Blogtober Day 1

Welcome to #blogtober Day 1!
The topic for today is...
What is your main motivation in life??
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A broad answer to this question would be love. Love for my family. Love for my friends. Spreading love and kindness and just trying to make the world easier and more beautiful place to be a part of. Specifically, this tiny, miraculous human is my motivation. Because I want all of those things for her. I want Ezmé to grow up in a world that is kind, and peaceful, and compassionate for everyone. I want her to treat everyone with the respect and empathy that they deserve. I want her to understand that things aren’t always easy but that approaching life with a good outlook can make things better. I want her to know that she is fiercely loved and that she is perfect just the way she is. My motivation in life has completely been overtaken by this child because I want what all parents want; what’s best for their kid. There is a lot of ugliness in the world right now: school shootings, dirty politics, hate crimes, xenophobia, destruction of our planet. I want to raise a daughter who will strive to make these things better, because as much as I wish that she wouldn’t have to deal with these issues, her generation will be born into the middle of it. And I hope that they will rise to the occasion and fix the things that we couldn’t fix for them. 💙
#wherefeathersfall #motivation #journaling #awareness #babygirl #ezméluna #worldpeace #motherhoodrising #motherhood #motherhoodunplugged

How to Move to Another Country

Hello lovely internet fam,
I've been doing an excellent job of neglecting my blog for the last month or so and honestly I have no excuse except for the fact that I've been running around like a psychopath trying to organize my life before moving to the other side of the world. Given the amazing amount of knowledge I have gained over the last six months through both experience and advice from others in the same boat, I've decided to compile a list of things to do before uprooting your life and moving to another country for a few years...

1. Get on Pinterest and make a board dedicated to all of the amazing things there are to do in your new country! That way, when you find yourself blubbering into a glass of wine, you can pull up your Pinterest board and look at beautiful beaches and cool things to do!

2. Take on a new hobby or class that finishes RIGHT BEFORE you leave for said new country. Not only does it distract you in the way that stubbing your toe makes your headache go away, but you may find that this welcome distraction also allows you to get a job in your new country (employment = good, unemployment = bad).

3. Decide to bring all four of your pets with you and spend the six months before your move planning elaborate time schedules around quarantines, vaccination records, and plane tickets. Oh and, pay an excessive amount of money in the process.

4. Somehow wait until the week before your move to sell your car and rent your house out! This way, you have the opportunity to really test your nerve before embarking on your new adventure!

5. Rip the one pair of jeans you left out of your packed goods (that you wont see for a month). Who doesn't want to wear leggings for 6 weeks straight, OR that random pair of overalls you decided to bring in your carry on...just in case!

6. Decide to take a spur of the moment trip to Europe two weeks before your departure date! Sure you will spend a bunch of money and randomly disappear causing family and friends to think you pulled an Irish Goodbye, but can anyone say 'Practice Run'?

7. And lastly, spend all of your free time with family and friends that you won't see for a while! Moving to another country has a lot of crazy ups and downs and the lowest low will be not seeing your tribe regularly BUT the highest high is the amazing opportunity that you get to experience! All of the crazy little things that happen are nothing in the grand scheme of things, and getting to experience another culture first hand is a wonderful adventure.

So, take a deep breath, experience each moment for what it is, and dive in headfirst!

See you on the other side,
Em

Hellooo August

I can't believe you are here already. Summer is in full swing and the days are muggy and hot as all get out here in the Bull City. Needless to say, I'M READY FOR FALL. But then again, I'm always ready for fall so that's about par for the course. I've been spending my days wrapping up my last few real estate deals, inventorying our household goods, catching up with friends and family, and running around like a crazy person. We have had a wedding to go to every month since April, and my yoga teacher training has continued to get more in-depth and intense. So we are definitely all over the place, but in a good way!

I have been trying to be better about living with intention in each moment and finding gratitude in little, everyday things because it seems like time just won't slow down and I don't want to miss anything, especially during times like this where everything is going a million miles a minute and it's so easy to just plunder through without noticing or appreciating anything.

Luckily, I rediscovered my copy of The 52 Lists Project today while attempting to inventory all of our stuff today! I never finished it because, go figure, we moved and I couldn't find it anywhere. This book is such a beautiful way to find inspiration and gratitude each week with a new though-provoking topic. And this weeks topic is 'List the Things That Make You Excited'.

I am so happy that I found this book, and can't help but feel like it showed up right when I needed it the most :) That being said, I am reinstating that weekly blog prompt from this wonderful book and I invite you all to play along too!

As an easily excitable person, this could end up being quite an extensive list but here goes...

Things That Make Me Excited
-Good books
-Hole-in-the-wall coffee bookshops/coffee shops
-Traveling to new places
-Harry Potter
-The first snow of the year
-When the seasons change
-Seeing old friends
-Sales
-Cook books
-Baby animals
-Hearing other peoples good news
-New yoga pants
-Seeing my hubby after we've been apart
-Christmas!
-Cozy dinner parties
-Fridays
-That moment when you first see the beach
-Making lists (lol)
-Getting packages
-Dressing up
-People standing up for others


What are some of the things that make you excited??

Em <3

living your yoga

Happy June Everyone!

Summer is almost upon us here in NC and you can feel it in the air. Literally, it's muggy AF. I just wrapped week five of yoga teacher training and am more than halfway through this journey to get my RYT200. It's been such a wonderful experience and I can honestly say that I don't even recognize my practice from before. It sounds cheesy, but I am changed. Learning just the tiny little bit that I have so far has been so incredibly expansive for my heart, mind, and soul. Not to mention my physical body!

