hi there,

just landed in Austin for a week of Baptiste teacher training bootcamp…going to miss the doghouse a bunch, but I’m super excited to spend a week learning and practicing with friends from around the world…

what’s a bootcamp? two or three sweaty practices a day to wring out the body, daily meditation to rinse out the mind and lots of practice teaching sessions to provide invaluable feedback and hone teaching skills…AND seven late nights, tons of sweaty laundry, a hundred or so new best friends, amazing healthy food and a whole bunch of inspiration!

as a certified Baptiste teacher, i have completed my required training, but the three dog philosophy is “beginner’s mind” and “empty your cup” — and so we strive to “walk the walk”, too…

i can’t wait to discover what’s in store at this bootcamp…the last time i attended this particular training, i got so inspired that i trudged out to a pay phone, in the snow, in the middle of the night to tell David that we were going to open a yoga studio next door to the “new” Traverso’s…

as you may have noticed, our teaching staff has been attending bootcamps and other trainings throughout the year and coming back “on fire” for yoga and life in general…we intend to keep this trend alive, bringing fresh new perspectives, ideas and challenges back to YOU!

speaking of….these teacher training bootcamps are the inspiration for our own Breakthrough Bootcamps — three-hour power yoga workshops designed to take your practice to the next level…

our next one is Monday 9/6 — i’ll be fresh off a plane and ready to bring it! (just what it is, we don’t know yet… that’s what I’ll find out this week! rest assured, there will be some great new stuff and new takes on the “old” stuff…

I miss you all already and know you’re gonna have a great week…take care of David and Pebbles for me!

love,
a

it got pretty darn fun in the doghouse last night as we kicked off our very first third thursday playshop with an unbelievable arm balancing session! we flew, we fell, we laughed, we sweat, we laughed some more….

the idea for “playshops” came when we realized that we’re always hanging out with fellow three doggers to play around with poses that we don’t get to spend enough time on in class…so, we created the “playshop” to be an informal, fun class where everyone’s invited to come explore a pose or group of poses…it’s kinda like yoga recess, but there’s no dodgeball and everyone gets picked first for the team…

as usual, David and I stepped into the room with some general ideas of where we wanted to go, but we had no clue how anything would turn out…and, as usual, we were BLOWN AWAY! 15 willing souls took on 13 different arm balances with strength, ease and (most importantly) a great sense of humor! there were a few near-nosedives, but for the most part everyone came through unscathed…

the takeaways for us were:

1. with the right attitude ANYTHING is possible.
2. we all have different talents and abilities…some people groove on leapfrog handstands, some people groove on lotus peacock…it’s all good!
3. delighting in other people’s success feels just as good, if not better, than our own.
4. arm balancing comes from your core…and your courage.
5. don’t eat a burrito before attempting leapfrogs or peacock pose.
6. practice, practice, practice, practice, practice…but know when to let your body rest…savasana was created for a reason.
7. yoga friends are the very best kind of friends….they don’t laugh when you fall on your face, but they make you try it again!
8. we’re going to need to have another arm balance play shop REALLY soon!

for those of you who want to know, here’s the list of arm balances that were ROCKED in the doghouse last night (the names/sanskrit are offered to the best of our knowledge…everyone seems to have their own ideas/translations of these, and we welcome any more information you may have on them!):

1. crow – bakasana
2. side crow – parsva bakasana
3. one-legged crow I – eka pada bakasana I
4. one-legged crow II – eka pada bakasana II
5. firefly – tittibhasana
6. flying pigeon/crow I – eka pada galavasana I
7. flying pigeon/crow II – eka pada galavasana II (Birgit renamed this “super flying awesome” — i like it!)
8. scissors – eka pada koundiyanasana II
9. twisting scissors – eka pada koundiyanasana I
10. handstands – adho mukha vrksasana (yes, that’s downward-facing tree pose!)
11. eight-angle pose – astavakrasana
12. lotus peacock – padma mayurasana
13. peacock – mayurasana

next month, we’re taking it upside down and playing with inversions like headstand, forearm balance and shoulderstand…come play with us!

well, we’ve just about recovered from a truly awesome weekend!

friday night’s Zen & Zin was off the hook…49 sweaty yogis and 4 (almost as) sweaty teachers tested the classroom’s capacity and came through with flying colors….special guest teacher Megan McNeal from Power Yoga Works in Philadelphia got us “into the groove” with rockin’ Sun Salutations and chair variations that turned up the heat (expect to see more of those!)…Lisa sweetly took us through one tough balance sequence, and David turned it way up with creative pushups and side planks…are you still feeling them?

after that excitement, saturday was a pretty chill day around here…a few classes and then scoping out the deck for our Outdoor Flow class at Paradise Ridge Winery on Sunday…we went through about 8 different “set-up” ideas to optimize the view from your mat, finally coming back around to our first instinct…which proved to be just right…

