SerenityBlog

E-Book Prices Fuel Outrage--and Innovation

noreply@blogger.com (Narasu) — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 03:39:00 +0000

Courtesy of PCWorld.com

Writing feature stories is getting harder and harder, what with the digital-planning day job and all. This one was worth the sleepless nights. If you're a book lover outraged at $15 ebook prices or a writer hoping to keep them, check out my latest article for PCWorld.com and find out what the fuss is about.

Rock Islands of Palau

noreply@blogger.com (Narasu) — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 04:13:00 +0000

They are so beautiful that my pictures don't do them justice, but here they are anyway.

The Great Malls of Manila

noreply@blogger.com (Narasu) — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 03:56:00 +0000

"Follow the marble," said the concierge of the New World Hotel in the posh Makati City district of Manila.

What a mysterious invitation to take a walking tour of the grand connected malls of Makati City. They're called Greenbelt I, II, III, and Glorietta (see right). At least those are the complexes I visited; there were more that we missed since the concierge gave us the route for people who only had "a few hours" versus "the whole day."

It was enough to give a Jersey girl goose bumps. My friend James and I spent quite a while in the English language bookstore Power Books, which sparked an addictive love for the His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman, aka The Golden Compass trilogy.Thanks, James, for the recommendation. In fact, thanks, James, for spending your last day in a super-sized mall. It might not have been everyone's first choice of activity.

The malls had perfectly manicured gardens.

The McDonald's was separated into dining and dessert, for which there was a line to enter.

(No, we didn't eat there.)

Boo! A stall serving shark fin food. The only bummer of the day.

Bad Dive Haiku

noreply@blogger.com (Narasu) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 09:04:00 +0000

(Written 3/24/11)

A wreck dive request

Took us to murky waters

Dove 90 feet down

Couldn’t see a thing

Hit decompression limit

Husband is missing

He resurfaced soon

Got lost taking a photo

Dive group went too fast

Eerie mossy mast

Still upright at the bottom

Beautiful but sad

Palau’s Celebrity Sightings

noreply@blogger.com (Narasu) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 08:57:00 +0000

(written 3/20/11)

As it turns out, meeting the President of Palau, Johnson Toribiong (right), wasn’t very difficult among a group of 50 shark lovers. Palau has one of the world’s few shark sanctuaries, and has a controversial partnership with the radical environmental organization Sea Shepherd to police those waters. I was impressed that this seemingly soft-spoken man took such a stand. He and the audience spoke with such reverence about the sharks that it was hard to determine who was the bigger celebrity.

Speaking of sharks, I have seen at least a dozen white-tipped and gray reef sharks. These intimidating and sizable animals swim effortlessly in the blue. If only I could have their turning radius and their buoyancy skills. Smaller reef fish, grouper, mackerel, and other schools swim casually with the sharks. Surely some of them turn into dinner. I wonder what bell goes off to alert these pool buddies to turn and run when the shark gets hungry. And I hope I get to hear that bell too. It’s exhilarating to be so close to such perfect predators, but a group of four or five gather, exhilaration gains a tinge of intimidation. What am I doing here? What do they think of me?

They best place to see big fish and sharks is in the current, and to comfortably remain in strong current, we were attached to reefs with hooks. One end of the hook attaches to our BCD (diving vest) and the other hooks into a dead part of the reef. According to the dive shops, this method of negotiating current is safer for us and the reef. We hover there, like underwater parasailers, watching the real-life big screen in front of us. We’re attached to hooks not unlike bait; I hope the sharks don’t see it that way.

In lighter news, we were eating dinner at a Japanese restaurant when a very big man smoking a cigar strode into the restaurant, met with bows, claps, and camera clicks. It turns out we were in the presence of Japanese pro-wrestler Antonio Inoki. About 30 minutes into our meal, we asked our waitress who he was. We had figured he was someone special as there was a small plastic action figure in his image on a shelf behind us. The next day, we saw him again riding a boat into a posh resort. We waived. I don’t think he waived back, although others in the boat did, as we crossed paths after a day out at sea.

Wow. Palau.

noreply@blogger.com (Narasu) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 08:48:00 +0000

(written 3/19/11)

I wish I hadn’t been asleep when the Continental Airlines flight from Manila passed under a full moon, revealing a shimmering archipelago of islands called Palau. My travel compadre James told me about it after we landed in Koror airport at 2am. And did I mention that we’re going to a talk on sharks attended by the President of Palau at 7pm? It’s at the dive shop Fish ‘n Fins.

