A.muse

The best event planner around.

I wanted your title to be in your side thing. That's how I love you.

Oh yeah. Do yoga. It's so good for you. Be there. Yoga. Is. Good.

Books and Cards

In every bookstore, small or large, there are books we have not read; books which may have messages of unsuspected beauty or importance. They may be new books, they may be of yesterday, or of long ago.
The store where you found this volume exists in the hope of knowing–and learning–about books. There is no habit more valuable than that of dropping into a bookstore occasionally to look round–to look both inward and outward.
“We have what you need, though you may not know you need it.”
-the Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley, 1919


Teenage yoga today! It was so fun. Those girls worked hard. So hard that as the practice started to wind down, a girl named Ali looked at me and said, "I'm really hungry." "Well I've done my job then, Ali!" I said, she just stared at me. :)


After practice we sat in what we call "Community Circle," and played a game I developed specifically for them. It's questions and we sit in a circle and they take turns picking them and sharing. So one of the questions had to do with books. There were not a lot of readers in the group. There were some girls that loved the Twilight novels. There was not a big love of reading at all though. Eyes were rolled, big sighs, "I hate reading!" said one. 
It makes me want to start a teenage book club. I'm also starting a Card Playing day. Most of them only play solitare on the computer! I did a card trick for them and they loved it. I am reeling these girls in one cold winter day and teaching card games. It's a skill everyone should have! Card PLAY. PLAY Cards? Just come PLAY!

Take Time To Have Fun

"A friend is someone who will bail you out of jail. 

A best friend is the one that will be sitting next to you in the cell saying 'That was awesome."

Consider coloring outside the lines...

The First Monday of the First Week of the New Year

Its started...

"May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make some art — write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.”
                                                                                                                                           ~Neil Gaiman

“Tell everyone you know: “My happiness depends on me, so you’re off the hook.” And then demonstrate it. Be happy, no matter what they’re doing. Practice feeling good, no matter what. And before you know it, you will not give anyone else responsibility for the way you feel—and then, you’ll love them all. Because the only reason you don’t love them, is because you’re using them as your excuse to not feel good.”

— something to consider…from Abraham Hicks 

How Buddha Lists the Benefit's of Kindness

as quoted by Sharon Salzberg

1. You will sleep easily

2. You will wake easily

3. You will have pleasant dreams

4. People will love you

5. Devas (celestial beings) and animals will love you

6. Devas will protect you

7. External dangers (poison, weapons, and fire) will not harm you

8. Your face will be radiant

9. Your mind will be serene

10. You will die unconfused

11. You will be reborn in happy realms

                               (from Buddha to last Vegas, billboard just off the strip)

10 4 11

First off, I really like the sound of 2011. I think it has nice ring to it. 11 is such a nice number. It's the same backwards as forwards. 11 seems lucky, and although I don't really believe in luck, I do believe in creating it. 11 is good on the craps table too. That has to mean something.

I hear people say, "I don't believe in New Years Resolutions." I don't know if they are something that I believe or don't believe in. I do believe in miracles, the power of a sunny day, the healing quality of music, and the need to sometimes, every once in a while just stay in bed. I also believe that sometimes you need to just decide how it's going to be from here on out. I think we all get stuck now and again on how it is and sometimes it's nice to just shake things up, make a change, reevaluate. You can do something out there like, say, jump out of a plane, quit your job, or just make a resolution or two. The first day of a new year is as good as time as any.

My 2011 Resolutions/Decisions...

1. Meditate more-

“Meditation means you don’t have to grin every moment of your life. You learn to smile with your bones; you learn to smile with every aspect of who you are. You do not have to necessarily show your teeth. Try, without using your lips, to just smile. Really, without showing your teeth, simply smile. Now see if you can smile with your eyes; just use your eyes and smile. Then see if you can smile with your hand. If even the bones in your body begin to smile, that is meditation”- Sadhguru Spot

2. Start running again- Running took a back seat this year, what with starting a business, moving, and changing my whole life. It was a mistake. I miss running. I'm bringing it back.

3. Make more home made dinners for my kids. That means some advance planning, actually thinking about it before we walk in the door at night.

4. Read more books. I have been jumping from book to book. I can't seem to concentrate long enough to finish out one. I'm going to make it a practice to finish them out.

5. Make sure my kids are reading too. And not just the texts coming through there cell phones either. Books. 

6. Paint. I have already started this in the latest part of '10 but I am not going to let it drop. 

7. Take time to be idle at times, I tend to go a hundred miles and hour all the time. I am going to remember to just chill sometimes. I love this little story...