Each month I have continued progressing through our pranayama (breath-work) and dharana/dhyana (concentration/meditation) plans which are building up our experience level and teaching us the different methods for these ancient practices. It has been so interesting to learn about the history and purpose of these techniques. I never really appreciated or understood the pranayama or meditation aspects of yoga until now. I am impatient and the thought of sitting still and 'wasting' time breathing used to horrify me! But now, I feel like I have opened a whole new part of myself and its all because of these yogic practices that I used to think were silly.

What so many people don't know, myself (until this year) included, is that the asanas (poses) are only a tiny part of yoga. In fact, according to the Eight Limb Path it is only, well, one eighth of the full Raja practice! In order to truly live ones yoga there are many other aspects that are equally, if not more important. Below you can see a chart of the Eight Limbed Path...

The idea is to build upon the Yamas and Niyamas with your posture practice, breathwork, and meditation to eventually reach a place of enlightenment or divine connection. Of course this doesn't happen over night, but we have to have goals in this life right? 

This month our focus is on the first niyama, saucha, or purity. Purity in this sense means taking care of your body, mind, and soul in a way that keeps them clean and pure. So this can range from taking a shower, to eating healthy, to going to yoga or the gym, all the way to cleansing your mind, intellect, and spirit through study, the search for knowledge, and truthfulness. Needless to say, these are lofty goals that can seem SUPER overwhelming, but if I have learned one thing through my practice it is that trying your best is always good enough. 

Yoga is about trying to be your best self! Nobody is perfect and that's totally fine. Maybe you can't do a handstand, or meditate for longer than ten minutes without falling asleep, but that's not what it is all about. Being a true and good person, aspiring and striving to better yourself, and treating others kindly is yoga too. 

There are as many paths as there people when it comes to yoga, and no single journey is perfect. All I want to do is strive every day to live my yoga. Whether that means I make it to class or not, I want to truly know in my heart that I tried my best to live my yoga. One of my favorite modern yoginis, Rachel Brathen, has a great quote...

 

I don't know what these next few months have in store but I am so excited to continue growing and learning as a yoga teacher and student because I think a true yogi never stops learning. Being a forever student of ones self and the world sounds like a pretty great adventure! 

How do you live your yoga every day? 

Em

Living with Intention

We are swinging right through Spring and into Summer here in NC! The days are starting to get hot and muggy and long, and everything is green and full of life. I love this time of year in Durham and I'm so glad I get to spend the next few months here before our big move this winter.

During the summer months when the American Dance Festival is going on you can hear the rehearsals going on across the street at Duke! The cicadas are picking up their chorus and fireflies are everywhere. You can hear people walking their dogs, playing outside, grilling out, and laughing with friends and family until late in the evenings. On Friday nights you can hear the fireworks from the Bulls Games and the smell of charcoal and freshly cut grass is always in the air. These are the sounds and smells of my childhood, and it makes me so nostalgic to experience them again after being gone for the last two years :)

Even though it's starting to get too hot to leave the windows open, I love to throw them wide at night so I can hear the crickets chirping as I fall asleep and the birds singing when I wake up. Every morning I take my mat out onto the back deck and get in some morning asana flow while my coffee is brewing and the dogs are running around the yard. Everything seems to move slower in the summer. I love that. The feeling of waking up early, but slow, so you have time to start your day gently and with intention.

I have been thinking about intention a lot recently. I feel like I see so many people going through life every day full of worry and anxiety and chaos. And of course, I am guilty of that regularly, but I've noticed that my yoga practice has made me hyper-aware of this to the point where I am able to catch myself getting kinetic and am then able to take a breath and reset my intention. Naturally there are some big things in life that cause stress; a big project at work, a test in your hardest class, money problems, etc. But, there are also a ton of little, insignificant things that cause just as much anxiety, and when it comes down to it worrying about ANY of these things, big or small, is not going to solve anything.

I heard a saying once that, 'if you worry about things before they happen, you suffer twice'. To people who know me, it's going to sound like I'm being extremely hypocritical right now because I am seriously one of the biggest worry-warts alive! But I think that is why I am so aware of it, because I spend so much of my own time trying to quell my anxiety and stress that I have in my life (and to a certain extent exacerbate when I don't catch myself in time!)

One of the ways that I have started trying to live with more intention is by taking a step back, following my breath, and giving myself a minute to process things when I get overwhelmed or feel myself starting to experience negative emotions. This is harder some times and easier other times but the result is always the same: I walk away feeling more at peace with things, and I am able to move forward in a more productive and positive way.

It can also help to reflect at the end of your day! I recently had dinner with my family and I was telling them about a family I used to nanny for and how every night at dinner they would go around the table and each person would say what their "rose" and "thorn" of the day was. Your "rose" being the best part of your day, and the "thorn" being the worst. We decided to do it ourselves and it was so wonderful to hear the highs and lows of each others day and talk about things on a different level. It can be so easy to let little, annoying incidents effect the outcome of our days but if we take the time to appreciate the little things and focus our intention on being grateful for those things we can be so much happier and peaceful.

Smile at a stranger. Hold a door for someone. Call a friend you haven't talked to in a while. Go for a walk outside without your phone. Go to the gym. Start a book you've been wanting to read. Have a glass of wine on your deck and look at the stars. The list in endless!! Pick one thing to do each day that will bring you joy, and do it with intention!

Find the things that bring you joy and DO THEM! We are only here for a short amount of time and every second should be filled with love and intention and gratitude (easier said than done, but big goals build character and every little step in the right direction makes a huge difference!)

What are some things you can do to start living with more intention?

Em