steamer lane, santa cruz. click on the picture to see the larger version and really enjoy the beauty of the wave. i love the spray of the wave, it’s violent, beautiful, awesome, all at the same time.

challenging class today. i forgot how hard puja made us work. this was the second day in a row that i was feeling dizzy miss lizzy before triangle. had to visualize myself in the pose before i could keep going. there were a lot of people in the room, too. lots of beginners. the guy next to me with the over-exaggerated moustache sat down soon after. puja asked him if he was okay and he said he was ready to leave! i couldn’t believe what a wimp he was. seriously, the two college girls behind us were totally struggling, but at least they were trying to be positive. moustache told my teacher he was having trouble with the air quality—what a princess! he actually walked out shortly after. i felt bad because i was glad he left. friends, just between you, me and these four walls, he had the worst breath i’ve encountered in a long time! oh my, it was foul and when he was breathing heavy, the room seemed filled with halitosis like you wouldn’t believe. i feel bad even writing about it, so don’t judge me when i say i wasn’t sad to see him go. i mean, i hate to see anyone not stick out for 90 minutes and bikram yoga is for everyone, everyone should feel welcome in the hot room, but i was dreading the floor series. i’m ashamed, but tomorrow will be a new chance to practise on my focus and not worry about the funky odor next to me.

off to goonies on the beach—i love santa cruz! see you tomorrow ~m

nat taylor, steamer lane, santa cruz. at least i *think* that’s nat taylor. how many surfers in santa cruz are sponsored by nike, red bull and target? click on the picture to enjoy the larger version and really see the corporate sponsorship. i think it’s cool. someday i will be a corporate sponsor. can you imagine? i can and from now on, i’m going to start totally expressing these ideas out loud, that way they will come to fruition. if you can see it in your mind, you can make it a reality.

woke up this morning with my back screaming for bikram yoga. oh my god, my spinal column was not happy with me. after sleeping on the floor for the last 4 days, i thought it would be nice to be back in my own futon, but i still woke up in pain. it wasn’t the futon or the floor, it was the lack of bikram for a day. my abs really liked the day off though, so it balances out. it sounds crazy, but i really can see a physical difference in my body with only one day off.

so much for the weekend warrior classes, we got pushed hard today and by triangle, i was feeling hungry and weak. started to get dizzy, but i asked myself, “how do i look in triangle?” visualizing myself strong and confident in triangle, i lost the dizzies and found my strength. see it in your mind and make it a reality. xo,m

p.s. stay tuned for my first photozine, “water: photographs from santa cruz” ~ i will make a living off of my own creativity. artwork on tank tops. photographs. the world is my oyster. and yours.

steamer lane, santa cruz. lazy sunday morning. salad for lunch. afternoon in the park. bikram at 4. pizza my heart slices. chillaxing in the cemetary, of course, because no visit to santa cruz is complete without a cemetary trip. late night with jimmy fallon. good night.

steamer lane, santa cruz. more from last week’s swell. click and see the larger version to really enjoy the spray.

how was your day heartbreakers? i had another awesome santa cruz kinda day—bikram yoga then hung out on the coast with my friends. i know i need to get a job, but if you go to the unemployment office, they’ll tell you that i was “networking.” seriously though, talking to your friends about needing a job can lead to a job. i’m still trying to think of different ways to make money. i hope you like my latest scam, er, offering. actually, i’m pretty excited about the new project i’m working on. i’ll tell you more after my company leaves. speaking of which, short ones for the next few days while i entertain my canadian friend and show her how we do it in santa cruz. xo,m

steamer lane, santa cruz. last week’s swell was pretty awesome, i sat on the cliffs for two days taking pictures. i love it when the break gets close to the cliff like that. yeah! it’s so exciting to see the surfers shoot out from behind the cliff.

whoa. did you hear that someone found some ansel adams glass negatives at a garage sale and they’re now worth over $200 million dollars? he bought them 10 years ago in fresno, california. can you imagine being so close to greatness? seriously, ansel adams is god’s photographer.

while signing in people for the noony, i asked our 14 year old bender what her day was gonna be like. after bikram, she had swimming and then zumba! what a busy teenager. when i was her age, all i wanted to do was listen to punk rock. really loud. now i bend, really quietly.

before we went into the hot room, i told my teacher, “i’m not gonna be doing many of the poses because, well, i really don’t feel like it today.” she told me that she was only gonna do some of the dialogue and i teased her back—no one listens to the dialogue anyway. i think she got kinda hurt. it’s true though, most people seem like they’re going through the paces, not really listening to the instructions. she reminded all of us that if you listen, you’re likely to hear something you never heard before. i try and practise like i’ve never heard the dialogue before, hinging on every word, waiting for the next instruction. try it and see if your practise changes. xo,m

we haven’t had any good surfing photos lately. i haven’t been on any photo safaris lately, either. my writing has been minimal at best, it’s sad how i shut down my creative outlets when i’m focusing on real life. well, that’s not true, since i haven’t been photo’ing or drawing or writing, i’ve been working on music in my head. just like i used to do “back in the day.” oh lord, i can’t, won’t, don’t stop.

it was such a mellow class today and we still had a drama queen. it’s funny how the biggest spazzes are usually men. this guy was breathing heavy from the start. i thought he was gonna hyperventilate during standing separate leg head to knee and then he fell over. he din’t pass out, he was just being a drama queen. our teacher is so cool, handling it all with grace. it seemed like everyone in the room was staring his way, but i was trying super hard to keep my eyes on myself. why contribute to an energy drain?

my teacher had some good insight about “getting better” at bikram yoga. he observed that a lot of times people start doing doubles, trying to get “there.” he suggested one practise a day where you totally push to your absolute limit in every pose, working as hard as possible. that’s it from the stoney shore ~m

steamer lane, santa cruz. after bikram, would you like to go see some world class surfing? life in surf city, it’s not that far from the studio! super love the spray of the wave caused by the surfboard—you can see where he was hundredths of a second ago.

i’ve noticed that when i’m in bed, on my back, i like to cross my left leg over my right. to do this, i have to hunch in my right hip a little, where i’m already tight! my body is always trying to find a way to get comfortable, but this usually means bad alignment. i notice a similar hunch in my hip when i’m sitting down to eat. it’s a constant battle to stay in good alignment. as your body realigns itself, pay attention to the shifts within and make sure you’re not overcompensating in another part of your body.

nice to see @conanobrien on twitter! like @dalailama yesterday, you could sit on his page, hit refresh and watch his follower count grow. i had @jayleno & @conanobrien’s pages up at the same time, in one minute-long span, jay added one follower while coco added over 1,000! makes one wonder how many people watched conan online, away from nielsen rating boxes? i know i did.

oh my gosh, i’ve blahhed so much about coco and how my body likes to sabotage all the work i do in bikram, i never actually got to write about my class. still balancing that line of “don’t wanna go too far” but feeling really good. good to see jules in class too, welcome back! see you tomorrow ~m