All I’ve seen today is the harbor outside the dive shop and the main drag scatted with malls, restaurants, and gas stations, and I know I already love Palau. It’s warm, laid back, beautiful. The place feels like Hawaii – with Spam and Macadamia-covered chocolate in the supermarket. In fact, it looks like that same box of Macadamia chocolate, except that the cursive typeface says Palau and not Hawaii. Having been governed by the United States until sometime in the 1990’s, the local currency is dollars and everyone speak English.

Did I mention that I’m sitting on the 2^nd-floor balcony of the Guest Lodge Motel, where we are staying, staring nearly eye level at a coconut tree?

I’m wearing the one proper dress that I brought for tonight’s possible encounter with the President.

What should I say? “Hello, Mr. President, lovely island you’ve got here.”

Or should I take more journalistic approach?

“Misunderstood friend or unforgiving foe: what’s your take on sharks, Mr. President?”

Stay tuned…

Wreck Diving

noreply@blogger.com (Narasu) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 08:39:00 +0000

(Written 3/18/11)

I dove my first wrecks in Puerto Galera, Philippines. These small wrecks were easy to access. You could have swam from shore to the Sabang Wreck dive site, where three small boats lay submerged. Bat fish, damselfish, and butterfly fish swam happily around the green mossy wreck structures. A lionfish unfurled is mane, and a garden of starfish lay in the nearby grass. Brad the dive guide pointed out a well-disguised flounder on the sandy bottom.

During the Deep Dive portion of my Advanced Open Water diving course, I went to a bigger wrecked boat called the Alma Jane. More bat fish, a snapper, a scorpion fish, goldfish (of all things), another lion fish, a trumpet fish…and more.

I’m definitely not yet ready to do BIG WWII submersibles in open ocean, but it was nice to get a taste of wreck diving until I am ready.

I Passed the PADI Advanced Open Water Dive Course

noreply@blogger.com (Narasu) — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 01:35:00 +0000

Four days in Sabang Beach in Puerto Galera , Manila, and my barefoot tanned feet are walking out with an PADI Advanced Open Water certification. I am pretty thrilled, seeing that it was about one year ago that I got my PADI Open Water certification.

That's me with my dive instructor Jamie on the left. That's Hugh on the right, who earned his Nitrox certification from Allie, on the far right.

I hadn’t planned on doing the class. I planned on doing some fun diving with Asia Divers, which was attached to El Galleon dive resort where we stayed. Dive guide Brad led us down to Sabang Wreck, where I saw Bat fish, butterflyfish, damselfish, and a grass field of star fish. It was beautiful, but admittedly, I was a little nervous. I thought I would maybe take a couple classes during the four days we would be here. My Open Water class was great, but it left me wanting more training.

Chatting with Brad over a beer at The Point bar, a breezy, chill space with a spectacular view of Sabang Bay, I mentioned the class idea, and he responded by asking why not take the Advanced Open Water course?

I thought about it overnight and signed up the next day.

The course consists of five classes. Two classes, Navigation and Deep Diving, were required. Three classes, Fish Identification, Night Dive, and Peak Performance Buoyancy, were my choice. (I had to take five classes total.) Each class was fun in its own way, even the navigation class that I was dreading. I’ve never been very good with compasses, and imagine my happiness when the underwater square I navigated actually turned out to be a square…for the most part. J My dive instructors for the two days of courses was Jamie, who taught me well.

More on the actual diving later. Each dive is a post to itself.

Manila!

noreply@blogger.com (Narasu) — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 09:33:00 +0000

Manila looks pretty in the dark, when buildings and streets bear colored lights. That was my first view of Manila, as I arrived at about 5am just before dawn. I hopped in a cab and rode down Roxas Ave, listening to ‘80s pop music from the taxi-cab radio and watching circular pillars of candy-colored lights that lined the streets.

Hugh, who arrived two hours earlier than I did, was already at our hotel in the Ermita district of Manila. Jet-lagged and excited to have ended a 17-hour journey, we decided to walk around a waking-up city, weak sunlight illuminating tall concrete walls and the squat corrugated tin roofs wedged in between.

We happened upon a running race occurring on the bayside Roxas Ave. It sounds like the RAT (Running Against [Human] Trafficking) Race that I read about on the Internet, so I’m going to assume that it was. We bought super-sweet and creamy coffee, fish cakes, and other tidbits from roadside vendors. Manila’s citizens seemed to be in group-exercise mode. Clusters of them aerobicized to frenetic, happy techno music – sometimes with a class instructor and sometimes not.

