It has been one of the best decisions that I have ever made for myself.

Though I am trained in Anusara Yoga and Restorative Yoga I have felt for some time that something has been missing. While I love many aspects of Anusara Yoga and am grateful for the solid foundation that it has given me, I have been missing a softer kind of yoga, something that I feel is more in keeping with my Restorative Yoga teaching.

I set out a while back to bring something new into the mix as I have wanted to create soothing asana classes that I know are needed in today's fast paced world. I ended my search for another teacher training when I found Kelly Wood and Karuna Yoga here in Los Angeles. I signed up a few days later.

I have found during this training that I took in more than I did with my first asana yoga training as we were a very small group which made things very intimate and nurturing. There were only nine of us which I loved. This training was also not about teaching only one style of yoga which I found made it more relatable and accessible. Kelly is lovely and her combined experience as a Kundalini Yoga teacher and a Hatha Yoga teacher really brings something rich and full to the table. Her experience as a dancer adds something wonderfully graceful to the teachings as well. She's also incredibly intelligent. I like my women smart!

Her Yoga Dance class happens to be my all time favorite yoga class - ever.

After two incredibly full months of training I turned in my final exam this past Saturday. It was 12 pages typed and felt like gold in my hands. The feeling of completing this journey was so empowering. The love and connection this small group of yogis shared was profound and beautiful. We came together with our own life stories, issues and convictions and left with one shared story of this time together. I hold a special place in my heart for each of these shining creatures. I am forever humbled by them.

I've done many teacher trainings now and I will say that this was more than a yoga training. It was a life altering experience. I am facing things that I have long run from and in doing so I can feel my feet more solidly on the ground. Each day feels a bit different. I feel more settled in my skin.

Who doesn't need a little bit more of that in their lives?

Kelly herself is a complex creature. Very beautiful and centered and yet so clearly real and flawed like the rest of us. This makes her a very present teacher. The more I get to know her the more I respect and care for her. My gratitude to her for creating such a supportive space where I have found my feet and felt safe in expanding my work as a teacher and healer.

Bellissima...

If you are looking for a yoga teacher training here in Los Angeles that is small and feels very grassroots and grounding, I highly recommend Karuna Yoga and Kelly Wood. It's not just a Yoga training, it's a life experience.

Live life. Love fully. Savor anything and everything delicious.

Namaste & Sat Nam...

Kathy

Photo cannot be reprinted without permission.

I am staying at my home away from home in S.F., The Metro Hotel, and have extended my trip by two nights so Simon can come up and join me for some play. I will hunker down and savor my week of study and then relax and settle into the city as a tourist. We are both eager to check out the Georgia Okeeffe/Ansel Adams exhibit at MOMA. We also look forward to green tea in The Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park.

It's the simple things, you know?

For our last two nights we're there I've landed us a great deal on Priceline bidding low and getting The Hilton Hotel in the center of the city. It was cheap. Love that!

Off to pack then. More coming from San Francisco...

I can see the things that need to be improved here at The Spring and will write more about that when I get home. I can tell you that the staff is bar none and wonderfully warm and friendly. There really is nothing that they won't do to make your stay here a happy one. And it's very chill here. It is NOT pretentious or high brow. It caters to everyone and everyone is made to feel welcome. I'm not a fan of snooty, special-fussy places.

Not my thing.

We have been happy with our room (number one) here at The Spring though they do need to rework things so that two chaise lounge chairs fit by the door and have some sort of shade option. We have only one and it's right on the walking path with no shade at all. We do have the most private kitchen and studio, thankfully, but it does lack a place to lie out in the shade that the other rooms seem to offer. That said, our kitchen is tucked away in the back so no one can see us. We can cook naked and not a soul can peer in. Nice! The other rooms that come with kitchens (only five of the ten have them) face the pool and so unless you close your shades you get no privacy. I happen to like the nakedness option. I like the privacy of our kitchen tucked away from everyone else. It suits us.

We went up to Pappy&Harriet's last night in Pioneertown (about a 25-30 minute drive) as it is our favorite hang out in the desert and the food can't be beat. We also got to take in some down home live music and enjoyed the sounds of Linnzi Zaorski & C.W. Stoneking. Linnzi sang 40's tunes while C.W. Stoneking , who happens to be from Australia which made Simon very happy, sang some serious Hokum blues. What a perfect way to spend the night! Then back home to our little oasis in the desert. It's nice to strike that balance.

Haven't you heard? The desert is the place to be...

Much needed.

As a surprise to me, and given the ongoing sinus pain I've been having due to allergies, Simon surprised me and booked me in for a sinus facial today with Mila. It was by far one of the nicest facials I have ever had! I left feeling all blissed out and soft, soothed and healed. I have been given some samples of products to try (Epicuren, no less which is serious stuff) and am happy to have found a sunscreen that doesn't seem to irritate me. It's the little things.

