back to Earth

I’m still having computer problems… they’re random now. Sometimes it works, sometimes it won’t. Right now Outlook won’t open, so I’m checking email via a web interface. It’s a good thing I have that option…

I cancelled my order from the Tori Store yesterday. I ordered the hard bound version for 70 bucks, and then I found the hardbound deluxe limited version (with leather and gold embosses slipcover, signed and numbered by Tori) on Amazon.com… brand new (it hasn’t been released yet), for only 90 bucks with free shipping. This same version is offered by the Tori Store for 150 bucks… so yeah, I’m going to upgrade. I don’t feel bad about not buying it directly from her store, because she’s a marketing genius. For every album she releases, she releases a single, and every single contains different b-sides so that her rabid fans (that’s me) buy every one of ’em. Sigh.

The yoga retreat was amazing. I’m still processing all that happened. Here are some highlights:

one of my colleagues is a professional musician, and she sang a beautiful song for us.

Another is a ballet dancer, and I got to see her get up and dance. It was sort of flowy modern dance, very beautiful. She literally expressed something about an open heart and opening up to grace in about 10 seconds and I was just floored. Crying for joy. So grateful.

Someone read something they’d written, and she managed to encapsulate exactly my experience. I could so relate.

during Sadhana on Saturday morning, I kept stealing glances out of the window of the meditation hall to see the sun rise over the tree line. It was gorgeous. Just after the sun broke through the tree line, I noticed a tarantula about as big as the palm of my hand inside the hall, pawing the window with it’s big hairy legs. Nobody else noticed it, so i snuck out, got a plastic container from the kitchen (poked some holes through the lid), went back in and captured it and hid it outside. After sadhana, I went to set it free in the forest, and people noticed… "hey, what’s that?" and ‘that was in the hall??" and "omg, I’d have screamed. you’re so calm" were what I heard. I’m so afraid of tarantulas, but more than that, I didn’t want anyone else to see it and freak out either. I knew that I could do it because it meant protecting the experiences of my friends and making sure they had a beautiful and serene meditation. Wacky, huh?

At the end of the weekend, I brought up something… a lot of us had financial issues with the training, and I mentioned that if we each donated 50 dollars, then we’d have enough money to send one person through the program next year. The trainers said something along the lines of "that’s a wonderful idea, we’ll match every dollar that you raise and maybe you can send 2 people through." The very next day (monday) we had a page set up with a paypal account to accept donations. Someone out there in the community asked the Universe for this, and the Universe told me to get it done. I can’t wait to meet them, they’ve manifested something awesome.

okay, I have to go get dressed… I’m meeting a student for a class at 9am. I’m mentoring him through our hatha level one program, and then afterwards I’m having tea with another student who wants me to be her mentor. There’s an interview process… I want to make sure that we’re a good match before she commits to this course of action… okay, gotta go.

PS- if you watch American Idol- OMG, I can’t stand David Cook. Smug prick. Ugh, I hope that David Archuleta wins. I really wanted Syesha to win… but sigh.