Lighter and brighter

Last Saturday the family went to 3rd Ave. in Foster City. After waking the doggies, Jack went kiting, and I went on a 5-mile walk along the bay side. It was a warm day, and I was quite hot and sticky wearing my long sleeve shirt and corduroy pants. Funny I gave up dressing according to the weather...

At the parking lot, I met my kiting friend Mr. M who just got off the water, and I asked how he was doing.

The always positive Mr. M said: "I'm doing great!" With a big wide smile.

I said: "I'm so glad to hear that." Truly, I wish I could say the same about myself. Mainly because I thought I saw some wrinkles between my eyebrows that morning, and it bothered me.

Sunday afternoon,  I went to Jean's Yoga workshop: Rock the Meditation. The class was wonderful. After class I gave Jean a big hug. I thanked her and told her I felt lighter and brighter! Coming to Jean's class made me feel like coming home, and I was missing it so much.

I met Jack at 3rd Ave. afterwards, and he asked me how Yoga was.

I said: "It was great!" I surprised myself by what I said and the way I said it. I smiled and felt kind of liberated.

To blog, or not to blog

When blogging ideas come up, sometimes there may be a lot of them all at once, you may not want to blog right away. Take note on those ideas, let them sit, sometimes it'll help you simplify your writing.

Wait for the right frame of mind to write, so that you can enjoy the process as well as the finished product. It may help to make the article more interesting.

Who's that?

Y: Who's that?

J: That's Handsome Bob.

Y: No it's not.

J: It's his voice.

Y: No it's not. It doesn't look like him.

J: Just imagine him with hair on his head.

Y: Oh.

The practice of making the right choice

I read books; I subscribe to email lists of the enlightened, wise ones; I learn, and I search. But how do I apply those wisdoms to my day to day life, be a better person, and live a better life?

There are many quotes of what we should do to be better, but how do we actually go about doing the right things when we are, at any moment, influenced by so many different conditions, limitations, emotions, conflicts, and so on?

Life, my friend, is not easy, but it's not impossible. It takes a curious and open mind. It takes courage of learning and trying new things, the courage of falling and getting back up, and the determination of not living in our own or our predecessors' shadows... (You are welcome to fill in the blank)

You may be equipped with many tools and tricks, and all you need is to make use of the right tool at the right time to do the right thing for yourself. Making the wise choice, so to speak.

Here is a simple example. Last Monday I worked at home. At the end of my work day, I had a choice of doing the following: watching TV and relax, doing yoga/kriya practice, laundry, or cook dinner. I chose to do kriya, which, for that day, turned out to be the perfect choice. I became more energized, positive and focused for the rest of the day. Previously I would have chosen to watch "restaurant impossible" or something like that.

How can one guarantee to make the right choice every time? That's the challenge, isn't it? But there is a quote I can give you: "Practice makes perfect."

Empty

No new notes from my notepad.
Can't think of anything blog-worthy.
Perhaps it's the effect of yoga, light weights plus swimming.
Or maybe because I am watching this scary movie.
"I have goosebumps, people!"

CC's baby

My kiteboarding friend Mrs. CC just had a new baby a month ago. As all young mothers do, she updated pictures of her new baby on Facebook 5 times a day, which are very cute.

One day when we were both working in the office, Jack said: "CC's baby looks the same!"

Additional baby story. 3-year-old Ms.A describes her 1-week-old brother N: "he is always in his pajamas."

My piggy bank

A few weeks ago Jack and I went on a day trip to Monterey bay aquarium. It was our annual trip.

As per usually we enjoyed the drive passing by scenic beaches, farms and flower patches. As we headed south toward Santa Cruz, the weather changed from cloudy to sunny, then as we entered Monterey, we drove into the cloudy area again. It was quit a trip.

We really enjoyed the aquarium. Not only that we visited all the exhibitions, I also watched a live musical about ocean animals, which I enjoyed.

On our way out, we stopped by the gift shop, as all good consumers do. Jack bought a long sleeve T-shirt with the aquarium logo, and he received a free gift, a pink heart-shape piggy bank with a penguin on it. Jack convinced me to buy a pair of silver earrings with the shape of the aquarium logo as well, and I also received my gift, the piggy bank. It's was quite ugly, and I couldn't decide what to do with two of them.

The piggy banks are still sitting in the boxes in our office. I have a plan. If I ever make any money teaching yoga, I will put my yoga money in my piggy bank, which is now sitting idle and empty.

Learn to make French toast

One day I asked Jack to teach me how to make French toast. He said ok and told me to scramble one egg while he finished up some work.

I mixed an egg the way I always made scrambled eggs. As promised, Jack came to the kitchen, and looked in the bowl and asked: "why is there black pepper in it?"

"Oh, I put salt and pepper in it by habit." I realized French toast was sweet.

"OK, i guess we will have to augment it," it didnt take me long to solve the problem, while trying to ignore Jack's laughter. I made a regular scrambled egg for breakfast instead.

Till now, I have not learned the proper way yet, but I enjoyed Jack's French toast this morning.

Tickles

As Jack walked by the office after his morning shower, I said imitating Sheldon Cooper's tone: "Leonard has gone to the office." I don't know why, but that's just what I was thinking of at the time.

Jack started laughing and he repeated: "Leonard ... has gone to the office," while waving his right arm to the right side slightly, just like the gesture Sheldon made in one of the older The Big Bang Theory episodes. Then we wondered why the new season of TBBT is going to start.

YogiAssistant, a new iPhone/iPad App for Yoga practitioners

As the final project for my Yoga Teacher Training, Jack and I created an iPhone and iPad app called YogiAssistant. It has a collections of over 100 Yoga poses, which are categorized in 7 general groups, and it enables the Yoga instructors or practitioners to create Yoga practices and share (sync) them with others via Bluetooth.

It is actually quite brilliant, and it only costs the price of a cup of coffee. It is by far the most complete, versatile and practical Yoga app I have ever used. Of course, I am biased. :)

When you take a Yoga private lesson, your instructor will help you sequence some poses as your daily practice based on your personal need. The poses are drawn in stick figures on a piece of paper, so you take it home to practice accordingly. With YogiAssistant, the Yoga instructor can sequence the practice by selecting the poses from the pose library, put them in the right order including how long a pose should be held, then send the practice to the student via the iPhone/iPad bluetooth. The student can play the practice like a webcast and follow it to practice the poses.

Personally I use YogiAssistant to sequence Yoga classes and my own personal practices, and it is handy as it has all of the poses at my finger tip.

It took us 4 months to develop the app, which overlaps with my teacher training. Yes, I'm very tired and still have a neck pain, but this is certainly the bright side of the story.

Here is more information about the app. I hope you'll like it as much as I do!
http://www.arbor-studios.com/YogiAssistant/