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  Technically, our first day of our 3 month yoga retreat of karma selfless service and yoga started yesterday. We arrived mid-day, driving up the mountain along this crazy narrow winding path / roadway that was ensconced by towering redwood trees. It was magical and quite scary (with the hurtling traffic flowing downward, NOT hugging the curves as we were) to be hypnotically drawn to the place of our homestead for the next 3 months. Mount Madonna, a yoga retreat tucked away amidst the beauty of the redwood forest, overlooking Monterey Bay from a 2000 foot stance. Our view is unbelievably gorgeous. How lucky are we! I have to keep pinching myself every time: I glance down from the mountain and take in a breathtaking California coastal sunset; I am surrounded by glorious nature that psychologically hugs me as I wind my way through the many Redwood forest trails; I am blessed to eat lovingly-created organically grown local vegetarian foods that fill my body with nourishment and love; and so much more. Right now I need these heart-warming moments. I am so sick …. I believe it’s the flu, and boy is it ever heavy, painful and debilitating. My body quakes with each hacking cough, my sinuses are overflowing and my voice is husky and barren as I whisper my way through communicating to new-found friends in the YSC program. I’m trying not to let this drag me down amidst all this amazing goodness and vitality. I’m fighting it with all that I can muster, holistically and with much attention!
 This morning I practiced my first daily ritual of Dinacharya. A daily cleansing of sorts with skin brushing, sesame seed oiling, tongue cleansing and all that goes with the healing benefits of nurturing and preparing my body for a day of yoga, service and healing.
What an incredible 3 month journey this will be … I’m so excited at the beginnings we’ve started to create within our work community. My 24 hour work week schedule is perfect in all ways. We start this on Friday after our final training tomorrow.
Here’s hoping that my cough recedes and I can participate in the 2 hr morning asana, pranayama and meditation practice (all before 8:30am). Yay! Time to load up on the ginger-lemon-honey tea and make my way to bed. 5am comes early for me!
 Christmas morning, and barely a sprinkling of snow. I suppose you could call it a white Christmas per se (here in the snowbelt area of Teeswater anyway; not-so-much in other areas around SW Ontario), but I’m thinking that there are a quite a few Canadian children who are disappointed by the barren dry grassy plains in their front yards. However, I am ecstatic that the no snow or ice graced the road with its coy slick nature. I’m hoping for clear highways and humble temperatures as we venture across the North American continent! You see, slaDE and I were accepted {last minute ~ literally 1 week ago} as paying volunteers for a 12 week residential service learning program at the world-renown Mount Madonna Center.
They don’t call us snowbirds for nothing! I am thrilled at the prospect of escaping another cold snowy Canadian winter in exchange for some yoga and skydiving fun. However, this winter, the Airstream shall be left behind, and in our trusty Optra steed, we find ourselves fully loaded with skydiving gear and minimalist clothing + items, making our way, this most quiet of mornings on the highway. Today is the chosen day to pioneer a new journey for ourselves, with a new winter exploration beyond the Airstream comforts we have travelled for the past few winter solstices.
 On this day, we pretty much stayed true to our schedule and made great headway towards the border well before the break of noon. Our crossing of the International Boundary was a bit arduous and longwinded. Being a prior ‘avocado seed smuggler’ (their words, not mine), we were pulled over for inspection. But all in intention and belongings were displayed upfront, and honesty rang true and through. An hour after arrival, we were allowed entry in to the beautiful US of A. Seems like my prior status with the USDA in forgetting about an avocado on board our Airstream will haunt us in future crossings. Dang my premature senility in remembering all things food! 
My Dad made me this awesome mini-desk for my laptop …. and it was put to good use on our first day. I now carry a piece of my Dad and his love with me wherever I travel. And that makes my heart shine.
A good long first day found us arriving in Illinois late evening, spending a few quality days with our friend Barbie June. Knowing the solace and company of a long-time dear friend (and second Mother to me) ever welcoming has me warmed by the comforts of friends during the Christmas holidays. What a spectacular season this has been for family gatherings and friend get-togethers!
