A Ball of Fun

This CNN article is not for the faint of heart. It's one of the sickest things I've ever seen. Ladies, do not eat your !@$%* hair!

Gift of Grace

Since I started practicing yoga a couple years ago, friends, family, and colleagues have many times asked me what I get from practicing yoga on a regular basis and I'm not always sure how to answer that question. I guess the simplest response is, "It gives me my life." I mention the noticable differences I've experienced in mind and body -- peace of mind, clarity, peacefullness, love, gratitude...the list goes on. Yoga keeps me centered like never before ...it re-aligns me. It's almost inexplicable for me to describe those aspects in words. And physically, I become stronger, more flexible, more toned...and definitely more balanced. Most importantly, yoga teaches me to breathe. We often forget that to breathe is the most natural, healing act we can offer ourselves. Learning to breathe has changed how I live today. Far, far, far from perfect I am, but progress is evident.

I'm reading an incredible book recommended to me by a friend -- it's called, "Journey Into Power" by Baron Baptiste. Below is an excerpt from the book and what Baptiste says what I wanted to say, but couldn't quite articulate it:

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"Power vinyasa yoga is an amazing form of fitness that sculpts strong, healthy bodies. The results are dramatic because it is a whole body system, using full body movements as nature intended. Because every single muscle is used in strength and balance, it ignites the metabolic furnace. It tones and chisels through isometrics and isotonics. You lose weight because active muscle tissue burns fat -- the stronger your muscles are, the stronger your metabolic fire burns -- and also because you won't have the same need to feed your fears and soothe your anxious edges by overeating. Within the first few practice sessions, your belly will get flatter, your buttocks tighter, your arms will get toned and strong, and you will tingle and sparkle from your temples to your toes. You will feel strong and calm, more energized and alive. You will begin to see your body taking on a shape and level of agility you have never experienced before. You will stand taller and look sleeker, straighter, and leaner. In time, you will awaken in a whole new body.

But the physical changes are only a byproduct of a more empowering purpose. The physical magic just kind of happens as you go through the practice. The real miracle is what starts happening underneath, within you.

We soak up life like a sponge, holding tensions, fears, and anxieties in our system. In yoga practice you reach down into all the nooks and crannies and hidden pockets of tissue, excavating all this clogging, unwanted stuff. Through the challenges on your mat, you step up to what I call your edge and pull up whatever is inside you that needs to be healed and released. You also discover how strong you really are, physically and mentally. Almost as if by magic, lifelong fears dissipate, blocked emotions are released, your mind gets quiet and gains startling clarity, psychic wounds from deep down surface to be healed. You experience mental shifts that free you from old thought patters. You begin to understand on a deep level what is right for you and what to do. You just get it. These insights and revelations crystallize as something permanent and real within you.

At the same time, because it strips away all the excess debris, yoga brings you back to your sweetness, your innocence. It reminds you of your love of discovery. Children have natural yoga bodies because they haven't piled on the layers of toxic living, reactiveness, resentments, guilt, and anxiety that adults have. They have no blocks yet to stand in their way, and instinctively live from the center of their beings. My eight-year-old son has lots of friends, but when I once asked him who his very best friend was, he said, "Myself." As children we were complete within ourselves, but over the years we have come to live unnaturally. Yoga is a remarkably effective "unlearning" process. We have to unlearn our negative thought systems, our emotional patterns of moving, breathing, and eating so that we can come back to our own naturalness."

And a couple paragraphs forward, Baptiste says, "Ultimately, yoga ignites your spirit. When you are free from the constraints of a weak body and the limitations of emotional reactiveness, you live in a higher place. You begin to dwell in spirit, and from there, all that remains that is not authentically you falls away. You carry an inner oasis of calm and composure, even in the midst of the chaos of daily living. The word charisma was originally a spiritual term meaning "gift of grace," and this is what you will radiate. People around you will notice the changes and say you are so lucky, but you will know that luck had nothing to do with it."

Street Interview Gone Very Bad

Hilarious and disgusting all at once!

Boulder

'Why Boulder is so fucking awesome'
YourHub.com


'$9.35 per second: That's what Boulder diners spend on food every single day'
Daily Camera
(I happened to be interviewed for this article. Illegal Pete's, you owe me advertising dollars).


