1/1 James CC
1/2 Brandi Shiva
1/3 James CC
1/4 Aaron CC
1/5 James CC
1/6 Jade Shiva
1/7 James CC
1/8 Jen Prana
1/9 Scott Prana
1/10 James CC
1/11 Abby CC
1/12 Matt Prana
1/13 Scott Prana
1/14 Sherry The Shop
1/15 Scott Prana
1/16 Scott Prana
1/17 James CC
1/18 Adam CC
1/19 Matt Prana
1/20 Jade Shiva
1/21 Kelly TAdasana
1/22 Matt Prana
1/23 Scott Prana
1/24 James CC
1/25 Jennifer Ellen prana
1/26 jami Shiva
1/27 Scott Prana-INJURY
1/28 OFF
1/29 Jenn Prana
1/30 Matt Prana
1/31 James CC
2/1 Tiff The Shop
2/2 James CC
2/3 Scott Prana
2/4 OFF
2/5 Kate CC
2/6 Scott Prana
Bikram
2/7 James CC
2/8-11 INJURED
2/12 James Soul Gazing
2/13 Scott Prana
2/14 James Valentine CC
2/15 Jessie Shiva
2/16 James CC
2/17 OFF
2/18 James GLOW
2/19 Matt Prana
2/20 Kim CC
2/21 yoshi Prana

James is winning

I’m SO glad I went to Kim’s class today. The class was focused on opening our heart chakra and what that entails. Forgiveness, expressing love, being love and even enabling yourself to accept love. Ironic that the last can sometimes be the most difficult.

at the end of our class, Kim gave us a Heart Chakra homework assignment. It was about love. Be it, express it or accept it. Then right after class I got a msg from a dear friend, who happened to have JUST gotten let go from her job and needed some help. After a lengthy discussion about her situation, I bestowed a lot of knowledge to her that I’ve gained over the last 9 years of owning a business. I’ve seen a lot and experienced a lot in this field and I am quite well-read on the laws of Utah. Unfortunately, most people are not, and employers keep that assumption as their secret weapon.

My sweet friend got a lot more than she bargained for when she was just calling to discuss her massage appointment. She hung up with a wide eyes and a refreshed look at her experience and a plan to move forward powerfully.

Best part of all this? After we hung up, I received a txt from her: “Thanks, I love you.”

Homework from Kim’s class is now done. Word.

Firefox just crashed. I lost a huge post I had JUST finished. Grr. I was going to wrap up the post and head to restore at 10:15. Why 10:15? Because Scott is out of town. Yay for Scott but boo for me. I can’t handle going to a different instructor at Prana for a class I usually LOVE, so depending on how long it takes me to write this, I’ll go to kimmy’s class.

I’ve had a few days of communication challenges, both with clients and friends, so it has been interesting to find ways to replenish myself when that happens. I’ve gotten a few unexpected msg’s recently that have really done the trick:

“H, thanks for creating an outstanding work environment for us. I think we have such a solid staff and it’s things like this that not only keep us here, but keep us happy. I believe I speak for everyone at Align when I say we are super appreciative!” ~Thomas

“Thank you for being a good friend Harriet, I appreciate your generous heart…” ~Patrick

“You should know that I think you’re amazing and inspiring. Besides your wicked massage skills as a therapist, your light is amazing and I am thrilled to call you my friend ”~ Aurora

When I get messages like this is brightens my day, because I don’t remember doing anything specific to “deserve” them. I was just being myself and going about my everyday life. So when just being myself elicits this response, that’s pretty awesome.

Okay, I’m done. Looks like I’m going to Kimmy’s 10:15

Then later I’m looking forward to an early dinner with Crystal to discuss post retreat travel plan, yoga with Matt and then tea with my friend Justin later to catch up and tell him about the girls I’d like him to meet…

I like this thought because it expresses the importance of starting fresh with every moment.  That’s hard sometimes when a past experience could effect an interaction or experience with someone or the anticipation of the future…

Just be present and let the rest take care of itself.

