Field Ledger Archive

13,001 entries across the years, 2003–2026.

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June 2017
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Plugging into the source. You aren't promised fun (it is), no one said it would be easy (it isn't), but I swear it's worth it (it is).
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A riff on urdhva kukutasana a-- with a focus on sutra 3.32-- By samyama on the kurma nadi (a subtle tortoise-shaped tube located below the throat), motionlessness in the meditative posture is achieved.
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My heart broke into far too many pieces to count. My apathy swelled. My sorrow stole my voice. And, still, I prayed.
These past five years I've prayed for bravery.
The practice of Ashtanga Yoga healed the dark part at the back of my heart. It purified my voice. And, it brought the richness of courage to my doorstep, asking only that I keep praying, until bravery became it's own resignation: no other choice to make, because there is more work to be done, and I want to do is work more.
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Love is love-- and oh how I love y'all!

#Reposting @tugga_life with @instarepost_app -- Love is love...Thanks for making my first Pride memorable @carenmink. Love you always!
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"you look ready for the day!" I said. "I am," she replied. "one more plaque to go, for the front. Its of me and my trans son. Same struggle, different struggle. Same same." #pride
in imageKL
We resist, we refuse to
let hatred in,
We rise up, we won't
back down
We're in this 'til the
end!
Pray for your enemies!
Welcome the stranger!
Show love to your
neighbor!
We're in this til
the end.
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I've been a member of this gym for almost 15 years.
Discovering my love of fitness and sport helped empower me in my youth, and keeps me strong in ways far beyond muscle mass as an adult.
Strong people are more useful; and being smart and pretty has no bearing on ones capacity for physicality. Basically, you can be smart, pretty, and strong -- so why not?
Perhaps that message is taboo....?
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Charlie's kinda wondering why I skipped happy hour.
After a day of teaching, my singing lesson, cleans, deadlifts, and stabilizing accessory work, I got in a really great practice... Clocking in around 40 minutes, and really just a bit of primary.
At @dcashtanga -- our moon day is tomorrow. I'm stoked. The planets have had a crazy strong pull-- this Gemini is feeeeeeling it.
Am I too late for 1/2 price mussels??
in image4l
і. V
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WHAT MAKES A GOOD MANTRA?

One that works!

I often sing "When you're good to mama" from Chicago to myself when I notice that I'm indulging a bit too heavily off syllabus during practice. The line "The system works! Caaaause the system works... the system called... reciprocity!" Stands out strongly in my mind.
Here, as I make a shape that is not within the system of Ashtanga, i am reminded that I am participating in contortion, not practicing the system of yoga as prescribed by my teachers. When I'm tempted to go off track, I have to gently remind myself to come back.

There is a brilliance to the system of yoga refined by Pattahbi Jois and Krishnamacharya over 80?-odd years in Mysore.
It radically opens the body, strengthens the nervous system, and stabilizes the mind. It also allows me to do all kinds of other modalities of human movement, performance, and play.

Having strong support inside the system, from my teachers, also makes the hard times easier-- like when I fall off my bike, push too hard, or discover a place that needs a (seemingly too slow) but of strength.
Frankly, you can't expect a radical restructuring to always be fast and easy, and as such, when the work demands it, I know how to work and modify... and I have faith that it'll be ok.
Just because I can make this shape doesn't mean I have a grounding in a system of yoga... but because I have a grounding in a system of yoga, I can make this shape.
Sing to with me: "RECIPROCITY!!!"
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The Ashtanga Yoga practice, as taught to me by my teachers in the tradition of Sri K Pattabhi Jois, is incredibly powerful.
It is a spiritual practice, in so far as it helps you find the best of what's inside of you... and brings it out. Your spirit. Who you are on the inside-- your natural, beautiful self. Your god stuff.
Are you interested in - developing physical fitness: strength, flexibility, and grace?
-Establishing mental and emotional fortitude, leading to: resilience, distress tolerance, and general stability of attitude - healthy relationships-- with others as well as with yourself. - brining clarity to your natural rhythms and cycles.
Taught one one one in a group setting, students are free to come and go at their leisure.
Join us M-Thurs, 6-9:30 at @kaliyogadc
Fridays, 6:15-7:45 (led primary)
Sunday 8-10a (open practice)
I'm also available for private sessions. -- Here I am with Whitney Paterson @yogawhitney -- a phenomenal student and trusted apprentice/assistant. She's made two trips to Mysore to study with one of my teachers, Sharath Jois (the director of the ashtanga yoga institute). She's a kind hearted woman, a gifted ayuevrdic consultant/practitioner, and has dutifully co-taught with me.
Next month, she'll be starting the @dcashtanga afternoon sessions. M-W, 4:30-630!
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WE'RE HERE! WE'RE QUEER! GET USED TO IT!