'Boulder draws young movie stars'
Denver Post


2007 Boulder Fringe Festival (Aug 16-27)
BoulderFringe.com


my new favorite magazine, boulder's own: elephant
"your guide to 'the mindful life' = yoga + organics + sustainability + buddhadharma + conscious consumerism + the arts +ecofashion"
Current Summer Issue


I recently found this well-written description of the place I've called home for the past 2yrs 4mos. It's a special little town that has taught me more in the past couple years than my previous 29 combined. Just how I ended up here is still a little foggy, but I now know it's exactly where I was meant to be at this time in my life. As a matter of fact, it undoubtedly saved my life. Coasting down 13th Street to work each morning, I'm still awestruck when I look at my surroundings -- especially the mountains and smiling faces. If you haven't experienced Boulder yet, move it toward the top of your list of places to visit. Make yourself at home -- the door's always unlocked.

The Denver Post once described Boulder as "the little town nestled between the mountains and reality." Shadowed by the towering Flatirons and surrounded by more than 31,000 acres of recreational open space and nature preserves, the community is 28 square miles of outdoor heaven.

Named after the mammoth rocks scattered across the terrain, Boulder brims with big city sophistication, college town smarts, and environmental sensibilities. Technology and research firms such as IBM, Sun Microsystems, Storage Technology and Ball Aerospace keep the business economy booming. Of course, the 25,000 students enrolled at the University of Colorado (called CU in local tongue) keep the town feeling young. Plus, the incredibly diverse student crowd adds a worldly edge to the chiefly white and wealthy population residing in the city limits.

Wanderers from all over the world converge on the valley each year. Some for school, others for the renowned rock-climbing, mountain biking, hiking and skiing. Some even come searching for enlightenment or new age ideals, or simply just for the mountain solitude. Whether disgruntled with East Coast congestion or the West Coast bustle, in search of spiritual freedom or simply on an exploratory mission from abroad, people find a reason to call Boulder home — it might be easier to find a nugget of gold up in the hills than to find an actual Boulder native. In this hodgepodge of cultures and beliefs is a collective community rallying around the preservation of a natural landscape and a quality of life. Residents have banned together to fight off rapid growth and unruly developers. They managed to pass a law forbidding smoking in public spaces, including bars and nightclubs, and the town is currently battling chain stores from taking over the city. The community's aggressive nature in the political arena and fierce attitudes toward uncurbed growth has earned the city the nickname "Peoples Republic of Boulder."

Although it resides a mere 30 miles northeast of Denver and is lumped into the sprawling metroplex for statistical reasons, the town moves to its own funky vibe and might as well be 3,000 miles down the road. Living in Boulder is like living in a different state of mind, in a place where time somehow moves slower, the paths seem a little less traveled and reality always seems a step away.

stopping + calming + resting = healing

"Stopping, calming, and resting are preconditions for healing. When animals in the forest are wounded they find a place to lie down and rest completely for many days. They just rest and get the healing they need."
--Thich Nhat Hanh

"We hurt. We suffer. We wrong our loved ones and they do wrong by us. Reaching desperately for an answer will not help us. Pretending we're not hurt doesn't help either. When we are wounded, the wound needs rest in order to heal. So it is with our souls. If we poke at our hurt, pick at the sore, rub it in the dirt of others' opinions, we do not allow it time to heal."

"If you've been hurt, accept that. Feel the hurt. Be aware of it. Let it heal. Maybe it would be better if you didn't talk to that person for a while. Maybe you need to let go of the relationship. Maybe you just need some quiet time. Whatever the answer is, find a safe place and allow yourself to heal."

"If you're feeling pain, be aware of it. Feel the pain, and then quit picking at the wound, Lie low. Quit fighting. Relax. Give your wounds time and enough rest to heal."

God, help me relax enough to stop, calm down, and heal.

Quoted from this book.

Love is a positive feeling.

"Love is a positive feeling and if one cultivates this feeling in their life, they will surely free themselves from any unbalanced condition that surrounds them."

--Syd Banks

"Anger, whether unfocused or triggered by a troubling experience or a hostile person, discolors our perspective through an afternoon or a full day, perhaps even a week. Our understanding of events is always directly related to the attitude we've chosen to harbor. No situation or person, however difficult, has the power to steal away our happiness without our passive consent."

