few and far between

Wow. Rough week at the Newlin house. We have entered a new phase and I cannot say that it is awesome. Eider has started having a harder time falling asleep (read: more crying) and this in turn sets Maple off and she gets loud and crabby which makes it harder for Eider to fall asleep or stay asleep and then Maple becomes more upset and it just goes on and on. And I was solo for a few days. Awesome. I finally sent Maple off for a few hours today so that she could have some much needed fun and Eider could have some much needed sleep. And now papa is home. ahhhhh....

Anyway. Is this a yoga blog or what?

I am going to be updating the website in the next few weeks so check it out. On there you will find the pdf for Christina Sell's workshop to be held in Viroqua in June. Can't wait. Really.

Last Sunday I did an amazing forward fold heavy practice with Kathy Doerfer. It was great. I love practicing with Kathy. She is such a dedicated practitioner and is very skilled at tuning in to herself. It was fun. I am really not in condition. I am making valiant attempts at regaining some strength but it is pretty challenging when I only make it onto my mat 2x a week. Alas. I was imploding after 2 1/2 minutes in Sirsasana. Wow. Onward we go. I am learning a lot.

This Friday is good friday and we are still having class. Because class is good. That is all there is to it. Less talk, more asana. Sunday is Easter, and there will not be a practice. Easter egg hunt for 3 year old trumps Mom's yoga gig. Go figure. I will however, be making it in to the studio for a practice at some point over the weekend I just have to confer with Chris about when that will be. Same deal, 2 hours, led format. I will post with details for that tomorrow.

Until then, goodnight. Everything in life changes. Enjoy it all. Even the muck.

into it

First class happened on Friday. Yippie! I was so excited to begin teaching again that I was practically vibrating. Small turn out due to spring break but I have high hopes for this class. First off, it is all levels, great for anybody of sound body and a lot of curiosity (read the previous blog entry). This is my intention for this class: CONDITIONING. We are looking to cultivate strength and flexibility in poses on the first syllabus and to do so in a way that is full of self honor. Friday morning is a time to get psyched to do something great for your body and nourishing foe your heart.

Sunday is for working on some poses (because you are so conditioned from Friday!), Tomorrow we are doing a bunch of work to get into a very delicious hanumanasana.

On a personal note: I thought that practicing before class on Friday would work out great for all parties involved. Wrong. It went just swimmingly for me, but not so for the big and little men. Oh well. Can't push it. Thursday will have to be one of my times for my practice instead. Really, I am looking at being able to get on my mat 2 or 3 times a week max. So I have to be a laser. Get down to business and utilize every minute (read: the opposite of what I was doing when I was pregnant),

But right now I have a sweet little baby sleeping on my chest and it doesn't really get much better than this.

Wow.

It really is like coming up for air.

I made it in to the studio yesterday morning following a great entrainment by David (who just welcomed a new baby at his house too!). This was all following Chris' return home after his usual 3 days on the road. It was my first week since Eider was born that I was completely on my own for the full time and it was made a bit more interesting when we woke up on Wednesday morning and Maple began throwing up. She is generally a very healthy girl and this totally caught me off guard. She definitely had it bad. She was, however, such a good girl throughout, really well behaved and mature about being ill, sharing Mom, and being on our own. Love her. Eider was exceptionally cooperative as well. And all in all, even though the 3 days were amazingly intense and rugged, they were also somewhat ecstatic in the sense that all we had room to do was handle the moment and prepare however feebly we could for the next. It was beautiful in a way and definitely a real practice in staying supremely present in the moment. As a result I am feeling so much love and appreciation for my children and also a lot of connection to myself. Who would have guessed? It touched on an aspect of what I love most about practice, which is that when it gets intense you can either go with it and be transformed by it, or you can be dragged kicking and screaming and still be transformed but maybe miss some of the wisdom within the experience.

So my practice was great. I am really starting to see little glimmers of myself coming back and that is both thrilling and terrifying as I know that there is a part of me that is permanently altered. Thank God in a way.

Class is up and running starting next Friday. Practice on Sundays. It should be great. I have not gotten the schedule back from the printers yet so if you happen to read this please spread the word.

It is a great time to start coming as everyone has been out for awhile and the Friday is a mixed level so everyone is welcome so long as you know what your limits are and can respect them. The theme for the year is the fun of coming together and sharing practice with one another. Can't wait! That and maybe throw a leg or 2 behind your head....

Where is Spring?

It really is hard to tell what season it is in western wisconsin in March. We will have 50* one day followed by a winter storm the next. It is very similar to the cosmic hide and seek of Shiva and Shakti except add is the explitives tbat come out of the Wisconsinites mouth at yet another snowy day. At this point we are just plain over it and ready to move on to all of the immense work of Spring. And there really is a lot of that around here. There is the general clean-up from winter which forus involves a ton of stick and branch pick-up from winter storms. But there is also all of the gathering of readying of seeds and earth for planting. Not only garden vegetables but each year a few new trees need to go into the ground as well as quite a few herbs and flowers. It is a very fun time, but very busy. There is also much to be done with all of the animals. The goats need to transition to a rotational grazing lifestyle and new chicks arrive sometime in the late spring. i think for me that will be after all of the garden is in. This year I am moving my garden to a sunny locale and expanding it by more than double. This is a big undertaking, especially as the place that I am moving it to is prone to flood so I need to build accordingly.