I got an email today from yoga goddess Lisa Smiley, and it couldn’t have been more perfect for where I am right now. She talks about resistance and how it plays out in our lives, both good and bad. You can read it below, but the most interesting thing she pointed out was how we are equally apt to resist positive change in our lives, as we are negative change. We tend to resist anything that changes the balance of our lives, even if it is something amazing like opening our heart or mind to someone or something.

What to do? “Begin at the beginning. Find your breath and find your mat.” I was wondering whether or not to go to class today after a day ridden with miscommunication, a busy day schedule at the spa and a tight social schedule for tonight…but I’ll take some wise words and “find my mat.” word.

Lisa’s email:

“How many of us like the way Yoga makes us feel? How many of us really practice regularly? Maybe you have your mat at home in a clean quiet place, perfect for practicing, but you just can’t seem to make yourself get on that mat at home. Or maybe you schedule those specific classes at the studio into your week but then when its time to go you find yourself sitting on the couch in front of the tv or at your desk in front of your computer.

Do you notice yourself experiencing resistance in other areas of your life as well? Are you all prepared to begin a new project, but you just can’t seem to start it? Are you ready to take a relationship to the next level but you think that might make you feel trapped? Are you holding a grudge against someone or something that no longer deserves it?

Take a moment and experience that feeling of resistance. It feels kind of like irritability, like a kid saying “you can’t make me”.

This is one of life’s most puzzling paradoxes. The way we resist not only life’s difficulties but also life’s potential sweetness. We sometimes notice it as a subtle tendency to hold back from anything that changes the balance in our lives.

We don’t just resist unpleasant things like working with a health issue, or recognizing the need to leave a job. We often have a strange resistance to maybe getting a massage, or opening fully to a friend or lover, or, opening our hearts and minds to inner growth – even when we sense that we’re cutting ourselves off from something great.

Sometimes resistance is appropriate. If you didn’t have the ability to say no, to resist, or to filter, you would be overwhelmed. This is like the body’s immune system. It helps resist invaders, bugs, bacteria, and bring natural balance back. Our psychological immune system is similar. We learn as we grow up to set boundaries, and provide gateways, but sometimes we also create hostilities, and exploitations.

How can we find the balance? Now that we’ve looked into ourselves there may be an overwhelming feeling of RESISTANCE!! Slow down. Take a breath. Begin at the beginning. Find your breath and find your mat. Practice. Be mindful and kind with yourself. When you feel/see a Resistance rearing up, address it and decide if it is necessary. Take time to think about it. Maybe make a plan to deal with it. There are many experiences awaiting you in your life. Remember how good it feels to do Yoga? You can experience that same feeling off the mat when you decide to accept life, enjoy it and resist it less.”

I’m working on resisting less and will make that my focus for my home practice tonight

Namaste mother F#@*+!s

Susan and I often say this to each other as a joke, but last night in class James gave a little new meaning to it. Be your best self. Sure that’s a little cliche and I’ve learned especially over the last year or so that it’s more of a “process” than you think. Do you constantly engage in things to improve yourself or expand your way of thinking? It’s not to say you’re worse off if you don’t, but recently I’ve been spending time with more and more people who have done some self work, and the difference is refreshing.

So that gives all new meaning to the “The divine in me honors the divine in you.” When you bring it yourself, you attract it in others…it’s awesome.

James’s class on Valentine’s evening couldn’t have been a more perfect blend of restorative flow. It was as if he had a direct line into my head as Scott Moore does, and knew exactly what I needed from class…

Damn it Scott…why ya gotta keep rockin’ my yoga world?! There’s a reason this class marks the beginning of my week and why I look forward to it so much.

Today Scott talked about the difference between your True Self and your Ego. The True Self is the part that stays congruent in your nature as your ego self shifts, molds, opens, closes, takes radical turns, has emotional responses and is influential. I never really thought of that, but I couldn’t believe how much sense it made once I reflected on it. I related that back to James’s exercise and thought about how the left side of my face is more of the true self, while the right side seems more fluid and available to take in the experiences that come its way. I like that my “true self”, when I really reflect on it, is rooted in nurturing and wanting to take care of people I care about. It’s also funny for me to think about how it’s my ego that has a hard time letting anyone nurture or take care of me. Hmm. That’s something to work on for sure.