"So willingly we humans adopt negative attitudes. With grandiose egos, we resent rain pouring on our picnic plans or a friend's illness canceling an engagement. Our choices for actions, feelings, or attitudes are far greater than those we habitually turn to. And it's likely we know love least of all. But just as anger breeds more anger, love cultivates more love, and each life that's touched by love profits from it."

"When we make a decision to practice love unconditionally - loving ourselves, our neighbors and co-workers, even the snarling strangers sharing our traffic jam, we'll quickly experience the miracle of love in our own lives."

Quoted from this book.

Love it the way it is.

"Love it the way it is."
--Thaddeus Colas

It's easy to love people who are like us, who may have been raised the same way, educated the same way, share the same values, or have had many of the same experiences. It's not as easy to love people who seem different. But if we are to fulfill God's plan for us, we should try."

"It's not easy, either, to love the way we feel sometimes, or the unpleasant things that happen to us. But, like the people who are "different" from us, even our negative feelings need to be loved. Our fears, frustrations, pain, boredom, despair - these are part of us and they oftentimes have a greater purpose."

"We may not think it's possible to love how we feel, but we can make the decision to love everything about ourselves - and then we can see what happens. We may not know God's purpose, but we may understand better if we learn to love ourselves the way we are."

"I don't know God's plan for me, but I accept myself and others in love."

Quoted from this book.

A Quick, Clean Laugh!

I was at the mall the other day eating at the food court. I noticed an old man watching a teenager sitting next to him. The teenager had spiked hair in all different colors: green, red, orange and blue.

The old man kept staring at him. The teenager would look and find the old man staring every time. When the teenager had enough, he sarcastically asked, "What's the matter old man, never done anything wild in your life?"

The old man did not bat an eye in his response, "Got drunk once and had sex with a peacock. I was just wondering if you were my son."

Thanks, Dewey!

Don't Let the Bedbugs Bite

This article on bedbugs makes me want to never leave my home.

Who'da thunk it? Not me!

Upcoming Shows @ The Fox

I'll definitely be going to the 05/22 show; let me know if anyone's interested in going to any of the others!

Fox Theatre

03/19 Mickey Avalon
03/24 Melissa Ferrick (or 03/23 @ Cervantes in Denver with MOFRO)
03/30-31 Helle's Belles
04/30 Amy Winehouse
05/22 Brandi Carlile

Lo que dijo Che...

"Prefiero morir de pie, a vivir arrodillado."

...porque morir de pie no significa solamente el morir fisicamente, sino el morir social y moralmente ante el mundo. Y el vivir arrodillado, lo entiendo como el permitir que nuestras ideas y pensamientos sean atropellados, mancillados echados al olvido. Permitiendo así, o dejando que otros opinen por nosotros. Yo también "prefiero morir de píe..."

hut, hut, hut, hut, hut, hut, hut, hut, hut...HIKE.

After this month, I will have been in Boulder for two full years. Difficult for me to grasp that. Even more difficult to believe, is the fact that up until this past Saturday, I had never hiked to the top of Mount Sanitas. That's pretty pathetic considering I live three blocks from the park's entrance.

Saturday morning around 8:00AM, Eric and I commenced our walk through the valley and made our way to the summit in just over and hour (via west trail). After ample time for meditation at the top, we made it back to our bikes by 10:30AM -- just in time for a late breakfast at Café M, and then to the CU-Nebraska men's basketball game (last of the regular season). (For you non-Boulderite readers, 'CU' = Univeristy of Colorado; we know...it doesn't make sense to us either).

I felt so refreshed, centered, and accomplished from the hike that I called Jeen Yes to join me from Denver the next morning to embark on the same journey. Unfortunately, we waited until noon...when everyone and their momma decided to join us. There quite literally passed 100-200 people in less than three hours. We chose to descend down the east side of the mountain, where the traffic was especially heavy. Furthermore, since it was 50 degrees and sunny, the snow was melting and most of the trail was a muddy mess. Though, I'm not complaining -- the scenery from beginning-to-end was simply brilliant.

*For my Boulder peeps, I'm now addicted to hiking/running Sanitas. Drop me a line if you want to meet up for a regular jog to the top at sunrise.

Promises, Promises...

"If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves."

"Are these extravagant promises? We think not. They are being fulfilled among us, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them."

