Upcoming Stuff

Yolinna's Upcoming Events:

June

6/26: Yoga 10:30am & 7pm

6/27: Friday Morning Meditations 9:30am-11:30am

6/29: Reiki & Readings 11:30am-2:30pm

July

7/1: Yoga 10:30am & 7pm

7/3: Yoga 10:30am & 7pm

7/4: Friday Morning Meditations 9:30am-11:30am

7/6: Spirit Center Open Door 1pm-5pm

Demos & Samples of Reiki, Osho Zen Readings, SoulCollage & Much, Much More...

Guest Speakers:

Sheree Ruhl, Meditating with Mandalas 1:30pm

Carol Roman, Fun with SoulCollage 2:30pm

Jami Vlachos, 'Transform Your Life' Coaching 3:30pm

Linda Miller, Restorative Yoga Meditation 4:30pm

Sneak Peek:

7/14: Meditation Night turns into Restorative Yoga Night!

Find more information on these and many other offerings at: www.yolinna.com

or call Linda to save your spot!

"the winds of grace blow all the time, all we need to do is set our sails"

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

Did you see it? part 2

Another one. A Double Rainbow! Twice in a week. There must be some kind of cosmic significance to this, I can't remember the last time I saw a rainbow, let alone a double one and especially 2 in a week. Amazing. And beautiful. Wow!

When I was uploading the pictures for this post, I also found these:

Could there be a more miserable looking rat...ooops I mean Dog?

LOOK! A Pilated Woodpecker!!! Right in our back yard! Yeah, you gotta really Look....

Mmmmm, harvesting herbs.... the house smells heavenly and new eye pillows and neck wraps and smudge sticks are on the way! It's interesting when the teenagers walk in... "ummm, Momma Linda? What's going on? Is this....ummm.... is it what I think it is? I mean, I thought you guys were hippies but ummmm......" Which leads me to a big "What do you think it is? and WHY do you know what it looks like?" And they tell me they learned in Health Class at school.

I hope that's the truth. I hear THC in today's marijuana is 10 times the amount when I was a kid. I remind them of that frequently..... Anyways, the top pic is in my office where I have run out of drying space and am now hanging the bunches on pictures and curtains. The bottom is Sweetgrass for smudge sticks. Course, the kids think it's grass... and NOT that kind of grass LOL!

Oh well, enough. Gotta get outside. Have you been outside today? It's gorgeous!!! Even a bit chilly. Crazy weather. AND RAINBOWS! What's it all mean, Basil????

Yoga in Small Places

Lately we've been doing yoga at my house to save energy at the church. I really hate turning on their a/c/heat to try and fill that humongous Sanctuary for an hour. Especially when the classes are small. It's interesting at CCPC how class sizes vary but I'm tired of thinking/worrying about that so let's go in another direction.

Since I've moved the classes they have been filled. Really filled. Course the room is much smaller. And easier to fill. But it has been so much fun with the full classes in the filled room. Twists are especially fun "now, everyone in unison turn to the RIGHT" Seems as if there's always someone who turns left and much giggling ensues. Of course, as everyone knows; twists are GREAT toxin relievers... Now, toxin release is a major source of anxiety/humor in most yoga classes. Yoga is designed specifically for releasing toxins, problem is most people are uncomfortable with releasing those toxins in public. I have seen many a yogi in dire distress when I say, "OK, Let's roll". (Rolling is when you hold on to your feet and roll back to your shoulders and then back up without touching said feet to the ground. Takes core strength and a push....last thing you want to do when you are trying to hold onto your toxins)

I've seen grown men crying while rolling. Crying with laughter that is. But it's one thing to have your body loudly announce that you have toxins in a large room. The sound is very muffled for one thing. And the people on your left and right are really the only ones who know it was you. It's easier for the yoga teacher to just move on like nothing happened. (and really, it's not that big a deal AWWW GROW UP PEOPLE!!!) I do have to admit to sometimes having to control my own giggling too though LOL! Let's face it: Farts are funny. However, in a smaller room.... there's no hiding. And the sound amplifies. And invariably someone starts giggling and it sets off the whole room. Try maintaining a peaceful atmosphere after that.

