happiness

Let me talk for a moment about how much I love the above photograph. It was taken on Saturday, September 3 on Mt Hood. More specifically, it was taken at Timberline. By Amy Siwik.

On the morning of September 3, I woke up at 6:30am. I hadn't slept well the night before and I had to teach yoga at 7. It was going to be a gorgeous day, so I woke Amy up with a phone call just a little after 8:00 and told her to get ready because we were going hiking. Amy is fairly new to Oregon and had never been to Mt Hood, but she loves to hike. This day was so great. My perfect kind of day. We went to Hood River first, listening to great music all along the way. Breakfasted at Doppio's on their patio, did a little window shopping, then drove "the back way" up the mountain. I call it the back way because, well from Portland it is the back way. We hiked Tamanawas Falls and had a great time. She hikes like I do- maniacally and loving every minute of it. Bouncing from place to place, running up hills, stopping for yoga breaks. Her happiness is infectious, and I enjoy being around people like that.

I had to pee for the whole four miles. I kept looking for places off the trail, no luck. I tried to used a port-a-potty at the beginning/end of the trail, it was too gross. In the car we ate peanut butter/jelly/banana (PBJB!) sandwiches and blasted Nine Inch Nails. Oh yes, my soul is smiling. The sky was bright blue, the trees were a deep shade of green and the white caps of snow made the drive perfect and beautiful. Except that I still had to pee. By the time we got to Timberline I was about to explode. If you know me, you know that I drink a lot of water and therefore need to pee frequently. Over share? Sorry. We played around at Timberline for a while, that's where we realized that we were totally cooked. A four mile hike, plus an uphill jaunt at Timberline was enough to do us in. We stopped to take some yoga pictures. This is one of them.

I love everything about this photo. The look on my face. The blue sky. The chair lift in the background. The tip-top of the mountain behind me. The tree stump I'm standing on. Everything. This photo embodies happiness, peace, love and serenity for me.

Some days are just perfect. This was definitely one of them! Yoga in the morning, outdoor breakfast at my favorite place, gorgeous hike, mountain yoga- what could be better for me? I can honestly say- NOTHING!

It is my wish and hope that everyone can find something, at some point in their life, that nourishes their soul the way that everything about this photo nourishes mine. Something that is just for them and no one else.

life

I think that when things suck a little, it's really important to focus on all the love in your life. I normally wouldn't blog about this sort of thing, but in the interest of being real, here it is. My bank account overdrew today. Not a whole lot, but if this has ever happened to you, you know that it's not a good feeling and paying the fee just sucks. When I got this email, my heart immediately sank and I felt really annoyed. I chose to stay relatively calm and just take a few deep breaths. What else are you going to do? I've done it the other way and the outcome isn't any better. When I got home, I transferred money from my savings and just got over it. Here's what really annoyed me about the whole situation: I've been dealing with sciatica for years now and I've been going to this rehab clinic for a couple months now trying to get it under control. These people assured me that after a few visits everything "should be" fine. Not fine! I'm paying a lot of money for this, out of pocket (ie: no health insurance) and I've been doing it once a week for close to two months. I still have sciatica, in fact it flared up just this morning on my hour long drive home from my 5:45am yoga class. I had just been thinking that I needed to figure out a way to tell this clinic that it didn't seem to be helping much and I could no longer afford to keep throwing money at the problem when I got the email: overdraft notice. The culprit: You guessed it. The rehab clinic. I know that at the end of the day it's nobody's fault but my own, but it still sucks. I don't want to make the phone call to cancel my next appointment because I think they're going to grill me about making another appointment. Le sigh...

I should mention that between the hour long commute (my class is in the 'burbs, everyone is commuting into the city for work by the time my class is over) and the dreaded email, I guided 35 yogis through a stellar practice. What was so great about it? My students. They have such great energy, I love them. Just when I start to think "I need to be making more money, maybe I should look for some type of full time job?", a slew of yogis approach me and tell me how much better I make them feel and just like that I feel like I'm living the dream. Well, living the dream, minus the money.

Ok, so back to the dreaded email. I received it when I got in my car right after my second yoga class of the day. On the drive home, I really had to pee and I was trying to figure out how I was going to fix my bank account. It was a little stressful. When I got home, there was a package waiting for me. A care package from my mom. How did she know that on this day, of all days, I needed a care package? How did she know I needed deodorant? How did she know I needed the comfort of my "tiny one"? (maybe I will write a separate blog on my tiny one later). It was just perfect. I started smiling and couldn't stop. A $35 bank fee seemed like nothing in comparison to the love that surrounds me. Then I really started thinking. Melissa is coming to Oregon in just a couple weeks and we're going to The Yoga Roundup together. Melissa is love and light personified. A few days after she leaves, Julia and I are going to spend a night at the Edgefield to celebrate our October birthdays, just the two of us. Then two days after that, my aunt is finally coming to visit Keith and me in Portland. And it doesn't stop there, because I turn 26 at the end of October (grateful to be turning another year wiser!), Keith and I are going to celebrate Thanksgiving in Salt Lake City with some loved ones, snowboarding season will hopefully start, and there's talk of Keith's mom spending Christmas with us in Oregon.

See? Life really is good.