Practicing Gratitude

I have been reading a lot lately about gratitude and the practice of gratitude and how people who practice gratitude on a regular basis are happier and tend to bring more things into their life to be grateful for. I know from my personal experience that having a daily gratitude practice is my goal but I don't always make it happen every single day. So I give myself the space to practice gratitude as often as I can and not give myself grief if I don't make it every day. When I do practice it regularly I do find that I have more awareness around things to be grateful for, even on the "bad" days.

Right now in my life I have several projects that I have been working on. A big dream that I have been working on for months is close to coming to completion. It has been a true labor of love for myself and for all of the amazing friends in my life who have stepped up to offer their time, talent, love and support. I have been feeling so much gratitude for all of these amazing friends in my life. I am spending time thinking about all of them and how some of them came into my life, some long time friends, some relatively new. As I move closer to completing my DVD and getting ready to release it out into the world I feel that I need to direct some attention to those people and to let them know that any success I have with this venture I share with all of them. I never could have brought this labor of love into the world without each and every one of them.

Starting from the beginning of the seed being planted to even do a yoga DVD, here goes....

Sadie, who I met online after I bought her book, Road Trip Guide to the Soul: A 9-step Guide to Reaching Your Inner Self and Revolutionizing Your Life. We communicated via email and by phone and in the spring I went to stay with her in NYC. She hosted me in her home, provided me space to do a trunk show of my jewelry in her new studio, The Fierce Club in Soho and offered me support and love as I was moving through a very hard time in my life. It was Sadie who told me that she felt that I had a great voice and style of teaching yoga and that she felt that I could successfully create and market a DVD. She told me if I could figure out how to get it filmed and edited that she would help me with the marketing and selling piece. I was unsure but the thoughts were collecting about just how I could bring it all together. I never would have thought of this without her suggestion, her kindness and her unfailing belief in me to be able accomplish this. Her belief was the beginning and she never let me stop believing. Enter my friend....

Viki, who I met 20 years ago when I walked into a bead store in Seattle up in Capitol Hill. I ended up getting a job and making a new friend as well as finding a new passion in jewelry creating. We lost touch at one point over the years and then reconnected again a few years ago. She owns with her husband an amazing bead store, The Bead Factory in Tacoma. The Nordstrom's of bead stores as far as I am concerned. We took a trip to LA together right after I got home from visiting Sadie and I told her about the idea of creating a video. Viki then told me that she had the video camera and all the equipment needed to edit and create the video. Viki also has 3 amazing children, the oldest of which, Trevor is a senior in high school who wants to go to film school. I continued to think about all of this while I went to Italy in early June for a yoga retreat with Sadie in Tuscany. The trip was life changing and I knew when I got home that I had the pieces I needed to move forward with the DVD. Trevor and I set a date in July for filming. Viki made sure that she let me know that I could do this and that her whole family would do whatever they could to help me with my project. They have become my second family and as the project moved from filming to editing and dubbing I spent a day a week working with Trevor and having family dinner. Viki has offered her love, her savvy business advice, her family and her food, not mention all of the equipment needed to make this dream a reality.

Trevor is a 17 year old wunderkid video filmmaker and editor. We talked about what my vision for the project was and what I wanted the look and feel to include. He showed up on filming day and quietly proceeded to get set up and very quietly let me know that we needed to do some close ups to edit in to keep things flowing well and making sure the video wasn't boring straight ahead filming. We managed to get the filming done with all of my requests in a little over 3 hours. Having no idea about anything to do with filming or editing I told him I trusted him to do what he felt was best for those pieces and that I felt that he understood what I was after. After he had done some work I went over to do the dubbing piece so that he could put that in with all of the action. We reviewed the work he had done so far and talked more about just what else I wanted and let him do his thing. There were some glitches and hitches along the way but he stuck with it and I was so impressed with his work and his ability to bring my vision to life on the screen. He managed to work with software he was unfamiliar with and bring the entire project to completion in spite of all of the bumps in the road. I go tomorrow to see the completed video for my final review. He has shown me that even at the young age of 17 he has the capacity to listen, hear and take my vision and create something that is more than I ever anticipated was possible. I am in awe of his abilities and I am ready to tell any potential film school that they need this young man in their program. He has an amazing future ahead of him and I am so grateful to have his talent for my project.

