Road trippin’ 09

In late spring 2009 I decided to take a teaching sabbatical to unplug from ‘regular life’ and let the winds of intuition and change blow me in a new direction. To most people it looked like I was going on vacation, taking two bikes a climbing rack and my yoga mats to goof off and play in the mountains and desert. Ostensibly I took time off to write, completing a book project I’d begun long ago. Part autobiographical, part memoir, and part yoga philosophy, my goal was to finish the writing during this 5-week period. But life happens when you are busy making other plans (or writing other books).

The book was not completed during this trip, but several new chapters emerged, both literally and figuratively. The story–and the journey–is, for all intents and purposes, to be continued… As my teacher is so fond of saying: We are each one of us so unique, but not so very special. I’m just an ordinary girl with a mystical view of the world, and as such my ‘yoga practice’ is not restricted to the confines of a typical yoga mat. My stories come from singletrack and dirt roads, from rocks and ropes, from the past and the present, as well as from the yoga mat and meditation pillows.

My heartfelt thanks to the friends and community who supported me and provided sponsorship with in-kind goods and service, and to all the amazingly kind, good-hearted people I met along the way. We are all interconnected and I hope my stories support you or someone you love in some way. As to when they will become published, I can’t say, but I know it will happen. After all, intuition says so.

Comments are highly encouraged and for every comment I receive I make a donation to the dZi Foundation, a non-profit organization that serves impoverished communities that fall below the radar of other International Non-Governmental Organizations due to caste make-up and remote location.

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Cyclepath Custom Bike Love Best little bike shop in Portland for the custom bike love treatment. You want a new bike? Go anywhere. You want a bike you’re gonna love so much you can’t stop riding it? Go to Cyclepath. The only retül fit provider in Portland, owners Bill and Joshua also maintain a strong commitment to supporting the local economy, environmental stewardship, and strive to provide the finest gear.

Ninkasi Brewing Simply put, the BEST beer in Oregon. I know. I’ve sampled them all. Brewed in Eugene, OR Ninkasi is named after the Sumerian goddess of fermentation and the current seasonal–Spring Reign–will definitely rule your taste buds and has one of the most pleasant floral noses ever brewed (IMHO). Total Domination is of course, The Best. Beer. Evarrrrrr.

Trailhead Coffee Roasters This is what you get when you combine sustainable business practices, environmental stewardship, delivery by bike (local deliveries only, please) and damn good coffee. Charlie Wicker serves up beans that are easy to get behind when you know it’s better and less expensive than that BIG Portland micro-roaster, and all beans are purchased from 100% women-owned sustainable coffee plantations in South America and Africa. (And soon to be found in Whole Foods Market!) Now you can feel good about your coffee fix in more ways than one.

Yoga Pearl Taking 5 weeks off during economic hardship, while so many friends and loved ones are losing their jobs as the global economy fails seems irresponsible at best. And yet the path of yoga encourages personal pilgrimage and retreating. I’m very lucky to have the support of the studio and the students I serve as I take this time to do personal work and redefine my purpose and my practice as both a teacher and a student of yoga.

And finally, I want to thank my family of friends, comrades, students and colleagues for their support and encouragement. Words fail me now, and so I leave you with a just smile, more like a goofy grin actually, and a heart full of gratitude.

Namaste and more cowbell.