So, there are some drawbacks to a smaller room. But seeing all the joy when the yogis can reach out and hold up each other's legs in Half Moon pose... and the amount of people holding hands during relaxation... and having all my stuff right there; my eye pillows and cushions and music and crystals and essential oils... ahhhh. It's been really nice. The room is filled with Reiki energy and it shows. When we cleanse and fill our souls at the end you can almost see the energy in your hands. On Friday, we did our Sun Salutations outside on my deck and when I lifted my hands for the final blessing, a butterfly flew between them! It was sooo cool! Transformation...

I'm going to keep the classes the way they are. And I'm adding my Tuesday class back since so many have asked. And my husband came up with a great idea: since the room really only holds 8 comfortably (we've been having 9 or 10) and we worry/hope that more will show up and then it will be disruptive having to move the whole class to the church... I put a form on my website www.yolinna.com/yoga.html where all people have to do is check a box to tell me what classes they are coming to. When the total gets over 8, I email them that we're moving to the church--and will post it on the page. They just have to check before they leave and go to the right place. Seems easy enough huh? (fingers crossed)

When I grow up, I want to have a large studio to teach yoga in. By the beach. With an exhaust fan just in case.....

Did you see it?

A Double Rainbow!!! Big and Bold in the sky. My honey calls me "Quick!!! Come see!!" I run outside and turn around and run back inside. "Where are you going?" "To get the camera!" "Well, HURRRY!" This is on regular setting, note that crazy wisteria trying to take the honors:

Really couldn't get a great shot since I live under so many trees and the light was strange but here's my attempts. I really like this one, it's on night setting... I think the arrow adds some interest-- like here's the way to the pot of gold:

This was on the sunset setting-- I like it but for the raindrop:

My dad, the ex marine, calls me soon after. "Did you see it? Did you see the double rainbow?" Which in my opinion is really very cute. That's what I like about my Dad. And my husband. They get excited about rainbows.

So now I have that song about rainbows in my head. No, not THAT one. It's another one, kinda pre-rap, sort of funky, a little bit reggae "......a r-a-a-a-i-in-n-n-n-bow......" What is that song? Anyone?

Sometimes you just gotta stop thinking...

I've been laying on my floor, eye pillow over my eyes, just breathing in the mint and rosemary... (it's from the new batch!)

Yesterday I was working, working, working, doing laundry, fighting back the vines, taking care of ... well... I won't bore you with the endless details... and it occurred to me that I had been working really hard and that it was okay to rest. So I went into my Spirit Room and put my cushions in a restorative yoga pose, grabbed my eye pillow and started watching my breath. Uh oh, monkey mind. So, in a fit of practicing what I preach, I decided to watch my monkey mind. Here's a smorgasbord of what it said:

"boy i'm tired why do you think i'm so tired am i sleeping enough should i stop drinking maybe i should exercise more when will i find the time what a beautiful day this is should i try and advertise in the bowie blade do you think i'm going to ever be successful enough that i won't have to worry about money why hasn't montreat gotten back to me will i have to sell the car i wish i could sell more herbal things did i turn the oven off maybe i should plan a restorative yoga day when would i have it what will i do with rhia gone where is rhia i bet both those kids are napping i mean who naps in the afternoon are you angry cause they are napping or because you aren't??????"

That last one made me jump up. YEAH! Why can't I nap? Instantly my mother's voice comes into my head "how lazy are you that you want to nap during the day, there are things to do, people to see!!!" Hmmm. and Hmmmm. I decide to do what I want. A radical move. I scoop up my blankies, run and get a pillow and lay down on the couch. Feeling like a little kid sneaking a cookie from the cookie jar. Trying to justify to the monkey mind that is my mother's voice with the monkey mind that is mine "i just watched a show last night that said that sleep is really important and will make you lose weight and perform better on tests and i don't care if i don't have a test i'll do what i want!!!! just for a minute or so....K?"

Mmmmm. Positively decadent. Breeze blowing through the curtains, constant buzz noise of chain saws (don't ask) , stretching out, ahhhh.

For restitution, I made a for real dinner that was mighty tasty. Thought I had gotten away with it (not that my husband cares one iota) until my daughter, in my mother's voice, loudly proclaims at the dinner table that I had slept all day.

Somedays college doesn't look so bad. The snitch.

