goth on the beach, i love the paradox, plus the cigarette *and* the phone. this was after corey feldman’s truth movement played, right before the lost boys screening. there was a day when this girl would have been my heart’s desire, but that was another century, long before she was born. hope you are enjoying your fourth of july weekend. see you tomorrow ~m

theresa! when i first started practising, theresa was one of the regulars who inspired me with her dedication to bikram. she was always rocking doubles, wore sweaters in class because it wasn’t hot enough and had an awesome practise. in my first several bikram classes, when i was still figuring out the poses, she was one of the people i looked at to see how it was done correctly. last week, when she asked for help on a project, i was only too happy to agree. this is earlier today, just outside of santa cruz, thank you, treesa, for a fun evening!

my day was fun too, bikram in the morning with my favorite teacher. spent the afternoon meeting someone new. life was good today. see you tomorrow ~m

i can take a break from hula hoop jam photos to share a photo of my family. i din’t get to spend mother’s day with my mom or granma, but i thought about them all day today. i’m always torturing my family by making them pose with me for self-portraits, but, as you can tell, they’re usually pretty good-natured about it. hope your mom’s day was wonderful. ~m

meet max, his sister and mom. i think max is autistic. he ran up on my friend and i as we sat and talked. he plopped himself right in the middle of the two of us and sat while his mom talked to us. when i pulled out my camera and put it around my neck, he immediately sat on my lap, put his hands on my camera and took the next two portraits.

max’s sister and mom, portraits by guest photographer max. the kid is better than me, which prolly explains why i never heard back about that photography internship. oh well, all we can do is just keep going on.

tonight’s class was a wonderful showing of love in our little bikram yoga community. one of our long-time students lost her son to an auto accident this week, i think he was a freshman in college. the studio dedicated tonight’s silent class to his memory. there were pictures of him around the studio and in the hot room, his picture with candles and i forget what kind of flowers. before class, one of our studio owners said something about strength coming from within. i don’t remember, after she spoke, a native american woman spoke quickly about life and death, what it meant in her culture and talked about our studio being named village yoga and what that meant and how our practise is a communication with god. oh man, i wish i had a tape recorder because i’m forgetting all her good stuff. suffice to say, i was holding back tears before class even started. practise was very emotional, but it was love and positivity, not sadness.

people brought food, so after showering, we had fruit, dahl, cheese and crackers, there were more cookies than anyone could eat! the best part of being in a wonderful “village” isn’t the good food, but it’s a highlight. it was nice to talk to people outside of class and the mood wasn’t as somber as you would expect. i told the mother i was glad she was there and she asked “where else would i go?” we’re blessed to have this wonderful village community, namaste ~m

kris will say “suck in your little belly” and it’s the cutest thing in the world. not only is she one of our better bikram teachers, she also teaches vinyasa flow. although i’ve taken plenty of her bikram classes, i still haven’t taken one of her vinyasa classes. hate to say it, but i’m one of those people who only does one style of yoga. i’d like to branch out, but i only have so much time in the day and a day without bikram is like a day without sunshine. see you tomorrow ~m

theresa! when i was a bikram newbie, theresa was one of the regulars who inspired me with her practise and now she’s a bikram teacher! you can’t tell, but she’s wearing a sweat tank top, she wore them throughout training. she teaches in san jose, so i’ve never had a class led by her, but maybe someday. she wants to take me on a road trip to teacher training and sell tank tops, wouldn’t that be cool?

i ran into theresa after bikram today. she walked by while my teacher and i were having a “business lunch” at a tea shop near the studio. my teacher is half of campaign furniture company, the ultra-cool camping furniture people that i designed a website for. now i’ll be maintaining their website, it’s not a part-time job yet, but the sooner you check it out and buy a set of chairs, it will be.

oh, i had the gnarliest pop in my shoulder during eagle today! i don’t think i’d ever pulled down so hard on my elbows before and, out of nowhere, crack, it felt so good. that crack was a good reminder that i don’t put as much effort into my arms as i should. i love the way it feels when something “pops” into place, like my hips during toe stand, but that’s another post. see you tomorrow ~m

k-man and his pups! since mary liked the profiles, here’s another one of our greats, khalil and his dog, kona (i think that’s her name). khalil’s classes are usually a mix of very deep spiritually with a real push towards working a little harder than you would prolly like. my only complaint is that he doesn’t teach often enough. oh, and he was born in 1984. i don’t know about you, but that makes me feel kinda old.

today was my day off from bikram, so how did i rest and recover? i spent the day riding my bike and doing a little hiking in the woods. if you bike 10 minutes up the street, you get into a national forest and it’s pretty awesome. kind of weird to walk on ground that has never been developed. crazy to think that the scenery is the same as it was 100 years ago. hope you enjoyed your saturday, i know i loved mine. xo,m