According to an ancient Chinese legend, one day in the year 2640 B.C. Princess Si Ling-chi was sitting under a mulberry tree when a silkworm cocoon fell into her teacup. When she tried to remove it, she noticed that the cocoon had begun to unravel in the hot liquid. She handed the loose end to her maidservant and told her to walk. The servant went out of the princesses chamber, and into the palace courtyard, through the palace gate, and out of the Forbidden City, and into the countryside a half mile away before the cocoon ran out. (In the West, this legend would slowly mutate over three millennia, until it became the story of a physicist and an apple. Either way, the meanings are the same: great discoveries, whether of silk or of gravity are always windfalls. They happen to people loafing under trees.)” Jeffrey Eugenides

8. Practice more... I teach a lot of yoga so I don't get to practice like I used to. I'm going to fit that in there too. 

“Both yoga and art aim at the same thing, that is, to re-establish our personal connection with the world around us according to our own inner creativity. To render body and mind a conduit through which the creative energy can flow freely, unimpeded by outer restrictions, in the trust that this energy, being a part of the universal energy, is ultimately pure and joyful.” -Dona Holleman  

9. Write more. This is another thing that got shoved to the wayside this past year. I realized that saying, "I don't have time," is another way of saying, "I just don't feel like it." If you want to do something enough you can make time. 

10. Get up really early in the morning. I'm going to need to to do the rest of these things. 

“Every one of us, consciously or unconsciously, affects the objects and people around us—including ourselves—on a continual basis. Think about the expression “laughter is contagious.” It is! How do you feel when you are around happy, laughing people? Usually, you can’t help but feel good yourself. All emotions are energy and energy passes from one body to another; from one object to another; matter to matter. Emotions are contagious! You clear your house of negative energies and replace them with positive ones.   ~Norma Lehmeier Hartie

                                                         

"One Good Thing About Music,"...

when it hits, you feel no pain. ~ Bob Marley

Music has such a visceral effect. It is  (besides my people) the biggest constant in my life. It never goes away. It never disappoints. It is there for every occasion. It is a friend to sing with, a shoulder to cry on, and a lover to wait for.

Music has an energy to it. There are songs you put on to run to, there are songs you put on to drive to, there are songs that play over and over in your head right when you need them to be there.

Music calms, it can send those neurons straight up, starting to equalize the right and left hemisphere of your brain, bringing you into an alpha or even a theta brainwave state (getting into that meditative place that makes you find who you really are).

I love lyrics. I will listen to a song over and over again because of what it says. This song below one of my new favorites. I love it for two main reasons. The first, my best yoga and music buddy shared it with me. The second, the meaning to me; it is a parent tucking a child in at night, telling them, "There's no reason to worry, no reason for nightmares. Everything is just fine. And not only is it fine, but you're safe. Safe." The exact thoughts that not only a child, but anyone, would be so blessed to go to sleep with.

Fairytale Lullaby- Bombay Bicycle Club
If you want ride a rainbow come with me
I will take you in a magic purple
Maybe we will find a thousand sugar fish
And when you eat them they will grant your every wish
And if you want your friends to come them bring them along
If you want to catch a star then walk my way
I will take you where the night is always day
You can follow me if you really try
Maybe we will find a rainbow, teach it to fly
And if you want your friends to come them bring them all along
Bow your head and let your eyelids close on down
Where we're going you wont' need to bring your frown
You will find that ll the things that I have said
Will come true when you are lying in your bed
And if you want your friends to come them bring them along


 Fairytale Lullabye's   on Itunes

20 Thoughts To Make Your Day A Little Sweeter

1. Wake up 5 minutes earlier than usual and just stretch
2. Look in the mirror and tell yourself something you would like to hear
3. Smile at every person you see
4. Work hard enough to sweat at least for 20 minutes
5. Drink a whole lotta water
6. Take 10 long deep breaths, matching the length of your exhale to your inhale
7. Sing, sing, and then sing some more
8. Share a meal with someone
9. If you have a child, kiss them, every moment they will let you
10. Pet an animal
11. Show up somewhere. Just put your shoes on and go.
12. Read a book. Even for 10 minutes
13. Spend some time in the fresh air
14. Remind a child of the importance of being kind. Listen to yourself talk
15. Do something really nice for someone without expecting anything in return
16. Meditate
17. See the beauty in everything
18. Laugh
19. Make time for people
20. Look at the moon before you go to bed and be thankful

Dance Team Workout

"Dr. Dre," (Andreas Johnson), a professional dancer is coming to the studio August 29th! We will be offering a 3 hour workshop in which he will teach the girls/boys a 2 minute dance routine incorporating hip hop, pop, and dance to inspire and ignite energy!

