Top 10 Things To Do Once In A Blue Moon

I’ve been living it up in Oahu, Hawaii this past week before “working” and leading my first yoga retreat in Maui.  Something about the air, the sun, the way of life here that takes me out of my mind and into the spirit of Aloha and this trip has been nothing but magical so far.   I arrived on Aug 1st, a full moon.  I later learned that this month has two full moons, one in the beginning and the second at the end of the month.  The phenomenon is considered a blue moon.   I normally feel myself drained and my mood usually changes during full moons, but this time I just felt energized and happy.  I’m sure being in paradise has a bit to do with it… but it was such a joy to practice during sunrise and be under the full moon at the same time.

As the saying goes… “once in a blue moon” or “once in a while,”  this trip as been everything about that.

 Top 10 things to do once in a blue moon:

10.  Take yourself out of your normal life and sit under a palm tree and do nothing but wait for the sun to set.

At Ko’Olina Cove

 

9.  Practice yoga at the crack of dawn because it’s so peaceful in the morning.

I practically get the whole lagoon to myself in the early morning

Someone’s gotta use this beautiful lagoon.. it might as well be me

 

8.  Leave the house with messy hair and no makeup.

Messy hair is in… wind blown is easy maintenance.

 

7.  Stop and notice the little things around you.

The smallest flower patch that no one probably ever looks at

 

6.  Encounter one of mother’s natures creatures.

See the turtle? I encountered a total of 6 of these creatures while snorkeling in Hanauma Bay and hanging out at the North Shore

 

5.  Forget about hugging trees, kiss a fish.

The humuhumunukunukuapua’a is the Hawaiian State fish.

 

4.  Eat pineapple snow

Hawaiian snow is a hybrid of shave ice and soft serve yogurt

 

3.  Hike to the top of a volcano crater and get an awesome view

The view atop Diamond Head Crater — an extinct volcano

 

2.  Eat a burger twice the size of your jaw opening.

Bigger is Better… especially after a few hours of snorkeling. By far the best turkey burger I’ve ever had!

1.  Jump off a perfectly good airplane with an adrenaline junkie strapped to your back.

My first sky dive experience with the crazy Kip on my back. This one deserves it’s own post soon

 

Now I’m ready to lead my retreat.  I’m so lucky I get to hang out with 11 very incredible yogis this week at Lumeria Retreat Center in Maui.  Our first class started tonight.. of course an inaugural class wouldn’t be complete without  local style grinds.

Deep friend spam musubi… it’s worth tasting with some kim chee

The Hawaiian plate lunch: laulau, kalua pig, lomi lomi salmon, and chicken long rice. The 2 scoops brown rice made me feel somewhat better

 

We’ll be working this off for sure in the week to come.

Living on the Edge of Fear

… fear of not being good enough, not popular enough, not yogic enough… fear of what other people might think… fear of failing and making a fool of myself. 

Someone once told me, “be a little scared.”  

Image Source

Fear can be paralyzing.  It can be stressful.  It can even prevent you from experiencing life to the fullest.  Think about it for a moment…

How many ways does fear motivate you to stay in a comfortable safe zone or prevents you from experiencing things, relationships, situations?  I bet if you look closely at all your actions, fear has something to do with it. 

Often we associate fear with a negative feeling.  This blocks us.  But fear is not all bad.  The familiar  fight or flight mechanism we naturally have  can save our lives in threatening situations.  So fear has a potential for being a good guy.  

What if the next time you come face to face with fear, you turn all that energy (because it takes a lot of energy to summon up this emotion) into a good guy?  What if you can look at fear as a big ball of excitement… ready to burst into creative energy… into possibilities… into your next big thing that will make your heart pound and the hair on your skin stand up.   That’s a place where I want to live… right at the edge of fear.

This time I won’t get paralyzed.  I won’t hide behind it’s face.  I won’t give up.  Instead, I will laugh and bring it along for the ride. 

That’s exactly what I’m doing.  I’ve entered a video contest for a chance to be able to teach at a big yoga event, the Wanderlust Festival.   I need your help! Please click on the link below to watch my video and vote for me by LIKE’ing the video on Wanderlust’s facebook page.  