Sunday morning dawned foggy, but 60 yogis showed up to play anyway….and play we did! on a beautiful deck, shaded by an amazing oak with a view overlooking the vineyards…the sun was out by Savasana and the day was truly spectacular…there is nothing like outdoor yoga…the fresh air, the sounds of nature and the stillness of a quiet morning make for a powerful, peaceful practice…

the morning really couldn’t have been better…these photos don’t do it justice, but our photographer, Brian Kohlman, got some great shots…we’ll be posting them later this week! also, a big shout out here to our “assistants”, Megan and David who stepped up and shared the love…

but the best part of the day was the “off-the-mat” yoga experience that we shared…the class was a food/donation drive for the Redwood Empire Food Bank….an organization that is working harder than ever in these days of economic struggle. more than 70,000 residents of Sonoma County use the Food Bank each month, 20% more than last year and 40% more than 2008. we asked everyone to bring a food item or cash donation for the Food Bank, but we had no idea how generous some of our members would be…many of you showed up with whole grocery bags full of food and/or opened your checkbook to give freely…the car got so packed, Megan had to ride home with Lisa!

we were humbled and inspired by your generosity. as promised, we stepped up to donate $10 for each Outdoor Yogi…so with your generous donations, i was able to drop of more than 400 individual food items and $800 at the Food Bank yesterday!

all of this reminded me the true meaning of “karma yoga” — acting without regard for the fruits of ones actions…when John Lennon sang about “Instant Karma” he was spot-on…giving with no expectation makes you feel good immediately and it’s the kind of good that really makes you feel human, connected and, well, like a superstar. there is no substitution…shine on!!

wow, it feels good to be back at “work” this week…so much fun stuff is getting ready to happen…more on that tomorrow!

wanderlust was fantastic! we learned so much, and had a great time, too. you’ll be seeing some of the great new poses and tricks over the next few weeks in class — Monday’s classes already got treated to some awesome new chaturanga variations! i could SEE how much they loved them…

but there was a lot more to the experience than just new postures…so, i’m going to borrow a trick from my friend Nikki, who writes a great blog Live, Love, Yoga (check it out!), and share a list of things we learned…

1. outdoor yoga is super-cool…(can’t wait for Sunday’s Outdoor Flow at Paradise Ridge!)

2. outdoor yoga can also be super-cold, at least until you do enough chaturangas! (a side lesson to this one: if you think about being cold, you will get more cold, if you focus on how super cool it is to be outside, you will get less cold…hmmm, sounds very yogic. regardless, dress in layers on Sunday!!)



3. it IS possible to lift into wheel using only one leg, balance in one-legged crow and take double pigeon for 5 minutes – and enjoy it all! as usual, it’s a question of attitude…

4. if you’re going to do three back-to-back yoga classes, EAT breakfast…or lunch…preferably both!

5. the best teachers don’t have to say anything at all about postures or philosophy to teach what yoga is all about…calm, centered, joyful confidence says it all…



6. being a beginner is beautiful…beginners are the brave enough to go out on a limb and try something new…if you don’t want things to get old or stale, be a beginner!

7. cool music can take your yoga practice to a different level, but listening to the rhythm of our own breath was even more powerful than Tori Amos or Pink Floyd. a healthy balance of focus and fun seems to be the right “style” for us…speaking of cool music, are you coming to Zen & Zin this week? we’re taking inspiration from our trip and we are going to rock the house!

8. friends are friends are friends, even if you don’t see or talk to them for more than two years…and it feels really great to run into a friend, even if just for a few minutes!



9.”if you’re in it, be in it” — there’s nothing more simple or more profound…i can’t wish, think or judge myself out of the discomfort of chair pose, so why not just be in it, accept it, know that it’s not permanent and just roll with it? poses get simpler, life gets simpler and experiences get much bigger when i remember this…

10.traffic jams WILL happen…they CAN be seen as a chance to talk, listen to good music and chill…if you’re in it, be in it.

as i write this, we are grateful to be home and to have had the opportunity to enjoy a truly unparalleled experience at the Wanderlust Yoga and Music Festival.

our final class at 8:00 this morning was a true adventure…it started with an early morning climb (in an elevator and cable car) to 8,200 ft…destination: High Camp Up, for a class called Wake Up and Flow…and we did!

the class started at the railings overlooking the valley — we did some stretches, chairs on the “wall” and a really cool half moon series with one foot on the rail — as we turned our gaze up, we could still see the perfect half moon in the morning sky….awesome! then we headed back to our mats for some free-form flow…strong, but mellow — a perfect way to top things off!


we hiked (and played) around at High Camp…and once again, pretty much missed breakfast! you can get breakfast any day…how many days can you do a wheel under a ski lift?? i mean, really?