To anyone that needs it: You have my permission to rest and take it easy-- it's summer and you don't need an excuse. And you don't need to deserve it although I'm sure you do. Enjoy!

How do you spell "Breath?"

I slept until 11:30am yesterday. Me. Until 11:30. Unreal. I was exhausted. I am still quite a bit drained. I had no idea it was 11:30 cause my clocks were still blinking from the power going out and I was too tired to re-set it. It made me think about what time I would eat and sleep and wake and play if I didn't know what time it was.


I don't think it would be 11:30. But I didn't get to bed til after 3. Or 2? Or maybe 4? Don't know, clocks weren't working. Why the late hour? Well, most of my readers know--cause they were there....at my daughter's graduation party. (At least the ones who live in Maryland) There were over 4 million people there. All at once. Just in my kitchen.


Now, don't get me wrong. It was a wonderful, lovely, amazing time. I am blown away by the generosity and kindness people showed toward my daughter. She was blown away. We put the cards that she received on our piano last night and she was looking at them and said,


"they make me sad"


ME: "why?!"


"cause look at all the people I will be leaving who love me..."


"the people who love you are thrilled that you are leaving"


To which my son starts chortling "YEAH, They can't wait for you to leave!!!! ahahahahaha" cause he's 5 years old. And perhaps that didn't come out exactly as I planned. I'm a little tired.


So now the party (and all the planning and cleaning and cooking and serving and cleaning up) is over. Now what? It's like we're on a roller coaster just about to the top of that first really huge hill.... and even though you know it's going to be a great ride and everything will be just fine, there's that slight moment of panic and anticipation just before it starts careening down completely out of your control and into the hands of God and the roller coaster operator which is probably just a computer anyway but I guess that's just a digression designed to take my mind off of that little butterfly in my stomach saying, "your life is about to change humongously and even your next door neighbor is moving which really isn't all that much of an impact except that it magnifies the whole everything you've known for the last 21 years is going to be very, very different and that will be a bit of an adjustment to say the least...."


Do I seem hysterical to you? I think I'm just tired. Brain and heart are at odds. It will be just fine. The roller coaster excitement has been building and building and just like when you experience labor for the first time and you have that brief "WAIT, I CHANGED MY MIND!!!!!" moment when you think you may not be able to bear the pain cause it's unlike anything you've ever known but you just start to breath deep..... and trust.... and then they put the most beautiful gift you've ever received in your arms.....


It's just like that.


Time for the butterfly to get ready to fly.

Journey

My horror-scope keeps telling me I'm going on a journey. Well, last night I did but I hope that wasn't it. Not that it was a bad one, just anti-climatic. I don't know why I need it to be climatic other than all the heat but what ever. (sorry, I am just not funny when it's hot.)

So, J, my Reiki Master invited me to a Practitioner's meeting in Arnold. They were going to discuss crystals and drumming and since I like crystals and drumming, it seemed like a good idea. I had a friend who was going with me and since it was at night, I wasn't worried about driving but of course, she backed out at the last minute so I had a bit of a to do on how to get there but I made it all right. (3 guesses)

So I meet up with J, and we get there very early. Sit in the car chatting and catching up. It's 3 million degrees out so I am drenched by the time we get in--and she had the a/c on but it wasn't working well. I'm a bit shy so the combination of meeting 20 new people, feeling self conscious about sweating and the overwhelminess of walking into a group of 20 Reiki healers and being hit with all that energy kind of made me a bit dizzy. There was also a large table filled with crystals so that really added to the whoa-ness. Went and threw some cold water on my face and breathed deep.

Take my place in the circle and right away we get broken into smaller groups. (Have I ever mentioned how much I'm not fond of that?) Fortunately, the girl sitting next to me who had very kind eyes and a warm smile ended up in my group. The others? Let's just say they were a bit perplexing....although a couple of them had nice auras about them. I have grown up enough to understand that most people are a bit shy at first too, so they sometimes come across gruffer than they are. That was a huge revelation by the way, if you are a young person, re-read it.