 Our Winter Home! Truly a last minute decision … and we’re elated to be accepted to attend this glorious mountain retreat: Mount Madonna Center. http://www.mountmadonna.org
Program Dates
January 3rd – April 1st, 2012
All the information below comes directly from the Mount Madonna website @ http://www.mountmadonna.org/programs/ysc.html.
If you are interested in an amazing opportunity for spiritual growth, yoga, community and service, MMC might just be exactly what you desire in this adventure of life.
A Conference, Retreat and Yoga Center in the Heart of California
- Mount Madonna Center is a conference and retreat center located on 355 acres of mountain-top redwood forest and grassland overlooking Monterey Bay, between Santa Cruz and Monterey, in Northern California.
- We are a community designed to nurture the creative arts and the health sciences within a context of personal and spiritual growth, inspired by Baba Hari Dass and sponsored by the Hanuman Fellowship, a group whose talents and interests are unified by the common practice of Yoga.
- We offer a supportive community atmosphere for relaxation, reflection, and a wide variety of learning experiences. Program participants are invited to join in all ongoing Center activities – celebration, work, and play. Amenities include hiking trails, volleyball, tennis, and basketball courts, a pond (we call it “The Lake”) for swimming, a hot tub, a gymnasium for volleyball and basketball, and bodywork at the Kaya Kalpa Wellness Center.
- A 12 WEEK RESIDENTIAL SERVICE LEARNING PROGRAM called Yoga, Service and Community is available at Mount Madonna Center for those interested in living and working within an intentional community with service as a primary value. Depending on the Center’s needs, work is assigned in housekeeping, event set-up, kitchen, recycling, general maintenance, gardening and landscaping. Participants receive single accommodation, meals, daily yoga classes, regularly scheduled group meetings, and participation in community activities. Please contact ysc@mountmadonna.org
Who We Are
The Mount Madonna Center (MMC) community, founded in 1978, is home to children and adults of all ages. Inspired by the teachings and example of Baba Hari Dass, a silent yogi and a master of classical Ashtanga Yoga, our aim is to create an environment where residents and guests are supported in the pursuit and fulfillment of their personal growth and spiritual goals. We eat communally, work together, share in study and meditation, and join in responsibility for our retreat and conference facility and our children’s school. The spiritual disciplines of yoga and selfless service are the foundations of our community life.
MMC serves the larger society through the retreats and seminars which it hosts; through Mount Madonna School, an independent kindergarten, primary and high school; and through the Mount Madonna Institute, which offers Diploma, Certificate, and Master of the Arts programs in several areas of professional and personal development. Most of the work of running Mount Madonna Center is done on a volunteer basis. We aim to work in the spirit of selfless service or karma yoga, one of our main practical methods of self-development.
What We Offer
Each Yoga, Service, and Community program includes daily offerings of many types of yoga classes, community service (kitchen, housekeeping, garden, maintenance, etc.), as well as evening classes and discussion groups in yoga philosophy and community themes. There will be free time for rest, study and recreation, and an invaluable opportunity to draw upon the 30 years of dedicated practice that many in our community have experienced. You are also invited to participate in MMC community retreats and special events occurring during your session.
 Your Commitment
For the new three-month sessions beginning January, 2012, the fee is $975 with a weekly commitment of 24 hours work/service, 4 hours of weekly meetings, and 2 hours of instruction in yoga philosophy, pranayama and meditation; for a total of 30 hours per week. YSC fees include meals and indoor single accommodation.