In a day spending sightseeing and napping, we saw the walled portion of the city called Intermuros and Chinatown. At night, we checked out the nightlife-riddled Malate district. We had a few beers at a few bars, one of which (and I am not joking) was called Hobbit House. Founded by a former Peace Corps volunteer and J.R.R. Tolkien fan, this pleasant pub with a solid international beer selection employs “Little People.” The dark pub was a nice respite from the string of girlie bars down the street, which lives up to the city’s depressing cliché of old white men presumably buying the company of young, local women.

A good first day. Tomorrow: the beach.

The Greenpeace Dilemma: To Donate for Love, or Tax Deduction

noreply@blogger.com (Narasu) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 06:27:00 +0000

It’s no secret to anyone who knows me that I wholeheartedly support Greenpeace. I began donating to this awesome environment-, animal-, and people-saving organization when a member of the Greenpeace street team stopped me during a work trip to San Diego Comic-Con in 2008. They caught me at the right time, crashing from the sugar rush of non-stop entertainment. I wanted a little purpose, and handing over a monthly donation to a good cause seemed like a good way to stop the fall.

Over the past few years, I’ve come to seriously admire the activists who suffer cold boats, hits from Japanese whalers, jail, things like that. Plus the recent win at Costco, convincing them to remove “Red List” fish species from store shelves, brings the benefits of the fight close to home. Sure some of their tactics aren’t polite, but sometimes being rude is required to get results. I believe in their results.

Plus as a writer, I love Greenpeace content. They do it well. I actually go to their website to read their news, hear their stories, and watch their videos. In an era where content is undervalued, they have invested in it, and without knowing anything about their ROI on content, I’m guessing it works for them.

But Greenpeace Inc., the organization to whom I donate, is a 501(c)(4) organization (i.e. they campaign and lobby), so my donation isn’t tax deductible. And after a stint at self-employment and a brutal tax year, I’m kind of looking for some tax deductions for 2011.

Then I found out that in fact Greenpeace does have a “501(c)(3)” organization (the kind that is tax deduction friendly). It’s called Greenpeace Fund, and it funds charitable activities. They provided public information on the BP oil debacle, for example. They do good work too.

So I asked myself, if I switch my donation from Greenpeace Inc. to Greenpeace Fund, boom! Instant tax deduction. Sounds like a no brainer, right?

Except that I love supporting the campaigning, the lobbying, the people who engage in public disobedience for the greater good.

So against fiscal sense, I’m keeping my donation with Greenpeace Inc. Let’s face it. I’m too wimpy to do half the things they do, so I’m willing to forego the tax break to help support them to do it.

2011's New Year's Theme

noreply@blogger.com (Narasu) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 06:13:00 +0000

Last year, I switched from making New Year's resolutions to setting a New Year's theme, which provides a strategic umbrella that guides the year's activities and decisions. Resolutions are set of rules that are made out of context of the opportunities and constraints that the upcoming year will bring. Themes set a guiding light that you can use to make decisions along the way. It's not for everyone, but this approach works for me.

I hesitated to publish this year's theme because it's more personal than themes of years past, but what good is a blog if it doesn't venture something vulnerable once in a while. My theme for 2011 is this:

Slow down to experience mystery and stay focused on achieving the important goals along my path.

It might be best understood in terms of last year's theme: making my path happen. Was it successful? Well, that's the wrong question. Themes are neither right or wrong, successful or faulty. They guide; that's it.

But in one way, I made a bad assumption in creating last year's theme. I assumed that the path was singular, that there was only one. And like the Yellow Brick Road in The Wizard of Oz, it would show itself as bright as a traffic light amidst a field of poppies once I woke up ready to follow it.

In fact, my path was more like a pot of spaghetti: curly, knotted, voluminous, and messy. When I let myself pursue what felt right, I went in a tangle of directions. I became a wife, a diver, a yoga teacher, a business owner, a freelance writer, and a digital planner. That was the right thing to do. I had to do it all.

But in throwing that handful of spaghetti at the wall to see what would stick, I ended the year very worn out -- despite finding a job that I love, a hobby that I'm passionate about, and a husband that I'm even more passionate about. It's hard to feel inspired, when you're exhausted.

