I love as my life's work...there is nothing else to feel this month other than gratitude for being alive.  
The weekend ended with a Cancer Full Moon in Capricorn asking us to confront old voices within that prevent us from finding our own inner voice.  Summer is still fresh, everyone!  Keep your spirit alive by staying on track with this gratitude.  Breathe it into your hearts for your health, your yoga, the people in your life, anything that makes you smile...
Keep using the mat to confront those old voices, sit with the fear in order to let it resolve, and then let it go.  Be patient with the process.  I believe in you, and the rest that summer has to offer.  
Then off to Iceland at the end of it...you game?

Start Planning for Iceland Yoga with Me...


Picture: Capital city-reykjavik                 Picture: Waterfall we’ll visit-Hraunfoss

YOGA Adventure in Iceland

Sept. 13-20, 2009


At the tail end of summer, just before official autumn equinox, come explore this magical place and journey deeper into your yoga practice with me!

Where:  Reykholt, Iceland 

**We'll fly out on Sept. 12 from Boston and fly back on Sept. 20. 

Price includes everything (airfare+fees, transfers to and from airport, hotel stay in double room occupancy with private bath, vinyasa yoga practices, cave tours, horseback riding, tour of peninsula, all meals from Monday-Friday morning and then breakfast on Sat/Sun, tour from Reykholt to Reykjavik, Blue Lagoon trip):  $2730   

Check out the website about the place we'll be retreating:

http://www.wellnessiceland.is/


*Of course, if you don't live in the Boston area, you don't have to fly out of Boston.  This may change the price of trip.  Another variation in price may occur if you want to simply stay Sunday-Friday for the yoga and skip the touring of Reykjavik on the weekend after.  We will work from where you are and your needs to get you to Iceland!  


                  

Example Day:

Wake up, light breakfast, then yoga.  Relax with option of wellness treatment or hot soak.  Lunch, then afternoon fun (cave tour, horseback, hike...).  Come back for evening yoga, then dinner, more natural hot water soak, and rest.   The days will vary and we’ll end the yoga week on Friday, head into Reykjavik for the weekend of touring the city and taking in some sights.  Trip will end with hot soak in the Blue Lagoon on our way to the airport and flight back to Boston!


I am SO excited to venture back to this land that I love, and be able to share an experience through yoga, art, and nature with some of you out there.  Please contact me with any questions or if you're interested!


Check out event on facebook, Yoga in Iceland with Jenn or feel free to e-mail me for info and full outline/details of trip: jpyogini@gmail.com