meeeee!

julie and lucy assisting



all this traveling around has left a lot of photographs in need of editing and posting. i get to it all eventually, but i'm not sure if i totally believe my own explanation that photographs get better with time and anticipation. still, these yoga and houndstooth photography promo shots definitely need to be posted because stacey veath did such a great job taking them. i mean, i really don't like getting my picture taken, so much so that i was really nervous before the shoot. luckily i had my best friend julie, julie's adorable dog lucy and stacey to be my entourage at the arboretum. the shoot ended up being really fun and i love the photos. it's really helpful for me to see what happens on the other side of the camera. i come across a lot of people who are like me about not wanting to be photograph and nothing makes me happier than taking a picture of them that they like. i don't know exactly what happens energetically during a photo shoot, but it does feel kinda big to me in that we have to be pretty vulnerable to let ourselves be seen and the conditions have to be right to do that well.

it's great to look at these pictures now as i am just finishing up healing from a bike accident two weeks ago. i have ridden my bike all over this city without fear for two years now, and then the accident happened so suddenly. the details were that i was late to teach a class so i was riding extra fast and was going straight through an intersection. the driver didn't see me, made a left turn and i didn't have enough time to stop. i crashed in her passenger side door and bounced back, landing on my lower back. it was a dramatic ordeal with lots of people standing around me and firemen and an ambulance. i had a good amount of time to lay on the street and wait for everyone to get organized and in those moments i had a pretty intense yoga practice of just trying to stay in the moment. my back was hurting pretty bad so my mind starting telling me that i would never be able to have a real yoga practice again, i wouldn't teach again, etc. every time i went there i would start crying which was my indicator to pull myself back to what i knew to be true in the moment--i was just having pain in my back.

two hours and an xray later, the doctors told me that i was going to be fine with just pain and bruises. now two weeks later, i am barely feeling it, thanks to advil, arnica gel and lots of rest. it's been a good evaluation time for me to see how busy i am and how crazy this can make me. it was a big reminded for me to slow down and pay attention. techinically, it wasn't my fault, but this yogic path i walk demands me to take responsibility for everything that is going on in my life. i know that if i had been more aware and rushing less, i probably could have avoided it. i'm lucky to have learned this lesson in such a, relatively, gentle way.

ah, so much good stuff has been happening of late. i could write many but i have to teach soon and in the spirit of slowing down in my travels, here are the three i've been thinking about the most of late:

--i saw fela on tuesday at the shakespeare theater. it was an amazing political, interactive, musical experience. i highly recommend it.

--i wrote this piece on the peace corps for the 50th anniversary this weekend and my friend ann published it in her magazine, GOOD

--my friends mark and rebecca were married last weekend in st. louis. it was a magical night--the wedding had a masquerade ball theme and involved an ancestral fire and aerial silks performance. pictures are coming soon!