Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

Before I dive in, HOW AWESOME WAS THE WEATHER IN MINNEAPOLIS THIS WEEK?? Practicing OUTside on October 15th?? Yes please ------------------>




In our modern industrialized first-world, we are constantly bombarded with "responsibilities."

The daily working hours.
Do the laundry.
Mail a wedding gift to your friend from college.
Take the dog for a walk.
Take your kid(s)... everywhere...
Filter through the daily 50-60 emails.
Dry cleaning.
Cooking.
Family commitments.

The problem with modern life is that its relentless. The list never ends, it will eat you up, and spit you out.  SO HOW DO YOU FIX THIS PROBLEM?

You don't. Are you kidding?  One person against the entirety of modern culture?  It is literally impossible. "Thanks, Calley, that's encouraging."

Yeah, I know it doesn't sound very "enlightened." But getting to your own personal version of enlightenment isn't about perfection. It's about dealing with reality healthily. So here's another piece of reality: You can't "fix" it. But you can put yourself in the power chair.

Step back.      T    a    k   e.            T   i   m   e.          Breathe. Make a list. Do what you gotta do.

This really is the only way to make sure that YOU are in control of your life, instead of letting it - and all its responsibilities - control you. This is one of the many lessons yoga has taught me. (And continues to teach me.) The time for you, your health, your mat, and the things that make your heart and soul happy will not magically appear. You have to consciously decide to take time for these things.

And I'm grateful I reminded myself of this lesson this week: I've launched a company called Entertainment Jill (we're breathing, we're breathing...) and I'm also getting ready for a tour with HOLLY in November. On top of teaching yoga and a handful of music students. So when my friend Dave from college told me he was in town for the week playing a show at the Ordway, and we were trying to schedule a time to hang one day, I first called him and told him I didn't think I could make it happen - spare time is nill and finances are tight.


And then I woke up and realized this guy was one of my staple friends in college and I haven't seen him in six years, and here he is in my city. Was I really going to let "regular life" get in the way? Well, I could have. But I'm very, very, very glad that my inner yogi reminded me that life is short, and if we don't make time for the people and things we love, we're just left with a life full of stress.

#dontsweatthesmallstuff

#minnehahafalls

Yoga with Calley:

Sundays @ 10:00am - Abbreviated Ashtanga (for beginners!)
Tuesdays @ 5:30 pm - Full Spectrum Yoga (new name, same class!)

Sometimes being a good yogi...

... means taking a break.

So this week is a break from normal blogging, whilst I shove my face full of Chinese food after a long day at #GiantSteps convention in Minneapolis.

But HEY!  I'm subbing THREE classes this weekend, in addition to my regular Sunday 10am class!  And Tuesday we start the new time of 5:30!

Subbing these classes 10/11 & 10/12:
Saturday @ 8am - Mixed Level
Saturday @9:30am - Slow Flow
Sunday @4:30pm - Back to Basics

Yoga with Calley (normal schedule!):

Sundays @ 10:00am - Abbreviated Ashtanga (for beginners!)
Tuesdays @ 5:30 pm - Full Spectrum Yoga (new name, same class!)

Get your insides ready for the "H word."

HOLIDAYS.  They'e coming. 

No - don't look at the displays in stores (that are already there on October 4th).  It cannot be healthy. You know what is? Getting your digestion ready. As in, help all that yummy food make its way through you, like its supposed to.  Read on. (there's a story.... as there always is with me.)

I have a tendency to be the kind of practitioner - in ALL my practices: music, yoga, cooking, teaching - who likes to get bare bones instruction and then physically figure it out on my own, trial and error. Yet, last weekend during master yogi Christina Sell's visit from Austin, we referenced B.K.S. Iyengar's Light On Yoga several times for alignment. (For those of you saying BK-WHA?? Iyengar is considered one of the modern-day grandfathers of yoga who helped bring its teachings to the western world).

So every once and a while I get on this kick of "oh yeah, lets read that book, written by that master." for a few weeks. Today marks day 2-in-a-row of me practicing with my trustee "yoga bible" Lino Miele's Astanga Yoga. 

So I'm sitting there on the floor in perhaps my favorite pose of them all: Paschimattanasana. (a.k.a. seated stretch.) And when I say favorite, I mean sometimes I will hang out here for fifteen minutes or more and simply RELISH in all that internal shifting. So I thought - what is it about this thing? Why does it feel SO good to me?  Well, according to Mr. Miele (and Astanga master Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, and a doctor, and a few other contributors), this pose is pretty key to all the abdominal organs, which all aid in digestion and blood purification. Which I found interesting (and telling) that I love this pose so much, and I happen to be someone with all kinds of interesting digestive issues (gluten, dairy, probably all kinds of other things I've never seemed to pinpoint). So it shouldn't be too surprising to see that this pose is like YOGA GOLD for digestion.

<-- This was literally me, sitting in one of the other poses (which happens to be super fun to say - all together now!: Triang Mukhaepada Paschimattanasana) reading about regular old Paschimattanasana and all the inner goodness it provides us.

Hoo ray for digestion!  There's more, come to class :)

Yoga with Calley (normal schedule!):

Sundays @ 10:00am - Abbreviated Ashtanga (for beginners!)
Tuesdays @ 6:30 pm - Full Circle Yoga