I stumbled across the following lines in my reading this afternoon, and thought the message went nicely with Sarah’s guest post from Wednesday:

“O ripen’d joy of womanhood! O happiness at last!
How clear is my mind – how all people draw nigh to me!
What attractions are these beyond any before? what bloom more than the bloom of youth?
What beauty is this that descends upon me and rises out of me?”

~Walt Whitman

We are grown-ups, adult women. We may have some lines on our faces, perhaps some marks on our bodies from bringing life into this world. All those lines and scars have brought us to this place of superstardom. We are brilliant, strong, loving, confident, curious, hopeful. We bloom more than we did in our youth, just as Whitman proposes. It’s true – my youth was wasted wondering what other people were thinking and feeling; my adulthood is being spent asking myself what I am thinking and how I am feeling. This is what causes the people to “draw nigh” – this openness, honesty, and sweetness in our attitude towards ourselves and towards life in general. O happiness at last!

Posted by Amanda | Friday, February 10th, 2012 at 3:40 pm Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

We are women. We love yoga. We are Superstars. Maybe you’ve seen our red stereo print retro tee shirts that we should probably just pass along to the next generation because they came in so dang small. That’s another story.

We are women. We love yoga. We are Superstars.

We practice for different reasons, and in different ways.

Each of our diverse paths is sacred, necessary, and profound. We are curious about ourselves and about what happens when other women to begin to live life now.

We no longer hold back from our passions, or hide from our truths. We build ourselves up from within, and simply choose to see the good first. We are all different and all brilliant and see it in you, too. On our mats we retreat to our breath, to our bodies, and our minds, blending it all together. Practice resets us, connects us, and helps us burn brighter. Sharing stories, our laughter, our struggles, letting It weave all together in a unique way every time. Little imperfections create a rich pulse drawing us in even deeper. Like our practice, our conversations over time become cumulative and we share old and new secrets of yoga, of living great now, challenging ourselves and each other to go deeper yet, to live freer more of the time, and to love more deeply now. What we’ve discovered along the way, we had (have) to share. We invite you; yes, you really are a Superstar.

Every Thursday, during and after the 9:00 class.

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Posted by Amanda | Wednesday, February 8th, 2012 at 8:03 pm Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

I’ve been trying to think of something interesting or profound or even noteworthy to share here for a while, and I’m coming up empty. And here’s why:

These people are my life. These days, they’ve needed a tiny bit more of me than in other phases of their little lives. The little dude is with me every afternoon, and oftentimes I need to choose between playing with him or working. Too many days in the last 18 months, I’ve chosen work. The almost-teenager (ok, just 8!) on the right needs me in different ways, but they are no less time consuming than the 4 year old’s needs.

I’m a yogini. I’m a teacher. I’m a business owner. I’m a friend to many beautiful souls. But I am a mama above all else. I do not want to look back in 10 years and wonder what life would’ve been like if I had ridden bikes to the park instead of updated my website one afternoon. These days, I’m choosing the park, friends. I’m still working, don’t you worry – I’m thinking of ways to build and grow Blackbird even as I build legos and play Pokemon!!

Come to think of it, this decision IS kind of profound, isn’t it?

Posted by Amanda | Monday, February 6th, 2012 at 6:14 pm Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »