Emily's June Inspiration "Wade in Your Ocean"

 

On a beach, in Key West where the Atlantic meets the Gulf, I picked a stone for my latest inspiration. There was an immediate shift the moment we landed to a warm mist falling from the sky during a light afternoon rain. I had forgotten it possible living over seven thousand feet high in dry, desert most days. We rented bikes, pedaled like maniacs as fast as we could to bow down and give thanks to the great mother ocean. To the rolling sound of her waves, shimmers of light reflecting off her... Days at the beach, was the greatest gift I gave myself on break from leading yoga training, deep study.

And I've always connected with water, felt free and relaxed by the way it holds me, embraces. I swam way far out one day and waded, watched the tiny dots of people on the shore. I was out of breath, but laughing on how I'd find the strength to make it back, because honestly, in that moment - I didn't care... I felt so whole, so at one with a larger force that nothing mattered but that moment of wading.

I'm blown away by the reward of travel, of setting up a retreat for yourself that can allow you to resource the energy spent most days on worry - rushing here, going there... So much of life's drama placed right into perspective in the presence of large bodies of water, where our part in the greater whole, is crystal clear. May you wade in your own ocean this summer, your own larger perspective – in the space between your in breath and out breath – may you experience...

 

Peace. Love,

Emily

Archived Inspirations

on Growth
Yin/Yang


Building a website is something I never thought I’d do, but then neither was moving cross country in a van with a boy from Cleveland and a dog named Sophe. When envisioning the yin/yang inspired theme I was reminded of my yoga teacher training days back in a loft in SoHo. It was there that I was introduced to the meaning of the intriguing symbol. Harmony. The interrelatedness of light and dark, good and evil, sun and moon, God and man, loss and gain. Somehow as a yogi, you were to be both at once. O.K. with either, attached to neither. My journey began in the extremes…

I love NYC. For five years I ate, slept, and sweat that city, so many triumphs along with character building lows. PLEASURE/PAIN An apartment on C, a play in TriBeCa, and heartbreak on Astor- I lived for humid summers and crisp falls. Although a girl from Wisconsin, I dreaded the winters secretly envying the “other” coast. WINTER/SUMMER Truth is I was supposed to “make it” there-a real actor who survived the grid. SUCCESS/FAILURE Deciding to go West was as hard as deciding to open my heart to another.

Admittedly, there was a new wisdom abounding as we crossed our beautiful country, an amazing New Year’s Eve in Arkansas and many a conversation through the massive state of Texas. BLUE STATE/RED STATE I was indeed received at Graceland and moved by the White Sands of New Mexico. And such courage as we drove into the smog! I must confess…

I hate L.A. As positive as I strive to be, allow me to just say it, “I hate L.A.” NYC/L.A. True we have space and live healthier lifestyles, but it’s awful owning a car and seeing bad theatre! Yes there’s Zuma Beach in Malibu and old time friends PROS/CONS, but my heart longs for packed subways, dirty bathrooms, and fierce opinions. Or does it?

Ay, there’s the rub: breathing in both, embracing each to exist in either. The grand impermanence of life is the greatest gift. How freeing to live for change. For in each day we are invited to dance with this truth. The sun rises/the sun sets, we experience joy/we experience sorrow, towers fall/towers rise again...and the lesson is to be content with it all. To love life for everything it is in each moment. As our hearts open fully in a backbend saluting the sun, so too do we surrender forward in a bend bowing humbly to our earth. It is in balance that true happiness lies. We know it in Sanskrit as “santosha,” absolute contentment. Life’s journey is to take the poles of each opposite and see the way in which they are ONE. AMERICA/IRAQ Lose your attachment to your polarized positions, (“I love NYC!” “Vote for Kerry!” “I hate winter!”) and all that is left is one peace. All that is left is santosha.

As we open our body/minds to the yin/yang of our days we find contentment in that which IS. An indie film shot in Silverlake, a surf shop in Malibu for all your rental needs, a swimming pool outside your apartment door, a yoga center within a five minutes drive, and a Los Angeles to balance a New York.

Hey- L.A.’s not that bad…

*Special thanks to Gary Harding for getting me started, to Stephen Bedrin for setting me free, and especially to Frank Donofrio for understanding all of me!

Check out scenes from Emily’s film, TUESDAY and her new Create Your Own yoga sessions!

Emily