Another Year "Older" and a new one just begun

So yeah, Christmas is over, New Years is over and in an hour my birthday will officially be over. I cannot express how incredibly thankful I am for all that I have been through this past year, 28 was awesome but I'm ready to let it go and fully live in 29.
For the last year I have been holding on for dear life as I tried to let go and figure my life out... After two people who I love tremendously moved off to follow their dreams and I sat back and watched them go, loving them, but feeling ever so green with envy that they get to follow their dreams while I'm still being patient and waiting for mine.

I have been blessed with a great group of friends who I love tremendously and will be sad to say goodbye to as I carry on with my year of 29 to great places across the world, and I can confidently say that I am ready to go, ready to travel, ready to yoga, and ready to save the world!!

I have worked my ass off, finishing a 200 hour yoga teacher training, having a great boyfriend, great friends and then letting them go to pursue their dreams and for me to pursue 300 more hours of yoga study... damn its been a ride!
After buying my plane ticket to Fiji for 3 months on New Years Day, I started a new year literally and figuratively. I am launching myself out into the world to follow MY dreams. I wouldn't be here without the unknown help of a few people who have given me the courage to step out of my comfort zone, and know that they will be on the other side of it.

My life has felt like I've had a bucket full of water on my shoulders and I just poked a hole in it that washed fear and anxiety away. Water is a powerful mover of energy and can be refreshing and flow moving but when held captive can become stagnant and boring. I just let all of mine go and it does taste of great refreshment!
Amazing how when you let go, you take a step into an unknown world and you know you are on the right track, the universe provides what you need. I had always heard that but never trusted it, I'm capricorn, I plan. But with that step into the blue stagnant waters, there is a ripple and within that ripple the universe can release its power and support you at the same time.

Let your inhibitions go, run, play, jump up and down, scream, cry whatever it takes.... poke the hole in that bucket of water sitting on your shoulders and trust that the water that comes out will fill your heart and wash away your worries.

What will 29 hold? Yoga and service in Fiji-yoga with kids in schools, debris cleanup in the ocean and hopefully raising money to certify someone to dive and continue with the ocean cleanups. Hopes to teach people yoga, maybe even teach them to be teachers.
Belize, June 2012, we will discover the blocks in that bucket of water, let them go and learn how to keep the channels clean and the prana running smoothly through ourselves. Then transmitting that energy into those in our life or that we may just encounter walking down the street. What seeds do you plant for yourself and thus into others?

The year of 29 will be a year of extended growth, finding my soul families across the earth, creating a great place for each of us to live.

I am beyond grateful and cannot wait to see this year unfold.

A little song, you may have heard it before, that always keeps me asking questions.

Campaign for Yoga and Seva (service) in Fiji

Cheers to Another Year Older!!

Kristen

www.k10yoga.com

FB/Twitter: K10Yoga

Mirror Mirror...

I was given a card just this week that had the age old quote by Eleanor Roosevelt, "Do one thing every day that scares you." Inside the card was written, "Oh yea you are!!"

As I sit

At the beginning of 2011 I remember thinking... this is going to be a great year for love and life and yes it was, but it was so much more that I am happy to put 2011 in the books and gear up for what 2012 has to offer. To have grown the way I have over the past year channels me to believe that I have been prepared for an amazing 2012. I'm beyond thankful for my family and great friends, new and old who have held me together without even realizing it!and think about this past year and about where I am right now in life, I can't help but think Shit, I've have one hell of a year and I can say that yes the year of 2011 could be defined for me as a year of exploration, of love, of trust, of self awareness, of change, of living in the moment and living for me.... all of which scare the shit out of me but have made me so so so much stronger of an individual.

So what to look forward to in 2012?

Travel, travel travel!!!

Fiji and Belize then who knows but great things are unfolding and I'm looking forward to what this year has in store. Rockin yoga in new places and stepping out of my comfort zone and into adventures of my own!

Fiji Details: March 30-April 1 Weekend Yoga Retreat at Bethams Beach Cottages

Belize Details: June 2-9 Week Retreat of Yoga and Diving at Ak'Bol Yoga Retreat Center in Ambergris Caye, Belize

Keep updated on all these events and more on Facebook and Twitter or on the web at www.k10yoga.com

Cheers to Peace, Love and Light for each of you in 2012

Trash...

Spread the word, thinking the next retreat will include some ocean cleanup :)

From: http://www.zmescience.com/science/oceanography/just-in-case-you-didnt-know-theres-a-garbage-island-twice-as-big-as-france-in-the-pacific-ocean/

I was surprised to talk to a bunch of people today and find out they didn’t know about this, so I figured this is definitely something worth knowing. Here’s the deal.