 Say what? Now that’s a mouthful, Meralgia Paresthetica. This is a medical term for a condition that I am currently suffering from. As the Mayo Clinic has defined, “Meralgia paresthetica is a condition characterized by tingling, numbness and burning pain in the outer part of your thigh. The condition is caused by compression of the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve, which supplies sensation to your upper leg.” My doctor stated that some common causes of this condition stem from wearing tight clothing (such as tight low-rise jeans or spandex), obesity or weight gain, and pregnancy. Excess sitting, squatting, extended walking or the wearing of a wide belt compressing the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve will increase symptoms. Umm, not such great news for me. I don’t have a standing desk and have no other option to do my work than to sit on various platforms (choices of a chair, exercise ball, the wooden floor or a bolster). Ideally, a standing desk would be optimal. However, I am still curious as to what might have brought this condition on! I’m not pregnant, my clothes are quite loose (think yoga gear), I may have gained some weight, but nothing too drastic, and I can’t be classified as obese. Hence the mystery, and a sometimes burning numbing and painful one at that!
After a bit more questioning about what my habits have been of late, we seemed to have wheedled the possible cause down to the fact that I’ve been using my laptop almost daily, for long hours, perched on my lap. Practically I would be working at a table or desktop, but with our mobile lifestyles, much time is spent on the computer in the truck or sitting on the comfy Airstream couch — no real desk but the kitchen table. I of course use a lapmount buckwheat pillow to separate the MacBook’s intense heat from my legs. But obviously, even the weight of the pillow is creating distress within my body. Sigh, this shifts so much!
I need to come up with a table like surface that doesn’t rest on my lap but allows me to work in the truck or on the couch. Any suggestions?
Yummy early winter goodness, when fresh berries are not necessarily available. Thank you to The Well Daily for this recipe!:
 Berry Ginger Goodness Smoothie (serves 1)
- 1 cup almond or hemp milk
- ½ avocado
- 1 banana
- 1 teaspoon spirulina
- 1 cup frozen berries of choice
- 1 teaspoon flax oil
- ½ cup coconut water
- 1 teaspoon fresh bee pollen
- 1 teaspoon hemp seed fresh ginger root, peeled, sliced (optional)
- 1 teaspoon cacao powder
1. Pour the almond / hemp milk into a blender. Add the banana, frozen berries, coconut water, hemp seeds, cacao powder, avocado, spirulina and flax oil.
2. If it’s a chilly day or you’re feeling a cold coming on, add the ginger root.
3. Blend away and sprinkle with bee pollen for vitamin B-12. Serve.
  We’ve been incredibly blessed through out our yoga journey, with so many incredible instructors, mentors, blessings and offerings gifted to us. In light of all that has been given to us, we are happy to extend our service through the form of karma classes, and Lululemon literally gave us flight with our first very workshop in Calgary. It felt so good to be teaching a karma yogaFLIGHT class in Canada again. It’s been a while, with all our travelling commitments and nomadic calendar. I worked pretty diligently at creating the two dates we set up at the Yorkville Cumberland Lululemon store. Much followup and email conversations. It’s kind of difficult establishing a class as an ‘unknown’ within a new community. Often, the team leaders who organize the Lululemon schedule want to visit one your classes or your studio before bringing someone on board to their community events agenda. The difficulty with that for us is that we don’t have a studio nor regularly scheduled classes. However, since our photoshoot in Vancouver with Lululemon, it seems that our web presence on their website gave us some ‘street credibility’. Not that we needed it, but as we don’t fit into the typical mould of yoga instructors or yoga ambassadors, every little bit of help in establishing set karma classes within the community is an added bonus.
Tonight, we rocked the Yorkville store with 24 eager new yogaFLIGHT enthusiasts. It was breathtaking, truly. And we feel very blessed for having an abundance of classes in such a short time span, within Toronto!
