I was a kid who worked full time during summer months (age 14-18).

I made $13/hr at the Virginia Renn Faire.

I was performing child labor (I was a child, and I labored).

I saw that @kingsdominionva is having trouble staffing it’s water park.

Life guards make $15/hr and other gigs pay $13.

wow! Don’s available
for commissioned.
pieces!

sending the best vibes —
4 days out from competition

Catch the interview with Vanessa here!

She’s the GM of Kinfolk, a DC dispensary—

minority owned, womanled, and ground-breaking.

@transformerdc

Yes!! Y’all gotta follow @farm_girl_crys

The mystic paradox of yoga:

You'll feel more. and sufferless.

the thing about feelings is that you have to feel them. (

@jennielightyoga + @jacquelyne_23 cc: @michaelgeovanni

Thanks,
@jennielightyoga
(and you too @jacquelyne_23 )

H/t: @snekulekul

(if you know me you know this)

learn how to begin your
eco-conscious sustainability journey.

it’s so much easier and more rewarding than i imagined.

live long practice, according to Ellie. cc: @heathermgordon3
such fine goals

Side bending is one of the most lovely ways a spine can move.

Here’s a love letter to this humble tadasana variation.

1) I love that you are so free of frills. Your simplicity and elegance highlight how even the most minuscule of changes can impact the way things feel in a posture dramatically.

2) I love that you let me decide how much to push and how much to pull-- I just have to lean and breathe. You help to highlight the push and pull from the side of the body, but also the deep muscles inside like my transverse abdominals and disphrapgm! You help me understand the layers of stability a posture can have— and you don't make me go very far to discover what is comfortable and stable!

3) I love that you help so many kinds of backs feel so good! Little side bend, you do a world of good for folks who have rounding, swaying, or curving to the spine-- things like kyphosis, lordosis, and scoliosis.

Thanks, side-bend!

Side bending, aka lateral flexion, done from an inverted position challenges the stability of the foundation. Keeping the head on the ground can help immensely, but the shoulders and their associated muscles reap a lot of benefit because they have to keep the weight anchored. This is in some ways easier in lotus because of its compact nature... and in some ways harder, because finding true hip extension as opposed to lumbar extension isn’t so easy... give this a try and tell me how it goes.

Keeping the butt down when side bending is tough.... but so worth it!

A common compensation for lateral flexion of the spine is asymetric hip elevation— and its easily masked/ignored with asymmetric leg positions. Those outter hip and thigh muscles on the pelvis are designed to move the leg away from the midline and help create an anchor so that you can work with gravity to side bend the spine. But what happens when one side starts to lift up?

The solution is in clue— find a way to keep your butt down! In this set up, I’m exploring end range of motion strength in hip external rotation and abduction— and using my bottom arm to avoid compensation (aka give my hip a chance to stay down!!).

When able to control the foundation (especially from the closer-to-center proximal part), in this case the strength of the hip, you get better at controlling the movement of the spine— and then can even add weight to it by reaching the other arm over head.

“Tight” adductors (the squeezer-inners) lead to weak abductors (the pusher-outters)— so start where you are — create a setup that helps you target what you wanna target... and enjoy the ride!

when the lecture goes too long