There’s a whole lot of garbage floating around; a whole lot ! Some are above the surface, some are below. What happens is they get sucked in by oceanic currents, and tangle up with other garbage (mostly plastic). But you shouldn’t think only about bottles and such; most of the times, the plastic particles are hard to see even from a boat, but that doesn’t make them any less dangerous – on the contrary. It’s been proved that albatross and other sea creatures ingest way more plastic this way. The total amount of ‘plastic soup’ is hard to quantify, varying from twice the size of Texas (or France) to twice the size of the USA. It’s also expanding – fast. Stretching from Hawaii to Japan the biggest such patch is estimated to weigh around 100 million tons, according to American oceanographer Charles Moore, who also explains:
“The original idea that people had was that it was an island of plastic garbage that you could almost walk on. It is not quite like that. It is almost like a plastic soup. It is endless for an area that is maybe twice the size as continental United States.”
There’s also a missconception that it has well defined borders, like an island. There’s just a gradient of particle density, with most particles being as big as 1-3 mm. According to wikipedia, 80% is a result of terrestrial pollution, and the 20% left comes from ships. As you probably guessed, any effort towards cleaning the area is not going to happen any time soon, as it would require massive efforts and collaborations, and an estimated (very rough) cost of 10 billion dollars. No nation has made a step forward in taking responsability, and I can’t see anyone doing this in the near future.

“At this point, cleaning it up isn’t an option. It’s just going to get bigger as our reliance on plastics continues. … The long-term solution is to stop producing as much plastic products at home and change our consumption habits.”, said Chris Parry, public education program manager with the California Coastal Commission in San Francisco.

The effects are hard to estimate, varying from extremely harmful to catastrophic. Without even taking into consideration the long term effects and what will happen when it becomes even bigger (which quite frankly, won’t take that long if things continue to move the way they have), the short and medium term effects are devastating. Marine animals and birds ingest plastic which just doesn’t go away from their stomach. Eventually, it starts filling it up, and if it’s not toxic, and kills them, it fills their stomach and basically causes the animals to starve to death – a quite painful and tragic death. It can be harmful even for humans because we too eat the animals which ingest the plastic.

In case you’re wondering, no, I don’t think there’s anything you can do to help clean the patch up (even if you wanted to). But you can limit it’s ever growing size, as well as the size of land garbage. Just do the basic stuff:
- Limit your use of plastic whenever possible. Take your canvas bags to the supermarket or just don’t take plastic bags whenever possible.
- Throw your garbage where it should belong; don’t leave it on the beach or on the street or whatever.
- Tell other people. Make it spread. Many people don’t care about this at all; but many do, and they just need a small push to act. Be that push !

Love your earth

Haiti 2011

From the girls at Off the Mat, Into the World... :)

So this is it, the hour of reckoning: the proverbial “Savasana” of the Global Seva Challenge 2011 is finally upon us, and what a year it has been! Regardless of whether you reached your goal or not, just for taking that first step forward and committing to a Challenge as big as this. And we are so proud of you for having the courage to step into your greatness and explore the possibilities of your own leadership potential.

Now is the time to rest. To let go of attachment to outcome, and allow these final moments to unfurl exactly as they are meant to. To stop the doing and step into the being. To integrate your experience from the past year. To observe where you have grown and what you have learned. To nourish your body and reinvigorate your connection to Spirit. To reconnect with friends and family and loved ones in celebration of this divine gift we call life. And to express gratitude for all of the ways in which we are blessed, and for this opportunity to serve.

This year you have collectively raised more than $300,000 for Haiti (final numbers will be posted on the homepage of the OTM website in the coming weeks). I want you to know that this is no small feat by a team of 60 participants (in past years we have had closer to 120). Suzanne, Seane, Hala, and all of us at OTM are so thankful for all of your efforts, and we value everyone’s participation equally, whether you raised $20 or $20,000. The work you have done in your own communities could have an impact that lasts for generations to come. Maybe your efforts have inspired a change in someone else’s life in a profound and radical way – or maybe, just maybe, your own life has been changed somehow.