New Bumper Stickers for 2007

1. Bush: End of an Error

2. That's OK, I Wasn't Using My Civil Liberties Anyway
3. Let's Fix Democracy in this Country First
4. If You Want a Nation Ruled By Religion, Move to Iran
5. Bush. Like a Rock. Only Dumber.
6. If You Can Read This, You're Not Our President
7. Of Course It Hurts: You're Getting Screwed by an Elephant
8. Hey, Bush Supporters: Embarrassed Yet?

9. George Bush: Creating the Terrorists Our Kids Will Have to Fight
10. Impeachment: It's Not Just for Blowjobs Anymore
11. America: One Nation, Under Surveillance
12. They Call Him "W" So He Can Spell It
13. Whose God Do You Kill For?
14. Jail to the Chief
15. No, Seriously, Why Did We Invade Iraq?
16. Bush: God's Way of Proving I ntelligent Design is Full Of Crap
17. Bad President! No Banana.

18. We Need a President Who's Fluent In At Least One Language
19. We're Making Enemies Faster Than We Can Kill Them
20. Is It Vietnam Yet?
21. Bush Doesn't Care About White People, Either
22. Where Are We Going? And Why Are We In This Hand basket?
23. You Elected Him. You Deserve Him.
24. Dubya, Your Dad Shoulda Pulled Out, Too
25. When Bush Took Office, Gas Was $1.46
26. Pray For Impeachment
27. The Republican Party: Our Bridge to the 11th Century
28. What Part of "Bush Lied" Don't You Understand?
29. One Nation Under Clod
30. 2004: Embarrassed; 2005: Horrified; 2006: Terrified
31. Bush Never Exhaled
32. At Least Nixon Resigned

-----
Simply. Brilliant.
Thanks, Lynn!

My, How the Times Are a Changin'

So, here we are, nearing the final days of 2006. Posting on average of less than once per month, I've officially let this blog go to shit. That's gotta change. Whether anyone reads this blog is secondary to the fact that I simply need to start writing down what's in my head before I slowly go more insane. So, back to my topic...

2007 is only a couple weeks away. I've never really been one to set New Year's resolutions. Though, I do like the idea of wiping the slate clean, which, is the theory that landed me in Boulder almost two years ago. Two. Friggin. Years. It seems like I've barely finished unpacking my bags.

MY FOCUS FOR 2007

Consistency in taking the proper day-to-day action that has gifted me with serenity, freedom, and gratitude for the first time in my life. To become a more pure, loving, unselfish, and honest human being, I guess, is what I'm aiming at. I long for it. One of those actions is to remain fearless. I don't know about you, but fear ran me in to the ground for as long as I can remember. Most of it stems from the fear of a) not getting what I want, b) fear of losing what I've got, and, c) fear of what others think of me. Now...guess what? I sincerely don't give a shit what others think of me. It's truly none of my business what others may think of me -- whether it's good or bad. I've cheated death on more occasions than I'd like to admit -- I'm just grateful to be here (alive), and I've got absolutely nothing to lose...and no desire to impress. What's up, beatch.

A few other things for the new year...

• Step-up my daily meditation
  
• Become a 'greener' person and take daily action to make Earth a little better place to live
  
• Keep everything simple and remain 'right-sized'
  
• Slowly explore Buddhism
• Carefully remove the persons, places, and things currently in my life that may potentially act as a road block to my happiness
• Buy an old Volkswagen camper-van
  
• And, if all continues to go well, I suppose it's time to start being open to finding a special girl to spend time with!

How about you? What's on tap for 2007?

Feliz Cumpleaños

#1 Dumb Ass

And THIS is why I quit drinking: "Drunk Man Sticks Arm In Tiger Cage; Gets Bitten". It's just one example of the type of shit I felt compelled to do when I was shit-housed. And not to mention, I finally realized I'm allergic to alcohol. Yep, that's right. Every time I decided to drink, I'd break out...in handcuffs. : )

Finally...A Glimpse of Serenity

nuff said.
-cj

Oops!

I just discovered that I failed to correctly accept comments on this site. So, that's why your comments haven't been viewable. Actually, I never received them and they're lost. I've since fixed it, so feel free to comment all you wish!

Speaking of "OOPS!", check out this photo of a very unlucky jumper. By the way, here's a link from worstcasescenarios.com should you happen to parachute into an alligatior farm any time soon.