SIDENOTE:
At the end of class, as were were slowly coming out of our blissed-out state, Scott casually mentioned to the class that he was planning a yoga retreat in Italy in July. Ummm…what?! My eyes lit up and I immediately turned and looked at Susan with a devilish grin, “We’re going…”

Word.

James held a cool yoga class today entitled, “Soul Gazing.” It was a partner workshop and we did an exercise in it that was pretty fascinating. We gazed into the eyes of our partner with one eye and then looked at the different sides of their faces while covering 1/2 of their face with the other hand. Not sure if that description made sense or not, but it was really interesting.

I went with Kevin, who I’ve been having a really great time getting to know better, and we got some pretty interesting insights into each other. Per Kevin, the left side of my face seemed like it had been through more, was experienced, knowing, bold, and had a wisdom and maturity about it, while he described the right side of my face as having a wanderlust, childlike innocence. It was a really interesting experience because every couple had some sort of an experience like that from left to right, and you don’t notice how radically different people are from left to right until you do something like this.

Thanks James, it’s always a pleasure…

Tomorrow morning I have Scott’s class, which of course is my favorite way to start my week. Susan has said she’s going to take the morning off and go with me, I’m really excited…

given the way the last few days have played out, there’s a higher power at play in my life trying to give my body a break. Yesterday I went to a friend’s house after work and nearly fell asleep by 6, making James’s class or any class for that matter a far cry from reality and then today, after navigating another wonderfully busy day at the spa, I sprinted to yoga at the shop to find that Jen’s class was canceled on account of a workshop. There I stood outside the door with 2 other uninformed yogis, with a visibly broken heart.

My hips and lower back won the race of rest today.

Onto more important things…I’m feeling quite grateful today that Thomas, who’s going on his 9th winter at Align, BARELY made it out of a horrible crash snowboarding today. I love thomas for so many reasons, but case in point here was his phone call to me this morning:

“H, (muffled and windy) I can’t make it to work today, I’ve, uh, crashed, it’s bad and patrol is en route…I’ll update you later…click”

That’s Thomas for ya. Totally committed to his massage clients and more concerned that I make sure I contact them all and get them taken care of. He’s incredible. He recently let me know that despite the utter amazement from several dr’s, his slice through his knee down visible to his bone, dodged all major tendons and ligaments, so he’s getting stitched up and returning to work by noon tomorrow, by HIS CHOICE!

Sooooo lucky and I’m feeling so grateful to have him be part of the spa and part of our family.

Tomorrow we have a bridal group coming through the spa and several couple’s throughout the day indulging together in some early valentine’s relaxation. Calli has orchestrated the bridal group flawlessly, once again proving to me that she can do just about anything, while accomplishing about 10 other things at the same time.

Once again, I reminded that the Align Team rocks.

“Don’t be so committed to your practice that you lose sight of why you’re doing it…sometimes rest is the practice you need.”

Scott’s words keeping making their way into the forefront of my head. There’s really no way around it, I’m injured. After Thomas’s massage I wasn’t able to drink any water and although my shoulders and hamstrings feel better, I immediately got a splitting headache on account of the inflammation around my sacrum right now.

I need to rest and I need to shift my commitment from yoga to the spa and being my best so that I can show up in full form for my very full massage schedule.

What did that mean for tonight? It means I sent the 2 amigos out on their own to navigate the Park City yoga scene and they did just fine. I did however, get sad txts from them both which made me feel incredibly loved by my fellow yogis.

Dear REST…for the sake of my lower back and sacrum AND my clients this week who need me, I’m listening.

Howie and Susan are coming up to Park City today for class. It’s nice to have the 3 amigos back together. It will be my second class with Tiff, as I really enjoyed myself last week.

today has been crazy busy at the spa, but I was fortunate to be able to get on thomas’s table for 30 min so he could work on my lower back. This injury is still plaguing me just a tiny bit. I can’t imagine how it would feel if I didn’t do the massages, adjustments and yoga practice that I’ve done in the last 10 days.

I’m adding the shop into my yoga routine Friday as well with Jenn Hecht. It seems I’m spending more time up here again and that’s as comforting as it is strange. I like it.