Janis, my friend up the street who came in to my life just two short years ago and has become such a dear friend. She scooped me up when I was struggling with a long term illness and was always there offering to help me in any way she could. She has two fur babies, Mr. Fiji and Lotus, the most lovable Doberman's ever that she shares with me too. We have walked miles and miles with those dogs doing what I what refer as the "doggie dance" as Janis tries to keep them from tangling themselves and me in their leashes. There were times when the only thing that got me out of bed or gave me something to look forward to was going for a morning walk with Janis, Fiji and Lotus. We talk, we walk, we pause for the dogs to do their thing and we talk some more and sometimes we chase squirrels. Well the dogs chase squirrels, we just hold on for dear life. As we discussed my video project and I was wondering about what to do for cover art and how to get that completed she reminded me that she could do something like that for me. I hesitated, she had offered me so much support already... She offered a second time and I said ok. We talked about what my thoughts were for the cover. Trevor gave me some still shots from the video to use on the back cover, I came up with some text and my sister in law Jennifer took some photos. We went through a couple of revisions and it just wasn't there for me but I couldn't put my finger on what. I saw my career adviser Diane who said here is what I think you should do. Jennifer came and took some more pictures and I sent them off to Janis with one that was my favorite. She whipped it together and oh my... Jennifer worked her photoshop magic on the picture, I did some more review and made minor adjustments. The artwork is amazing, all of this from just a general idea of what I wanted and then a few back and forth reviews. Janis has managed to capture the professionalism I was looking for as well the essence of me in a way I didn't even think about. Must be all those walks.... This woman has great taste, an amazing eye and is so talented. She doesn't like the "mushy stuff" as she says but I worship and adore this woman and thank you is never going to be enough to tell her how much she has brought to my life and how grateful I am.

Jennifer, my sister in law.. My youngest brother was smart enough to marry this woman, they have two darling daughters and she takes amazing photographs among her other talents. Never having any sisters I am lucky to have two sister in laws who are the closest thing I will ever have to that. Jennifer is creative, talented and has the ultimate parties at her house. She has helped me with my jewelry, my table displays when I go to do jewelry shows and any photographic needs I have among other things. She has managed to capture good shots of me even on days when I was not as happy as I could be. She can get a smile out of me and get just the right shot with the right lighting. Many of her pictures are going on my web site and her photo is the one that I will be using on the cover of my DVD. She lives a busy life but always makes time to help me out.. Every good picture I have of myself is one that she took.

Sherri, my other sister in law.. She has always been there for me to listen, offer advice, make me laugh and to tell me the things I need to know even if I don't want to hear them. My brother John was smart enough to marry her and they have my two other darling, high energy nieces to round out my supply of nieces. Sherri has fed me, included me in her plans, and let me know that if I ever need anything she is there for me. She is a wealth of understanding and care and is one of the only people in my life who can tell me the hard things in a way that I can actually hear them and with love. I always know that I can call her and she will tell me the truth and take the time to listen..

Diane, I met her in February. When I lost my job at WaMu she is the career counselor who was assigned to me. Chase offered us career advising for up to a year after we lost our jobs. I took her entrepreneur class and after I was assigned to her we started blazing a trail together. Where I started all those months ago with her has morphed and changed. What started as a service offered by Chase has grown into a wonderful friendship. She has brought so many people into my life. A photographer who took pictures of my jewelry and those pictures have now been the first ones published of my work. A marketing wizard who helped me see that I really had a better idea of what I wanted to do than I thought I did. Diane has helped me see that I have accomplished more than I think I have and in a short period of time. Even when it feels like it hasn't happened fast enough, she kept reminding me just when I started and how far I have come since then. She reminds to look at the accomplishments for what they truly are even when I said but I don't have the money flowing in yet. Diane's gentle guidance and support have helped me stay open to possibilities and move into a life, a whole life that I love. She gets excited to see my jewelry treasures every time I bring them, was the one who helped me get the cover art moving in the direction that was a better representation of who I am and never stops telling people about me. She is writing a book and has asked me to use my story as one of her case studies for her book. It's the least I could do.

Jane, Jules, Mary and Melodie, these are the four lovely ladies who are in the DVD with me. These women are all my students and we have become friends over the years. They volunteered their time to film and brought their smiles and open hearts to my project. They are all wonderful women with busy lives and a love for yoga. They have promoted my classes to others in their lives and always have a thank you for my class and good wishes for me. I felt so good while filming just knowing that they were behind me and had great ideas to make the video the best it could be.

Lee, my yoga teacher, mentor and loving friend. I did her teacher training and have spent the last six years studying and learning from her. It has been her guidance that has helped me become the teacher I am today. She helped me find my way back into my body after my illness and rebuild my strength and spirit. She told me a few months ago that I had come such a long way in a short period of time. At the time I didn't really feel that but with some more time to reflect I realized she saw what I couldn't at the time. I managed to find my way to open my heart and keep it more open than I ever have in my life, even when I was really scared. She helped me find my voice, my style and my confidence in my teaching.

