yoga on the road: the bay

Third times a charm, right?! Apparently, San Francisco is quite the ideal market for Kashi, being that we had 3 events there in the first 3 months on tour. This time, we hit Marin County. Quite different than the city of San Francisco, but still in the Bay area.

This time around, I explored a bit more than the past two visits. We went beyond the obvious downtown "hot spots" and found some interesting sights, I must say... Since we were staying in Marin County (across the Golden Gate bridge), we had to take a Ferry to get to the city - which was also kinda fun. I can't say I ride a ferry all too often...or ever, really.

The other main difference was hanging out with the crew. In the past, we would all do our own thing in each city. We work together on weekends and drive from city to city together, so we usually spend our time off apart. Not the case anymore! Since we added Sunie to the team (our new natural foods chef), we all started spending more of our free time together. It seems this crew has more in common, we like to do the same things. Our first few days in Marin County felt like one big field trip. We made plans for each day, met at the car, and headed out to explore! It was nice to have a group of people to hang out with again. Since I started this job, I am constantly around people. Little to no "alone" time. But, the strange thing about that is the people I am around are usually strangers. So, I am never really alone, but never really with people I know. Odd, isn't it?! Anyway, being with my crew all week in Marin County was a blast. We went all over the place: Zen Meditation Center, Muir Beach, Greens Vegetarian Restaurant, Maggie Mudd's Vegan Ice Cream Parlor, Haight & Ashbury, Yoga Class, Sushi, Castro District.... We were one busy crew of friends!

So, another huge bonus to this visit was attending Sianna Sherman's Anusara class at Yoga Kula. Sianna is one of the most amazing Anusara teachers I have ever met. She travels the world teaching yoga, so the past two times I was in San Francisco (her home base), she was out of town teaching. From 2000-2003, she was lucky enough to assist John Friend's workshops and my mom and I were lucky enough to meet her during that time in Atlanta at a workshop. We always remembered her for her magic touch and light adjustments that made such a huge difference. She had a way of making hands-on adjustments without forcing you into a pose. It was pretty amazing.... a few years later, we started hearing of her out on her own, teaching her own workshops around the country. Her greatness spread fast, and is still going strong.

Not to my surprise, she was just as incredible as I remembered. Sunie and I went to her two-hour class on Wed. morning. It was so great because this was Sunie's first Anusara experience.I was really excited for her to try it out. What a treat to have Sianna make that introduction! The class was full of story-telling, a challenging asana practice, laughter, sweat and hard work - it was the ideal class. We got into some deep back-bending and the poses that seemed impossible were suddenly accessible again. Even scorpion pose was more approachable (than usual)! It was so much fun. It's crazy how easily we get "in our heads" about the practice, instead of using it as a canvas to explore and play within ourselves. Sianna brings things back down to earth. There is something about her that makes things so simple. I loved every second of it, if you can't already tell :)

Let's see, what else... I bought a new didgeridoo, which makes me very happy. My tour mates think I am some crazy person for loving the didge, but they will learn to love it. It's addicting.

Also, Pedro and I ventured off to the Castro district Friday afternoon for some fun people-watching and change of scenery. The Pride festival was Saturday and everyone was talking about it. Neither of us had ever been to that area, so we wanted to see for ourselves what all the hype was about. It was definitely total entertainment. We met so many fun people and had some great conversations that afternoon. Not to mention the hot pink cosmo that I made Pedro drink with me at a corner bar :) We had a blast. It was another good day.

The event was fun, too. A little slower than usual, but since it was an Artfest, that's to be expected. Those types of events tend to be slower. People aren't as interactive. I had a lot more kids than usual, though. It was a fun change of pace. I like teaching kids a lot more than I would have expected. Their attention span triples when they are trying to figure out with their mind how to move their body. Its really cool to watch. They like to try and mimic adults and yoga is something they can actually understand.

After the event, we made the long haul to Chicago. It was funny to drive back toward the Midwest. Even though I wasn't very close to St. Louis, there was a certain sense of familiarity as we got closer in. It was an odd feeling, since I have been gone almost 3 months, now. I didn't realize how different the west coast felt, compared to home. I couldn't tell if these were things about the Midwest I had forgotten or things i never noticed. Very interesting experience.

Now, we are in Chicago. My good buddy Jaime is coming to visit this weekend. I am so excited I can hardly stand it! On top of that, 4th of July happens to be one of my all time favorite holidays :) Time to celebrate this country, our lives, this day.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY TO ALL!

XOXO