Above is a video to give you an idea of what is in store for the day!

Workshop is $45 in advance and $50 at the door. We are limiting it to 30 dancers and are half full.

See Dre's full bio on our website.

email lisa@goplayyoga.com or call 610.436.9642 to sign up

Come Out And PLAY

We are gearing up to offer all sorts of fun things to make these sunny summer days even shinier!  We have started out gradually with our adult and children's classes. Sometimes we follow up a 9.30-11 adult class by ordering sushi and sitting around the table and having lunch with old friends and new friends. A girl (or guy) has gotta eat. Right? We have so enjoyed meeting new people from our very own town. We have new friends that have lived here forever and new friends that are brand new to the area. It has made us think even more about having more community offerings.

So we are putting this out there... a book club. We are going to announce the book next week and put out a date. We are going to get this awesome Mediterranean place to whip up some yummy snacks and I am going to mix up my famous Summer Cocktail.

The book, date, and time will be up on our website next week. Please join us to make new friends, or to keep your old. You know that one is silver, right? And one is gold. :) You do if you were ever in Brownies.

Yoga: A Man's "Sport" Too

Yoga has been around for a kathousand years. According to Gessner Geyer who is the president of Brainergy, an education and healthcare consulting firm,  yoga is the "world's oldest and most perfect form of exercise." Not only does it just feel good but it reduces stress, gives you balance physically and emotionally, yoga will help you focus and enhance your cognition. Not only all that but did ya know that it will make your core strong, it improves your cardiovascular, respiratory, musculoskeletal and nervous system. It will make you stand taller, breathe easier and have a sense of body awareness like no other sport.

Men generally think it's easy.

We have this great friend that we work with. He has been a good support system to us and he makes us laugh to boot. He came into to do yoga for the first time on Monday. He wore a collared shirt like you do on casual day and informed Lisa that after class he was going to go for a run for his cardio workout. This delighted me as I watched the doors to the yoga room close and the music start while I thought to myself, "Yeah, he's not going running, but that's sure cute he thought he was."

Now there are all different kinds of classes, kids, beginners, light, power, etc... He chose the vinyasa flow with is explained as not only some great yoga but a work out too.

An hour and a half later he came out of the yoga room out of breath and ringing his shirt like you would a sponge that just fell in the bathtub. He didn't have another shirt to put on. (note to self: get some men's t-shirts in stock).

He came back yesterday and brought a friend! He told Lisa that he's quitting his gym membership and either coming here or running outside.

But not both on the same day.

What Are They?

Happiness is a warm puppy.  ~Charles M. Schultz

We like dogs at PLAY. One of the things Lisa and I love best about this whole business is that we can bring the dogs in with us a lot. We have some really cute ones. There is Daisy who is pictured above, we rescued her from a dismal environment to a place where she is surrounded by other dogs and kids and love. She is a timid little thing that lets all the kids carry her around and hold her and play with her. She is a Papillon. Papillon is French for butterfly and they are called that for their big ears. She is about the size of a big guinea pig. She is so sweet, the little butterfly guinea pig.

And Mickey. Mickey is my precious little doggie. He is an enigma to most. He looks like a puppy, but he's not. He looks like a girl, but he's not. He looks like a dog, but he's...

I take Micker with me a lot of places. He prances along happily beside me as strangers stop to pet him because he's so cute. He's got a sweet little face and is the friendliest little guy. And then inevitably they will say, "What kind of dog is he?" I hate this question. The answer is, when I bought him I got papers saying he is 100% Pomeranian. So I say, "Well, we know he's part Pomeranian," (that's what I say because he doesn't resemble one much at all. This is what I get from that. "Really? (with a head tilt and scrunched up eyes as they mentally try to match what they know of a Pomeranian to my Micker)  He doesn't look like a Pomeranian at all. He is just the cutest little thing though." Then I feel dumb. I  brought the paper into the studio so when people ask I just hand it to them and try to change the subject. :)

So these guys are with us a lot. I didn't bring them yesterday though because we had to much going on and the weather was bad and I just thought they would be happier at home. Every child that walked through that door said, "Are the dogs here?" "Where are the dogs?" The look of disappointment was obvious when I said, "They didn't come today." Judging from the looks I got I am planning on packing up their toys and bringing them today.