Aimalah, she helped me find my words and make sure they made sense and are spelled correctly and with proper sentence structure. I met this woman 8 years ago during a trying time in both of our lives. We met online and eventually in person. We live miles apart but have stayed in touch all of these years in spite of that. We have seen each other through bad times and good and supported each other all along the way. There has always just been this thing for us. I always know that she will bring a smile to my face. I just love this woman and want all of the best for her in her life and I know she wants the same for me. Even with her life taking on a whole new space, building a family of her very own she is there for me. Love you Aim...

Cyn, my Cyn... We met years ago, lost touch and reconnected in the last few months. I don't know how I have made it without our daily conversations. She is a touchstone for me, always tells me the truth and has the most info about business, life and everything in between. She has helped me with anything and everything I have asked of her. She held the space open for me to believe I could do all of this even when I didn't think I could. She has encouraged me, pushed me, got me to laugh, helped me believe, kicked me in the booty and just plain old loved me up. Along with that she has been creating my web pages. She has worked with me without having all the info, the complete ideas, not enough words or even a real clear vision of what I wanted. Her patience has been unfailing. I think my web pages have been a thorn in her side and overwhelming but she has never given up and they too are a huge reflection of me. She plucks things out of our conversations, my pictures, my posts on Facebook and her intuition about me and moves them into my web pages. Love, love, love this woman...

John-Mark, one of two men in this estrogen fest. A new friend but one that never fails to ask me what he can do to help me when we chat. I have not yet met him in person but we talk almost every day. He gives me the male perspective, answers my questions, offers suggestions and makes sure that I am keeping all the ways to generate revenue flowing in my thoughts as I move into the marketing and sales mode. We talk about everything and anything and I am so happy he came into my life to join me on this journey. He has offered to be my manager when the time comes for that and I can't wait to have someone ask me a question and be able to point to him and say "speak to the man". He wants to make sure I am not just thrown to the wolves as he says. John has opened my mind to new ways to promote my work and never fails to lift my spirits when I am down. JM gave me a nick name that really took my breath away and gave me some insight. Thank you my friend...

I have so many more wonderful friends in my life that have supported me and loved me during my life, especially recently. Words are not big enough to express the depth of my gratitude to all of the people in my life who have loved, supported and believed in me. This labor of love video project is all that it is because of the abundance of love, talent and support that have flooded my life these last few months.

Welcome

Welcome to the Moondrops Yoga blog...

A few news updates:
The new DVD is nearing completion and release. I will post a link when it is ready for ordering with all the details. This is a great mixed level Iyengar based class with a section explaining several poses in depth.

I will also be posting some FREE yoga up on my Youtube channel soon so that you can find things there that you can do at home for a quick hit of yoga anytime.

I am also working on some online yoga classes that can be done in real time so that I can see and hear you and you can see and hear me. The closest thing to being in my class with me!!! Also if you or someone you know has special needs I am doing private consults on the phone and creating custom DVD's based on your individual needs. I am specializing working with MS patients and people suffering with chronic pain.

My websites will be up soon as well, so be looking for announcements as things start coming online in the next few weeks.

I have been thinking a lot about pain and living with pain whether it is chronic from disease or condition or from repetitive motion or injury. I work with a lot of people transitioning from physical therapy, MS and chronic pain. I also hear from my students on a regular basis about neck and shoulder pain and low back pain. We ask our bodies to do so much every single day and carry so much stress and strain in our bodies. All that stress can lock up several key areas in your body which means you just hold on to the pain and the stress, a vicious cycle. Yoga helps to open and release the body which can then release the pain and the stress. Just breathing can help the body release. A lot of times when we are in pain or stressed we take short and shallow breaths in the upper chest and all that does is clench that pain and stress up even more than it was.

Here is a simple trick to do during the day when you are working or just busy doing your thing. Take a couple of minutes at different times during the day to close your eyes and focus on your breath. Make sure you are sitting tall so the breath has room to move. Relax your face and jaw. If you are a jaw clencher, relax your tongue down into the bottom of your mouth and soften both sides all the way back to your throat. Now relax your belly and allow your inhale to relax all the way down into your deepest belly. Let your belly be soft and pliable with your breath. You can take both of your hands and place them on your belly below your belly button so that you can feel the breath move all the way down. You can also place your right hand on your heart and your left hand on your low belly. Flow into a three part breath, fill the belly first, the solar plexus next and then expand through the lungs and chest. Take your time and breath for awhile into all that space and let your body relax and release with every exhale. Ah, now doesn't that feel better???

More coming....

Sherry