Click below for the link to the video:   

https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=3024066489568&oid=82363965333&saved

Go ahead and let yourself be a little scared.  It’s a good feeling if you let it be.  Otherwise life becomes dull.

P.S.  Make sure you like the video and not just the post.  FB is kinda confusing that way… 

P.P.S.  If I make a fool out of myself, I’d still be happy because I would’ve made you laugh.  

Adults are Obsolete Children

If you’re offended by the title then the hell with you.

No one could’ve said it better than Dr. Seuss, “adults are just obsolete children and the hell with them.”

Today is Dr. Seuss’ 108th birthday!

I remember my favorite Dr. Seuss story as a kid was Green Eggs and Ham.  As a kid I loved his books because they had funny rhymes and made reading easy.  Now all grown up (and hopefully not considered obsolete), I still find great learning in the hidden messages as I read these books to my kids. Green Eggs and Ham served us well… if it wasn’t for this book, my kids wouldn’t have eaten anything green (See my post on kale).

So in honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday, I double dare you to do these 10 things to tickle your funny bone… cause the sillies are the best ways to wake up your inner child before you end up on the extinction list.

10. Go see The Lorax movie and then read your favorite Dr. Seuss book before bed time.

9.  Dunk some oreo cookies into a mug of warm milk and do let your whole hand sink into the mug so you can lick the milk off your knuckles.

8.  Accessorize your wardrobe with a candy necklace and ring pop that you can munch on and lick throughout the day.

7.  Go outside and catch some bugs like ants, grasshoppers, ladybugs, and other innocent insects… but this time don’t pull off their legs, wings, or any other parts.

6.  Chew bubble gum.. the big square ones like bubbilicous or hubba bubbla bubble gum  (yes they still make them).  Since your jaw is bigger, pop 2 squares in your mouth so you get chipmunk cheeks.  Once you get a handle of the gum,  blow a big bubble and watch it pop all over your face and nose… then you’ll suck it back into your mouth and chew it again.

5.  Have a spin around contest or cartwheel contest.  First one to throw up wins.

4.  Buy ice cream from the dirty ice cream truck… My favorite one was the strawberry shortcake popsicle.

3.  Run, skip, or gallop (anything but walk) while failing your arms and throwing your body against anything or anyone in sight.

2.  Be a know-it-all… tell everyone you meet about something you learned today with excitement and gusto.. and insist they drop whatever they’re doing because what you have to tell them is much more important… in other words, keep nagging until they listen.

and the number one way to tickle your inner child-like funny bone is:

1.  Climb up a door frame… go ahead!  I double dog dare you!

Here we go...

trying to pull thru.. it's actually very hard

spider woman!

I'm slipping...

Going down!

Fun!

Ahhh… the memories…. I refuse to become obsolete!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!!!

All About You

What four words would you use to describe yourself?   Here’s a test… close your eyes.  scroll down to the picture below.  Quickly, look.  The first four words you see describe you.

image from 3Cheers

 

I am:  passionate, thoughtful, restless, and stubborn … in that order

What about you?

I Dare You

I dare you

to laugh histerically

for no reason til you’re red in the face and look absolutely ridiculous.

to speak your  mind.

to tell that be-ach how you really feel.

to hug a stranger.

to question the rules people impose.

to wear no makeup.

to be kind to yourself.

to eat a whole dark chocolate bar with almonds and sea salt all by yourself (it’s really big.. like 6″ x 4″).

then go ahead wash it down with a glass (or two) of red wine.  heck chug the whole bottle.

to whine and cry it out, let it all out.  scream even.

to question the rules you’ve made for yourself.  for others.

to kiss your crush.. randomly.

to dare yourself to do something daring.

to stare into someone’s eyes.  pick someone who makes you feel uncomfortable.

to tell someone you really love them.  even if they don’t say it back. 

just for one day, I dare you to be unusually you. 

photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/53038578%40N00/266940279

What are you chicken?  I double dog dare you…

Life Is Too Short To…

Life is too short to not have fun… even if you make a fool out of yourself.  Be bold!

This is what happens when I try to make a playlist for my class at midnight:

What’s the phrase?… sing like no one’s watching… and “so what!” if the whole world watches.

*embarassed*