i’d like to take a moment to send a shout out to fellow three dogger, Biasha, who has the (super-cool) job of producing the entire festival. she did a FANTASTIC job and we are truly grateful to her and her staff for a fantastic weekend!

we’re also feeling super grateful to our incredible three dog team — Anna Marincovich, Michaela Codding, Lisa Ellisen and Amanda Harms — who made this while thing possible with your hard work and dedication back at the studio…we love you!

we can’t wait to get back in action and share what we learned with everyone…so much fun new stuff to take to the mat. hope to see you on yours soon!

hey there…

day three started early…very early. like while-we-were still-awake-from-day-2-early. MC Yogi lit up the stage then Moby took it over and things got crazy!

after a short nap, the sun came up…so, we decided to head down to the lake (wow!)…we lolly-gagged and missed our first class, but we had that kind of off-the-mat yoga experience that happens when you get outdoors and outside the box…

our 10:00 class was simply called “Hips” with Vinnie Marino again — can you tell we like this guy? the title said it all…we warriored, pigeoned, frogged…and just generally melted to another oddly ingenious playlist (Eurythmics, Perry Farrel, Cat Stevens, Pink Floyd). learned some great new stuff that will be making it’s way to Zen & Zin this week!!

ok, so we should have been warned by the name of the next class (“Crumble”) or by the background music as we were setting up (loud Nirvana), but i think it was Rusty Wells‘ grin when he wished us “good luck” as we stepped into downward dog that really summed up the intensity level of our afternoon session.

there really aren’t words to describe this class…we can’t even remember what happened the first 15 minutes except for the leg-burning, ab-burning, arm-burning — what followed was an utterly enjoyable yoga throwdown that ended in total surrender…again, look for some neat new tricks coming to a yoga mat near you!

once we were able to peel ourselves back up off the floor, we headed out to see Moby’s acoustic set…a really nice low-key end to the day. check out Moby acoustic here…

now, we’re crumbling again…and with an 8:00 a.m. class at High Camp (8,200 ft), we better say “good night” now!

hey there…welcome to Wanderlust Day 2!

we started our day out early…looking for breakfast and coffee (you don’t want to know David without coffee).

our first class started with a report on the work of the Africa Yoga Project. they are teaching 3,000 students a week — in the slums, jails & hospitals of Nairobi — all for FREE. it’s great to hear how fantastic they’re doing and to know that our July Karma Month has contributed to their ongoing success….well done everyone — thank you!

the class was a great wake up call — Baron asked if we were cold, and…(rookie mistake) a few folks yelled out “yes!” just so you know, “are you cold?” really means “do you want to do abdominals until you can’t remember ever feeling cold?” we worked our way up to some great partner handstand work…


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we went straight from the first class to a second class with Baron — he started this one out by saying, “so the schedule says this is an ‘advanced’ yoga class — i’m glad i could be here to see what ‘advanced’ yogis look like”. i’m not sure how “advanced” we are, but we grinned and went for it — warming up with lots of abs and what seemed like a million one-legged chaturangas (was probably 10), moving into forearm balances, handstands (again), kapotasana and one-arm wheels.

want to see something cool? check this out

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20 minutes later we headed to Vinnie Marino’s Arm Balancing class…most fun ever! his easy-going style and clear concise directions took us through more that 15 different arm balances, including some stuff i’d never seen or heard of before! it’s awesome to trust a teacher enough to try something completely new…i feel grateful!

the soundtrack was an oddly appropriate and energizing combination of Tom Petty, Tori Amos, Jai Uttal and Neil Young…one of my favorite parts of the day was free-flow Sun B’s to “Learning to Fly”, moving in time with David…almost as fun as being able to finally get into this pose…



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now to get rested up for MC Yogi and Moby tonight…one of the most important things we’ve learned so far is that there are three keys to a fun yoga experience at 6,000 ft…hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!

hi…welcome to the first few days in the life of the blog…please be patient with our learning curve. we thought the coolness bringing you to Wanderlust with us outweighed our lack of blogging expertise…you can tell us if we were wrong…


it’s been a great day so far…gorgeous drive up (the scenery is pretty thrilling for this east coast girl) and we rolled in just in time to jump into Vinnie Marino’s “Get into the Groove” class, which he started out by saying, “So, this is like a level 5 flow class, hope you didn’t eat a big lunch” (David did…)

it was an awesome open air yoga experience…rocking out to Zeppelin during Sun B’s, “surprise” revolved 1/2 moon, flying pigeon…and my favorite: pressing up into wheel with one leg — wait ’til you try it!

with a great drive and great class on the books, plus a full schedule tomorrow, I’m not ashamed in the least to say that we’re taking the afternoon off for a little poolside Savasana…see you tomorrow!

here we go…taking you with us to check out the Wanderlust Yoga & Music Festival….

the intention is to capture some of the sights (and sounds) and share the shine…stay tuned!

loaded up and ready to go...