You may never know the full extent of the impact you have had, fundraising for Haiti this year with Off the Mat. But we do know exactly what your hard-earned funds will help OTM and our partners in Haiti to do:
provide clean drinking water at an orphanage and school
build a community center
support women’s empowerment through micro-lending
create a mosaic art wall
remove rubble from the streets
build an eco-friendly children’s center

From K10-THANK YOU! Thank each and every one of you for your support whether through monetary funds, opening your space for transformation, or just being an ear to listen or a shoulder to cry on. It has been an amazing journey and I look forward to continuing to raise awareness for our world and hope you will journey with me to make a difference for ourselves and our future generations!

In love and gratitude,

Kristen

Giving Thanks, a cliche?

I used to find it cliche to be thankful for things on thanksgiving, why cant we be reminded everyday to be thankful? But in the spirit of the season I would like to take a moment to recollect and find thanks in what seem like the most awkward or tough situations.

I'm thankful for...

• Karma
• Truth
• Family
• Love
• Patience
• Eyes to see
• Babies
• Yoga

I'm thankful for having the eyes to see the karmic path I have chosen. Knowing that somedays things will hurt and taking responsibility for those actions.

I'm thankful for those who know the truth, who see the truth, who speak the truth, and those who feel the truth. Truth being whatever feels right within their own being. Those who will stand for that among what others say may or may not be right for them.

I'm thankful for my family, direct and indirect. I am thankful for my roots and for those sent through a higher power to cross my path as family or friends or loves to bring me to my current place in this world.

I am thankful for love, pure unconditional love that I have felt in very rare ways this year. Love for myself, love for others, love for life, love for those questionable times that bring you to your knees and allow you to love yourself even more.

I am thankful for patience... even though I am tired of being patient, I am thankful for it and for the lessons it teaches me each and every day. Do not rush, live.

I am thankful for babies, for the miracle of creativity and for the privilege to assist in trainings and classes that birth new philosophies into the world. For being able to make small changes in the world one person, one day, one breath at a time.

I'm thankful for yoga which is the thread that binds all of these things together. Recognition of the karmic path, seeing life as it is, and loving it.

In the midst of confusion, hustle and bustle that comes with this time of year, I encourage you all to your own revelations and thankfulness to those people and places of your life. From my heart to yours...Cheers!

Be your own painter

I dream of painting, then I paint my dream... I think thats how the quote goes... regardless I have had this idea of being an artist on the mind lately. We are all artists in our own sense. Perhaps we don't create huge canvas paintings that could be sold for millions, or perhaps we do... but I want to look at it from a different prospective.

When it comes to love and life and what to do what not to do and when to start and when to stop etc, inevitably we are the ones in control of that. Others can tell us their opinion about what to do, when to go when not to go and yadi yadi yadi but at the end of the day YOU are responsible for YOUR own Happiness. Some may think you are crazy for choosing the timeline that you do, but its up to you. Just like the painter, people may look at the art and say it is perfect. People may look at it and say ohh, that needs some work. Why do we try to tell others what to do? When the painter is happy with the painting when in his or her own expression is complete, then the job is done and the project can be put out into the world for it to become whatever it will become.

Think about life, how long do you hold onto a situation? It's okay if you say 50 years, or 45 minutes because it is up to your own creative expression what you will do with it.

Be the painter. Life is your canvas. Be responsible for yourself. Create the life you wish to live.

What will you birth?

What will you create? Hold it in love!

I don't know if you have been feeling it or not, I would hope that everyone is so intuitive to notice but things are changing, and fast. Sometimes referred to as the quickening, this age of Aquarius is upon us. After a heartwarming weekend with Heather Till learning how to teach yoga to pregnant mommas a number of things came to mind and I choose to share this one...

When thinking about the birthing process there is the conception time, the time you carry the baby, and then what some call the fourth trimester when you are getting to know your new one. So what if we took that concept and moved it into this awakening of consciousness that is happening. It's difficult to pinpoint a conception date but just say it were 11.11.11 and then we use the time in the year 2012 to really feel the shifts and changes of baby inside of each of us. Then we deliver, we step up and take responsibility for the life we have lived and prepare for spiraling into new life set before us. We are brave, we are proud of our creation, we are scared but joyful and excited for the new time. Then we transition into this new life, funneling our emotions and thoughts, coddling them, nourishing them and becoming accustom to this new experience.

It is a beautiful process that is sincere and divine. For each individual with the eyes to see the beauty in this new creation, cheers to you. For those who may not understand and cannot see past birthing an actual baby, best of luck.

The time is now, take responsibility, clear out the old, unnecessary, clutter of the past years and prepare. You have a great gestation period to meditate, forgive, and proceed. Where will you go? What will you do?

Be excited, Be open, the shift is near! Ride the energy wave for beauty is just around the corner!