The mineral water here is so pure and delicious you can drink it right out of the tap. Can you imagine? They give you a pitcher filled with this oh so delicious water, complete with lemon slices, upon arrival and refill it for you as needed. It's nothing but fresh healing water all the time.

Fabulous...

We've stocked our refrigerator with goodies from the Vons nearby and our little kitchen has all the things we need complete with simple and organic looking dishes from West Elm, cookware, utensils, a great little tea kettle, toaster and coffee maker.. There are simple baskets to throw your things in tucked artfully under tables and cotton waffle robes and slippers to wander about in. Me? I'm living in nothing more than a bikini and a sarong. As it should be...

Oh, and the weather? Perfect. Breezy, not too hot and sunny. It just doesn't get any better than this.

Changing your life starts with the simplest of things: you begin to write the script for your life that has the things in it that turn you on. You know, make you all shiny and bright. You draft the script that you want to play the lead in! You become your own writer, editor and story boarder. The only opinion that counts is your own.

I kid you not. Your opinion is not only the only one you need it is freaking brilliant at that.

The people in your life who nag at you, beg you to stay in that familiar script, continue to demand that you stay where you are as anything else just plain freaks them out are the ones to perhaps leave out of the new and improved script of your life - the one YOU are writing. I mean really, do you want critics in your life judging your every move and looking upon you with that disapproving you-should-know-better look? Hello?

Exits are in the rear of the building. Make sure to get your parking ticket validated on the way out. Safe travels and remember to buckle up!

When we change we often frighten, unsettle, mystify and rattle those around us. The ones who have a pure heart and want only what is truly best for our own growth and our own life journey will applaud our courage and tenacity. There may be some initial resistance or trepidation, but that will pass. They will dance along with us and encourage us to go further. The ones who will not?

Ditch 'em.

I can tell you from own my life journey, my own redirection and rewriting of my own life script that I have had to do some serious house cleaning to lovingly let go of the naysayers, the threatened ones who wanted to keep me in my box and the ones casting judgement. It has been painful at times and my world surely got a bit smaller at first, oh yes. But it has also slowly gotten far richer and more interesting. I have made way for the like minded life writers and we have embraced each other's scripts. We are aware of the sacrifices we have made to do those rewrites. And every last one of us will tell you the very same thing: No regrets.

I mean really, how dare we take the time to find new paths, to travel the world and experience new cultures, to see and taste new things, to feel alive and to live the lives that make our souls sing. Are we barking mad? Are we reckless beasts only out for our own happiness and pleasure?

How utterly and deliciously wicked we are!!!

So, here's the question: what would you like your new life script to look like? In your perfect world free from doubt and the voices of those who might tell you to stay just where you are, what would your life look like? What script changes would you like to make? Who would you like to become?

DIG IN.

Big time.

So, what's a girl to do when things get crazy and life is nipping at her toes? This one is grabbing the man and heading out to the desert for three blissful days of sun, soak and sauna at The Spring in Desert Hot Springs. I've been having sinus attacks, fatigue and seriously tweaky aches and pains. My body is telling me that I better detach for a while or I just might implode!

This girl loves a deal and THE SPRING is offering an oh-so-fabulous one during the Summer season. I am happy to report that we are getting our third night free and oh, what we get for our money! Mineral pools with some of the healthiest water in the world, mineral hot tub, sauna, desert heat and the feel of the glorious sun on our skin. Did I mention breakfast? Included! We're packing some basics to cook, a few bottles of something decadent and settling in to hibernate there. Laptops are coming as they offer free WiFi and we can watch movies on them. Books are coming as, well, there is nothing finer than reading a book on your private chaise lounge chair by the pool while drinking something utterly delicious and thirst quenching.

~Blissful~

The Spring gets amazing reviews on Trip Advisor and it's just what we want: uncomplicated and low vibration. It's also an incredibly affordable way to get out of town and decompress. Two hours out of Los Angeles and we're in heaven.

Ah....

And now there's Summer...

I'll be in San Francisco next month for a week doing another Restorative Yoga training with my teacher, Judith Lasater, and have several other trainings up my sleeve bringing me to the end of Summer. There is talk of a trip to Australia to meet the In-Laws and there is talk of a trip to Europe come Fall! I am restless and suffering from a serious bout of wanderlust.

Travel is my salve and salvation...

I am grateful for a lot these days and am reminded that less and less I can make space for those who offer me nothing more than hot air or words that drop off the screen like dying flies. Perhaps this Summer has made me clearer on many levels and less inclined to engage in needless expended energy. Alas, growth can hurt. Yes. I am growing.

We make time for those who make time for us. Excuses become insults. And really, after a while, you just stop picking up the phone or answering the emails. Life is short, after all. I say live it fully and authentically.

Live honorably, make space for those special and dear to you, stay fully present with love and savor a wild sense of adventure.

These are my mantras.

Happy Summer...

Kathy