A classic line from the 80's movie Better of Dead seems to apply to my journey in 2010: Go that way really fast, if something gets in your way, turn.

In pushing myself so hard to try new things, I didn't have the time to experience the mystery of life. I stopped taking moonlight hikes, sitting solo over a fantastic cocktail to just think, reading books that blow my mind. Those are the things that will inspire me to unearth a path that's brilliant, or at least my very own.

So for 2011, I am deciding to apply something that I learned from yoga teacher Marni Sclaroff. When you feel exhausted and ungrounded, the best thing you can do is slow down. It sounds like obvious instruction, but it's actually quite profound and not that easy to implement. We're used to going fast.

I'm going to slow down, be present, and keep my theme in front of me so that I remember to use it when I feel frenetic and torn in too many directions. (That's another mistake I made in 2011, waiting until the end of the year to reread the theme.)

I want to act purposefully this year, and in doing so be inspired by my career, by my hobbies, and by the relationships in my life.

PCWorld: Fitness Tech Goes Social

noreply@blogger.com (Narasu) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 06:37:00 +0000

Happy New Year! Are you headed to the gym yet? Before you sling that athletics duffel over your shoulder, consider that the technology you have at home could also help you with your fitness goals. First, there was the Nintendo Wii. Now, there's the Xbox Kinect. Apps and GPS devices have gone social so you can compare scores with online buddies and earn badges when you reach training milestones. One app with a conscious lets you pledge money to a cause if you don't maintain your New Year's fitness resolution. PCWorld's recent article on fitness technology, written by yours truly, spells it out.

Writing up Bioelements Skincare for the InSpa Insider Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Narasu) — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 18:58:00 +0000

Happy Turkey Day, everyone! Before I feast, I write. These days, I'm writing about a passion of mine, natural beauty. My first blog post on Bioelements skin care products appears on the InSpa Insider blog. In my first post, I rave about the Bioelements Urban Detox serum, which goes on great under an SPF facial moisturizer. I am not trying out Bioelements All Things Pure line of natural and organic beauty products, but the main Bioelements products still use high quality ingredients and don't include parabens and phthalates.

Best San Francisco Bay Area Wedding Photographer

noreply@blogger.com (Narasu) — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 19:07:00 +0000

As I recently got married, I wanted to throw out a series of informational posts to anyone else going through his or her own wedding planning. The planning paid off. I loved every bit of my wedding. But despite all the cautionary tales, I did not realize how much work it would be. We did it D.I.Y. style, and if you are too, then I hope this information is useful. All my posts are tagged wedding. Here's the first one on an amazing San Francisco Bay Area photographer that you should check out.

Christina Shook Photography captured our wedding perfectly. This enthusiastic, motorcycle-riding, one-woman operation produces high-quality, creative shots. I was very skeptical of "wedding photography" in general. Can't our friends just take the pictures, I thought? But after seeing Christina's pictures, I realized how important the photography is. Don't skip it.

She took every type of shot imaginable: portraits, close-ups, candids, documentary-style, stylized (soft light, filters, etc.). She shot not only us, our family, and our guests, but also the details that we forgot to tell her to shoot: my purse, the table centerpieces, etc. She even shot my Dad smiling, which is hard. (Sorry, Dad, but it's true.)

And due to some last-minute venue changes, we had to all-of-a-sudden abandon our original plans for portrait shots. She handled that surprise beautifully. Our portrait shots came out great.

Plus, she's very reliable and easy to work with. VERY important when you're juggling 10,000 things with the wedding. Definitely check her out for your wedding or other event. She does all sorts of photography. Where was she during all those painful childhood family portraits?

People Want Social Purpose from Corporate Brands

noreply@blogger.com (Narasu) — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 20:03:00 +0000

All around the world, people want social responsibility rolled into the things they buy. This news comes from the 2010 Good Purpose study. The fourth annual study conducted by the global public relations firm Edelman compiled survey results from more than 7000 adults in 13 countries. It found that people value social responsibility after quality and value but before brand loyalty. And it found that 34 percent of Americans would prefer a donation to a good cause than a gift from a friend. (That makes for some easy holiday shopping!) Full results can be found on the Edelman GoodPurpose website. A blog item summarizing survey results by Mitchell Markson, global chief creative officer and president of brand consulting at Edelman, can be found on The Huffington Post.