  What a day of healing! Physiotherapy, Craniosacral Therapy, Massage Therapy, Tuning Fork Therapy, Friend therapy {spending time with several dear friends before heading south for the winter}, Kombucha therapy. All in all, a very connected day of mind, body and spirit. All healing events in their own way. Some easy to just accept, assimilate and listen to in the lessons. Others, not quite so specific in their nature. But learning to flow through the experiences and being fully present was such a gift. Just beautiful …
What a crazy whirlwind day today was …. crazy in that we went to three different venues to promote our upcoming yogaFLIGHT workshops. After leaving Baldwin, where our friend Minna resides, we made a planned appearance at The Flying Yogi. Although in a major rush to make it to Toronto on time, we only had one person show up. But man, talk about quality over quantity! Lorne chose to give our style of yoga a try, and he was completely and utterly amazed by how “slaDE managed to show him something that he didn’t know his body needed”. Talk about the ultimate compliment!
  Funny thing happened in our temporary transition from Airstream life to apartment nomads …. I forgot a few significant props so necessary for participating in the plethora of Christmas parties available to us this season. I neglected to bring along dress shoes for the lovely skirts and pants outfits I diligently transported at the beginning of November. What’s worse is that I’ve been back to the trailer several times, and didn’t take stock of what I had in the clothing department. I remembered EVERYTHING else, go figure. But our lovely friend Jill offered to lend me her size 9 stillettos for the evening (tres chic this Mamacita!). With a wee bit of experience with platform slinky shoes, I had the crazy notion that my sized 9.5 foot (with size 10 pinky toes) would be like fitting Cinderella’s stepsisters in to the beloved glass slipper of choice. And in the end, I ended up setting a new fashion trend with my new rocker shoes this evening. At least they had a nice 2 inch platform to elevate me  .
My lesson learned? Never forget the importance of slinky shoes in my life. NOT! I refuse to go out and buy something just for the sake of saving face, when I already own several pairs of shoes with heels that I rarely wear. Now is not the time to keep hourding and expanding in my wardrobe! I may make a pit stop at Value Village just in case, and donate any acquisition right back on Monday
 What would you do if you discovered that you only had a limited time left on this planet, that you only had a day … a week … a month left to live. What would be the first choices, your first gut, heart-wrenching reactions? Would you flee in search of adventure, truth and answers? Would you hibernate? Would you share your news with the world, or would you sit with the information, trying to decipher what it all meant, truly? What wish would you fulfill? Would you express your love to anybody in particular? What book would you write? I can’t imagine anything more ground-shakingly real than a death sentence imposed in bright bold headlines screaming that your reality is suddenly and wholeheartedly finite and defined.
 Such is the premise behind the movie ‘One Week’. A treasure I found in the bowels of the teeny St Clair library here in Toronto. As is my normal routine in settling within a city for any length of time, I find the closest local library and become a member. This is of vital importance to me. That connection with community and knowledge, the ability to establish a routine of sorts where I actually feel a sense of stability and solace, where I can expand my education in whatever realm I pursue to explore. A home to endless pleasure and ever-expanding schooling. Libraries do this for me. Be that in the form of illuminating movies, fascinating reads, stunning moments of connection with the pages of a book or quiet solitude. From my experience, Toronto has one of the best library systems in the country that I’ve discovered. A sheer wealth of resources available, be it at the tiniest of libraries or in the heart of the giant 4 story building dead-centre downtown Toronto. I often stumble across fabulous movies I’d never ever consider renting or watching, and with free access to hundreds of thousands of titles, I grasp whatever theme I fancy to explore and examine.
 As with any journey, whether it be on the road to discovery (in an Airstream trailer!), through the pages of a book, the chronicling of a documentary, or in the questions stimulated by a really good movie, I realize that any pursuit of knowledge and the very personal answers that journey reveals can be a life-changing event that forever shifts perspective, ideals, goals and dreams.
The beauty of journaling, about what comes up in the midst of this excursion, lies in the revealing answers about what I might consider doing when life is presented on a platter, in vivid black and white, and I must choose between the comfortable confines of my current existence or the uncanny rhythms of a road less travelled.
I highly recommend this movie ‘One Week’ not just because it is a gorgeous sampling of Canadiana unveiled (part road trip movie, part love letter to Canada) but because it might just present a journey into the unknown, asking questions you dare not even consider in the solace of your daily life.
“One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
~ Ulysses
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