This is all very fun and exciting to me as all I have been doing is sitting around and scheming for so long that I am really chomping at the bit now. I still actually have to keep my feet up a bit more, and I really think that my biggest challenge might be to make myself go as slow as I need to. I like to do a lot, and lets just face it, this was not a pregnancy of doing much. I am not the pregnant lady that feels so great she is ready to take on the world. Maybe it is just my way of having at least one time in my life that is not completely Vata- visciating, where I really just do nothing.

Anyway, now I am ready to do a lot. And I am, I am doing a tin of diapers, I am nursing around the clock and I am reading many stories and doing many puzzles with Maple. And I am fantasizing about Spring and about Yoga.

I am looking for a venue for Christina's workshop this week. Very exciting. And I am having my schedule made for classes. This is great. The coming classes are up and to the right. I really cannot wait to get back into the studio, at least one more week home though, I think. I left the house for the 1st time in 2 weeks today and went with the family to get entrained. Very Sweet.

On a final note- I am so deeply appreciative of the meal wheel, I cannot even begin to put it into words. Every night we are receiving the most beautiful and delicious food from everyone. It is the most supportive and loving gift that I could imagine getting right now. Not to mention the financial strain that it lifts for us during this time and how I am aware of everyone supporting us like that. We really live in a magical place and I cannot imagine raising my family anywhere else. Now lets get some rockin' yoga going again and some warm weather and we will be all set!

Love.

Eider Atticus Newlin!

Well, he's here. Born last Tuesday, February 24th in water at home. He is pretty cute, if I say so myself. We are all adjusting pretty well I think. Maple is doing well and is very sweet to Eider. It is pretty magical to see the two of the, together.

This is brief. But here are some pics. Just wanted to let everyone know that we are well and plus one. The love and support from everyone has been amazing. The meals are wonderful and much appreciated. I think that we are all feeling very acutely right now how truly wonderful this community is that we live in. So much love and gratitude to you all. Big love to Denise Doerr, the most fabulous midwife ever!

Love.

Fresh Snow

I am actually very happy to wake up to a fresh blanket of snow. It is just so lovely and in my opinion, if it is going to be cold there might as well be some snow. Also, in the Midwest, the reality of Spring is a reality of grey and mud and the uncovering of everything that was never put away in the fall. It can be ugly. And right now it is sparkly and beautiful instead. I love it.

Today is my due date today. I am still pregnant. The baby feels very low but does not feel like he is coming out. Hmmmhhh. I would like to meet him soon so I hope that he makes an appearance soon. We have been having a lot of nice family time and I have been feebly trying to tie up loose ends before baby. This has been much more challenging than one would think as my normally mushy mama brain is totally and utterly spacey. Which could be considered a really good sign of readiness, but is not so helpful when you are trying to organize yourself a bit. I did manage to complete my portion of our taxes, and now I am on to nagging the other half. What I am stalled on now is putting together the flyer for Christina's workshop in June. A mere 4 months from now! I am also trying to organize classes and the studio for my return.

I am desperately missing teaching and the regularity of my practice. Even though I am really treasuring this time at home and without the usual structure of my personal schedule, I will be excited to create a new structure once the time is right.

I spend a good deal of my space out time (which is vast) scheming about what I hope to participate in this year. Check out Christina's blog for a look at some pictures of the final phase of the immersion that she taught with Darren Rhodes in Tucson. This is definitely in my radar for 2009. There are also some very compelling events taking place in the region in the Iyengar community, which is always utterly attractive to me when I am craving some more structure and discipline in my practice. Yum. At any rate, it is going to be a fabulous year in oh so many ways.

So, I will have a babe soon. Any day. Any minute.

Hey Hey Hey

I made it into the studio today with much success. My recent attempts have seen me in 40+ minute savasanas. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but today it felt great to get in there and move and breathe a bit. I even finished my pre-natal sequence with some pranayama. Good Stuff. How was this possible for you today? You may be asking.... Well, it's pretty simple. I slept for over 11 hours both of the last 2 nights. Never underestimate the power of a good nights sleep. At any rate, that was great and now I am utterly exhausted.

I had my blessing way on Sunday, we had brunch, and that was really wonderful. I guess that we are just about as ready as we can be for our new arrival. I am still hoping that I can get the kids room a little more organized in the next week or so and also get the majority of my seeds ordered for spring. I am also still compulsively knitting things for both the babe and Maple. This is really good for me because it keeps a usually up and at 'em mama in her chair. That and it has been fun to connect with all of the other mama's in the knitting group. I wonder how they will all respond when I begin relentlessly pushing yoga on all of them? Hmmh? It has been so fantastic to take a break from being the yoga teacher and just be another mother.

Right now I am watching Maple launch her baby doll over a box and down the stairs, landing on her face. Maple insists that she really likes this which has prompted a conversation in what we must never ever do to our real baby. This is oddly more concerning in this moment than it probably should be.

Also on the docket is getting flyers made for Christina's workshop and also for the spring schedule. This is all very exciting to me as I am already feeling the nig surge toward renewed practice and classes. What great fun. Keep your eyes peeled for some rockin' marketing material.