Happiness Means Sometimes Not Blogging

noreply@blogger.com (Narasu) — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 00:16:00 +0000

Regular updates on Content & Wellness will resume this week. I took a month off. Here's a bit of the reason why. More later. Thanks to our dear friends at Media Factory for creating this wonderful memory of our event.

10101010derloin from Random Acts on Vimeo.

Yoga Month: The Continuing Saga

noreply@blogger.com (Narasu) — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 04:13:00 +0000

Where have I been? Doing yoga. I've stayed true to my intention to do yoga everyday of September, which is National Yoga Month. But it's not what you think. I haven't spent everyday doing a blissful 90-minute practice at the studio of my choice. I hardly have the time or money for that, although there are some great deals right now.

But I did commit to a daily practice by moving beyond the third limb of asana practice to the other seven. (Check out Yoga Journal's concise definitions of Patanjali's eight limbs of yoga.) What, you say? Shame on me. This whole month is a lie, you cry!

Not so! My month of dedication to yoga has taught me to embrace the whole practice, not just the physical, and to realize that my hectic life is still the life in which yoga needs to fit. Not tomorrow when my deadline is over, and not next month when everything will slow down...yeah right.

In the wise words of Anusara instructor Kenny Graham, "Yoga is now, now, now."

He made this comment while leading the free outdoor community yoga class at Power to the Peaceful a few weeks ago. The day of good-vibing rock, reggae, and world music started at 9am with hundreds of yogis converging at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park to practice together under an unusually clear sky with some of the area's best instructors.

Kenny makes an important point. You commit to yoga with the life you've got, with all its obstacles and temptations. So without further ado, here's what my month of real, honest yoga practice looked like. I'm starting from September 9, since the first eight days are already blogged about. Click the yoga tag to read about them.

Thursday, September 9: Home practice with the PocketYoga iPhone app. Seriously! See my article in the September issue of Common Ground magazine for a rundown of yoga mobile phone apps.

Friday, September 10: Two-hour Iyengar class with Anne Saliou. She rules.

Saturday, September 11: Power to the Peaceful! See the photo. It ruled.

Sunday, September 12: 20-minute meditation. That's all I had in me.

Monday, September 13: Home practice of my own devise.

Tuesday, September 14: Home practice with a Rodney Yee DVD.

Wednesday, September 15: Home practice with Yoga Journal podcast.

Thursday, September 16 to Friday, 17: In the spirit of satya (truth), I honestly can't remember.

Saturday, September 18: I signed up for the 10 classes for $10 special at YogaWorks San Francisco and took and Anusara class with Laura Christensen. I sweat my heart open.

Sunday, September 19: I taught a hatha yoga class at The Yoga Loft.

Monday, September 20: Supta padungusthasana variations. Those hamstrings are tight!

Tuesday, September 21: Took Ramanand Patel's workshop at Bija Yoga. I worked those hips, baby.

Wednesday, September 22: I did a 10 minute walking meditation up the hill to my house. It's the first time I haven't resented that walk.

Thursday, September 23: The start of the San Francisco Irish Film Festival. One downward dog.

Friday, September 24: Ditto

Saturday, September 25: Ditto

Sunday, September 26: Reread portions of the Bhagavad Gita looking for a specific reading for a special event. Swadhyaya (self-study) is one of the niyamas (second limb) of yoga.

Monday, September 27: I did an aural meditation on the bus, as that's the only downtime I had all day.

Tuesday, September 28: That's today. I'm planning a quiet Supta Baddha Konasana.

Phew! Stay tuned for the final two days of national yoga month.

Questionable Brand Positioning

noreply@blogger.com (Narasu) — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 14:56:00 +0000

The prettier side of going to jail?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The 2010 San Francisco Irish Film Festival

noreply@blogger.com (Narasu) — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 15:00:00 +0000

Now I like romance in my life, but that romance has got to be real, full of all the 100 emotional responses that go with it — elation, fear, secrecy, humor, vulnerability, and an addictive dose of overanalysis. So it's with great joy that I am promoting the seventh annual San Francisco Irish Film Festival, whose theme this year is Irish-style romance. And that's not your normal saccharine Hollywood nonsense.
The Festival takes place from Thursday, September 23 to Saturday, September 25 at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco's Mission district. For the full line up, dates, and times, check out the Festival schedule. Tickets are about $10 per show, available at The Roxie Theater or online through TicketWeb.