I wish that the White House would have acknowledged the male spouse of Luxembourgs's male prime minister. I wish that 45 would have made a statement for June, which is Pride Month. I do not wish I hadn't been assaulted physically and verbally most days growing up-- told my voice, my body, my mind, and my capacity for love were wrong, ugly and loathesome-- because it has made me who I am today. However, I do not wish it on your children, my children, or anyone else.

As a child, that kind of violence almost killed my spirit. As an adult, it almost killed my human form.

The silence is deafening and the message is clear. Systematic erasure. You want to help? Know that it's pride. Know when black history month is. Talk frankly and openly about sexuality and race. If you can't, ask for help. Im talking frank conversation from your cohort. If you don't have anyone you can have this conversation with, I'm here. Get real. Get woke. GET LOUD.

I assure you, WE aren't going back in the closet-- we won't die to the pages of history. Tell your friends.
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You can break down this stuff three ways: work, play, and deliberate practice. For my dear friend @livelyogini & I, we wanted to take some of the time we've spent with deliberate practice of the Ashtanga methods D.C. and utilize its skills differently, in a form of play.
@antoninaletunovskaya gave us a contortion/acrobatic private, and we got to P L A Y-- and it was SO MUCH FUN. As a student of integrative studies at George Mason, I developed a taste for knitting together and leaning into different and often disparate fields of study and especially their experts.
It was such a great experience-- Antonia is an absolute gem. At 29 and 34, Maggie and I get to say we did something we've never done. Luckily, as teachers of Ashtanga Yoga, we're in the business of believing the impossible is possible.
Fun is fun, and play is play. Good practice requires deliberate attention.
Let your practice let you play!
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Are you interested in practicing in community with other LGBTQ folks and their allies? I am-- thats why I'll be teaching a session this summer! Stonewall Yoga is all about inclusivitiy, good vibes, and community.

Today and tomorrow, use offer code LASTMINUTE and take $10 off (you know how we mysore folks are, just showing up whenever).

https://virabyoga.regfox.com/summer-registration
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May 2017
What do you do when it starts to rain after sun salutations? Do you curse the salutations for not delivering on their promise?
At @dcashtanga -- we laugh a lot. It's all such serious business this yoga stuff, it's good to develop a predilection for good humor. After all, the universe has a sense of one, and it's often a bit dark.
Practice and all is coming 😉 We're open on:
Thursday 'till 1, and
Friday is led primary at 6:15
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In the practice of Ashtanga yoga, concentration on the subtle perceptions of the body leads to stability and tranquility. We get better over time at managing the teeny tiny shifts that keep us calm and collected... Which doesn't mean things dont go off balance. They do-- we just dont panic, stay cool, and do our best to get back to the sweet spot. A really useful skill.
Come practice with me at @dcashtanga
3423 14th St NW (hosted by @kaliyogadc )

Wed 6:30-9:30,
Thurs 6:30-1
Fri 6:15-7:45 (led primary)
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Maybe the cicada is my spirit animal? Some of y'all are monarchs, others painted ladies-- that's well and good.

"They have an exceptionally loud song. Most cicadas are cryptic, singing at night to avoid predators. The periodic cicadas spend most of their lives as underground nymphs, emerging only after 13 or 17 years, which may reduce losses by starving their predators and eventually emerging in huge numbers which overwhelm and satiate any remaining predators.

Cicadas have been featured in literature since the time of Homer's Iliad, and as motifs in art from the Chinese Shang dynasty. They have been used in myths and folklore to represent carefree living and immortality."
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Kindness, love, and bliss are infinite metrics that are tells of practice. You have to be willing to be hurt, to feel your pain, to apologize, to forgive and to get woke. Its not easy, but its worth it. Practice and all is coming.
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Such a wonderful way to spend a Saturday-- mysore style ashtanga yoga with a rich and diverse community of kindhearted practitioners! @livelyogini and @mhendric1 at @ashtanganation do such a wonderful job of teaching and holding space. I encourage all of my @dcashtanga brethren who are looking to practice in community on Saturdays to check them out, 8:30-11.
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You do t always know when you're looking in the wrong place for what you think you need. Trust your intuition, and question it, too. Actively practicing compassion, kindness, dispassion, and selfless service helps you see the signs you mught have missed... Even while you were practicing.
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Post singing lesson selfie. Two years with Dr Miskie-- and I've learned and grown so much. She's been trying to convince me to day this for a long time: "im a singer."
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TFW your friend tells you the library is open and you think you're going to get read to filth... but actually they just have to go because the library really is open. @bibliophile1800
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April 2017
Recorded some of the stuff I do when I'm horsing around at @balancegym -- svadhyaya isn't always fun, but so nice when it is!
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