Turns out that we are actually there to go on a Shamanic journey with our crystal while a Shaman drums. Now, this has crossed my path quite a few times and I've been reluctant to do so. It's not that I don't believe in it or feel that it's not useful, being part Native American I have spent a lot of time studying the culture and am drawn to quite a few of their practices. But journeying always seemed a bit much. And even a bit scary. And I sort of like to do one thing at a time so as to not complicate energy. You know? Like people who are trying to buy spirituality instead of live it? I like to live something for a good while before I try something else on.

But.. there it was. No way out. Well, no graceful physical way out. The idea of climbing out of the circle with my sweaty self....

So I just took it as a sign that this was something God wanted me to do. I've been kinda off, really down lately so I embraced the new-ness, opened my mind and said, "Lead on, MacDuff!" So the Shaman goes over what we're supposed to do and then starts drumming. Well, first she called up the spirits by shaking rattles over us. (This is where redneck Linda battles with spiritual Linda) I just close my eyes and consider it a science experiment. We were supposed to pick a spirit guide to go with us but since I don't have one (that I know of) I decide to take one of my chakra animals with me. I pick my polar bear but when she shakes her rattle at me I get a flash of a flying eagle so I decide the eagle wants to go, so I'm like, "ok, come along if you want, who am I to argue?"

You are supposed to go to a sacred place and although I usually have a forest circle in my head when I do guided visualizations, the image of the beach with Northern Lights pops in so I go there. And wait. And wait. She just keeps drumming. For some reason I thought she was gonna walk us through it... so I eventually ask the questions of my crystal that I was told to ask.

I think my crystal had a sense of humor. Or was just coy. It just kept burning in my hand. And I kept seeing stars and flashing and purple bubbles and then an image of swirling light and dancing. The other people had these elaborate journeys and answers and jewel encrusted leopards. Sigh. At least it was a nice crystal. That we found out later we had to buy if we wanted to keep. For $10. I have some very nice ones just like it at home that were just $2 but I decided that if that crystal took me to that lovely beach with the Northern Lights I guess it was worth $10. So, oh well, it was a pleasant enough adventure, maybe not a mountain top experience but who has the energy with all this heat?

Hot enough for ya? Ai yi yi....

June Newsletter

To Do List

1. Blog

2. Clean the House for Rhia's party.

3. Fritter away time playing Mario Kart

4. Go to work.

5. Rubber band herbs for drying.

6. Exercise.

7. Come up with lame excuses why I can't do #2 & 6.

8. Copy my newsletter and take to #4.

9. Find places to advertise events.

10. Get overwhelmed at the idea of #9 and go back to #3.

11. Ugh. Finish #1. Goodbye!

The Past

Let's take a small trip down memory lane...

2 years ago my daughter was depressed. Seriously depressed. She begged us each day to not have to go back to school. In fact, at this time 2 years ago she probably didn't even go this last week. I was exhausted from trying to help her navigate her unhappiness and she was overweight and miserable, self medicating with food. I had spent an entire year calling, emailing, fighting the school trying to get her into the right classes since they had mistakenly put her into the wrong classes. Her English teacher, who I had written notes and called for a whole year finally got in touch with me. So she could accuse my daughter of cheating and lying.

Anyone who knows my daughter knows how ludicrous an accusation that was.

She graduated on Saturday. From The Learning Community International, a home schooling, consultant based program. She stood up on the podium, confident and beautiful, giving a speech that showed her appreciation for TLCI; her wonderful consultant, Astrid; and her wonderful parents who supported and helped her :). She showed her amazement and excitement about being accepted into college, which she never thought would happen based on her grades 2 years ago. She stood with her diploma and just grinned from ear to ear.

No matter what your opinion is of home schooling, I'm here to tell you: For some kids, it's a life saver. Taking all that stress off of her made all the difference in the world. We were blessed to have this program drop into our laps and blessed to have the sense to take the 'road less traveled'. I was amazed at the eloquence and wisdom of the graduates. They were not just a bunch of weirdo, geeky, religious freaks....which I am ashamed to say I occasionally labeled home schoolers as..... They were funny, and very well spoken and extremely confident. One is an Olympic skater, another a national archery champion, yet another gave his speech in Japanese since he got to spend 4 years there, another had just gotten back from Bolivia... it went on and on. Just amazing stories. Just brilliant kids. Wow.

Congratulations Rhia! And thank you for showing us the way.... and to Astrid, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for helping Rhia show us the way. You are amazing.