After the opening-day 7pm party at Picaro across the street, the event opens with the screening of A Film with Me In It. This black comedy, directed by Ian Fitzgibbon, won the Best Film award at the Istanbul Film Festival. The story follows two would-be filmmakers trying to cope with a mounting body count resulting from freak accidents they didn’t cause but, if discovered, will make them look like murderers.

The festival closes with His & Hers, which is proving to be the most successful Irish documentary to date. Directed by Ken Wardrop, this intimate narrative chronicles the stories of 70 Irish women. From nine months to 90 years old, they talk about the Irish men in their lives. I expect gaggles of girls to be herding to this one. Except lots of laughing and sniffling in the crowd.

Of course you should go to the Festival because you'll be supporting critically-acclaimed and award-winning independent films, a locally-produced festival, and a local theater that's an arts institution in this city.

But mostly you should go to the Festival because it will be FUN. Go out and have fun! And if you see the Magners and Shorts program on Friday night, you'll get free Irish cider to boot.

Thumbs Up to Gmail's Priority Inbox

noreply@blogger.com (Narasu) — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 05:24:00 +0000

I waited two weeks before reserving opinion on Google's Gmail Priority Inbox, which raises the visibility of important email based on its own intelligence as well as emails you flag as important. What I think, though, reflects my split personality between tech consumer and content producer.

Says Narasu, the Geek...
Props to Priority Inbox. Without too much help from me, it has been able to distinguish between what's important and not. The only site thwarting its power is Facebook. Even though I've flagged some Facebook alerts as unimportant, others still float to the top. I'm assuming Priority Inbox is differentiating between types of Facebook alerts, but I don't know. The New York Times published three useful tips for using Priority Inbox, as did Google's Official Gmail Blog. I've not quite had the courage to hide the standard inbox yet. Wimp, I know.

Says Narasu, the Content Producer...
Buh-bye, newsletter click-through. Now that Priority Inbox will push our carefully crafted newsletters down to that gooey morass of unopened mail, we'll need to get smarter about newsletter copy and send them only to the people who'll really read them. But shouldn't we be trying to do that anyway?

Yoga Month Day 8: A Simple Downward Dog

noreply@blogger.com (Narasu) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 15:58:00 +0000

After a full day of writing a story, promoting the San Francisco Irish Film Festival, putting up posters for Power to the Peaceful, job hunting, and well, shopping — I didn't leave much time for practice. But as I was heading for bed, I did 10 minutes of Downward Dog flowing into Child's Pose and back. I slowed down by breath and turned my gaze inward. Even 10 minutes quieted me down and did a lot to counteract the frenzy of Wednesday.

Yoga Month Days 6 and 7: No-Show and Vinyasa

noreply@blogger.com (Narasu) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:54:00 +0000

I can't lie. I didn't do any yoga on Monday, September 6.

On Tuesday, September 7, I went to Laura Arrington's Vinyasa class at The Loft. She's trained through Laughing Lotus, and while I don't know enough about their style to know how that influenced her, I can say that she taught me some things that I had never experienced before. Her fluid style really opened up my hips, and for me, it was equally challenging and relaxing. I would take this class again.

Hate When This Happens

noreply@blogger.com (Narasu) — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 03:48:00 +0000

Missing headline from a Washington Post blurb:

Yoga Month Day 5: Vinyasa Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (Narasu) — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 03:36:00 +0000

Sunday. Sunday. Sunday. I took Melissa Capezzuto's Vinyasa class at The Yoga Loft. While I am an Iyengar girl at heart, Vinyasa is effective at quickly increasing strength, flexibility, and heat. One Iyengar thing that I won't give up even in a Vinyasa class is using blankets during shoulderstand. I just won't do it without them, and normally I won't do shoulderstand without a belt either. Today, I went sans belt and I kind of regretted it. My chest still isn't open enough to keep my elbows squarely behind my back. They felt a little like they were flopping around.

Yoga Month Day 4: Pre-Dance Asana

noreply@blogger.com (Narasu) — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 03:25:00 +0000

On Saturday night (Sept 4), I went dancing at Back2Back, where DJs Garth and Jeno tag team to spin high-energy somewhat retro (if you think the early-1990s is retro) beats. Anyway, it's a fun night that will lose its monthly frequency since Garth is moving to Los Angeles. To give me a little energy and loosen up my legs, I did the following practice at home. Twenty minutes. Nothing fancy.

8 sun salutations (to wake me up and warm me up)
Malasana (to loosen up my hips and legs)
Forward bend (To quiet the mind)
Savasana (of course, never skip this one)