a reminder from someone on the path a good bit longer than me. Thanks, DG.

Putting the finishing touches on an Ashtanga Practice Intensive-- a deep dive into the history, philosophy, pedagogy. In-person, on-line, and for those interested, includes Mysore. Right around 300 hours, but really, a whole lifetime of study.

What does it mean to go to a place like Ecuador in order to create and participate in economy? And how does one do that in a respectable, regenerative, respectful way?

Ask Kristen.

She and her partner Juan are growing cacao and heirloom cacao in a regenerative food forest with zero waste.

The optics in this post hit close to home.

I try not to dress up in a costume for the purposes of selling you the product of yoga. I can’t actually sell yoga yoga— and sell you my time.

My time as a practitioner, a seeker, a student, and a finder. And as a yoga facilitator/teacher/guide, it’s why you don’t see me in my dhoti very often... And why i tend to only wear my mala when I meditate.

There are so many ways to signal your desire to be seen as aspirational— biceps and bindis and baba harem pants. Andean throws. The thing is, when you have something valuable to share, you want to share it.

When you have devoted your life to something, you hope that you can make enough money to keep devoting your life to it. And, you might even try to sell the image of the thing using appropriators prints.

It’s a tricky thing... this authenticity piece. I love that Kristen and Juan encourages folks to make of all of it what you will.

In the mean time... should I teach you to handstand, shirtless?

Hi team! It's your friendly neighborhood yoga coach! Balance gym is at it again— matching donations and elevating queer POC’s voices.

One of the seminal yoga texts, the Bhagavad Gita, has the story of a Arjuna, a young Archer, going to war to fight injustices (against his cousins, no less). He grapples with the concepts of pacifism, patience, and change-- aren't Yogi's suppose to be peaceful??

“Inaction is action,” Krishna tells him. He shows up as his chariot driver, guiding him to find a right action In his confusion and concern. Krishna doesn’t want anyone to get hurt! Especially not his cousins... but as Krishna reminds him, sometimes it is a greater injustice to nor Fight for peace.

If you are a practitioner looking for a way to help stop injustice, and your money goes further than your arrows, please consider doing the yogic thing and donating.

Balance gym will match your donations!

"I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection."

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Birmingham city jail