 Please join me in celebrating Earth Day at Alameda Park on Sunday @ 11:00 for some Earth appreciation, blissful breathing and rock solid yoga. Bring your friends and your kids. The event is free and there will be all sorts of awesome vendors and exhibits. Raising the vibration of the earth, one sweet soul at a time. Namaste' Marie Add Comment My soul is flying, lingering not even a single moment... Rumi
Mother Theresa - Photo by Hillary
It seems that this soul has found a moment with Amelia. This incredible image captures not only one of my favorite postures, Samasthitihi or Tadasana but also the spirit of Nohoqui falls shadowing beautiful Amelia in the vegetative growth. This is what we are all about, Samahdi.com. Hillary Cortemanche and myself are working on an art, image and photography project. Our goal is to capture soul and we need more souls! If you are a yogi who knows how to drop in and is interested in some kick ass yoga photos of yourself please contact us. We are putting together a very large deck of images. Check out our website www.samahdi.com and take a look. We are also interested in work for hire if you like our style but have your own agenda. Enjoy!I have been flooded with ideas lately. Ideas that I'm ready to put into action. Ideas that make me feel really good. Ideas that seem possible if I just take one step at a time. These ideas feel similar to the sense of divine grace. They must be good... I'm writing them down, talking about them with friends and family and dreaming about what it would be like if it really happened. Some ideas are grand and would change my life as I know it, others are simple and seem to occur before the thoughts even complete. I am ready for 2013. Bring it! Anyone else feeling inspired? Please dream with me. Here is a picture of a street in Lake Tahoe. We are getting 5-8 ft of snow right now. It's a white Christmas this year and I'm so stoked to be here. Kids and dog are having a blast and as soon as we can shovel out we are getting some serious powder days in. So much love to you all and a very Merry Christmas. 
 Abby girl loves the snow.  Drew Thorne-Thomsen & Bryon Friedman  Bryon Friedman A good friend of ours popped into town, Bryon Friedman. He and Drew skied on the US Ski Team for many years together. Drew was a slalom guy and Bryon downhill. They were those guys you see on tv and they competed for Americas gold. Bryon has created a dynamic and soulful life compiled with yoga, music, the great outdoors and Soul Poles. If you are a yogi and you like to ski then you have to have a pair of Soul Poles. In short, Soul Poles are bamboo ski poles. They are finished off with an artistic touch by Nelson Parrish another good friend and incredible artist right here in SB. Anyway, me and the girls followed the boys out to a surf afternoon on a rainy day. I threw them into some postures and had fun. with the camera. When you've got soul, it shines through.  Nelson R Parrish I am a CASA. A Court Appointed Special Advocate for a foster child. I have a kid and her name is "Shyann" (actual name is confidential). She is a sweet, bright, beautiful 13 year old just discovering the world again after a pretty rough start. I love her like I love my own children. I see her once a week and we do things together or just talk. Lately Shyann has been really wanting hair extensions. Being the dutiful spiritual mother that I am for her I schedule an appointment at a local salon for a consultation. We arrive for our appointment and after a few moments we are told that this salon does not do the type hair extensions that an afro american person needs. Apparently, the fro needs a specific "weave" hair extension process. The hair stylist politely escorted us out and tried to help us find a salon in SB that provides a weave service. Due to lack of demand, believe it or not, no one does them here. I took Shyann home that day and she was practically in tears. She wants these hair extensions so bad and I want her to have them. Being me, I gave her the "Beleive" speech. I told her she has the power to create anything she wants, even hair extensions. I told her to write it down, feel it actually happening and to know that her hair extensions were out there and waiting for her. I could tell I was talking on deaf ears but I talked to hear myself talk anyway. I told her to believe in magic and miracles and that they happen everyday. We hugged and parted. Shyann was super bummed. A couple days later I received a phone call from Zoe, the Hair Angel Fairy. I have no idea how she got my number or where she came from. Zoe said that she does weaves but not that often as again there just is not the demand here. I explained my position as a CASA/guardian for Shyann and set an appointment for the following week. Zoe spoke with confidence, flare and excitement to help make Shyann's dream come true. She said prior to getting off the phone, "I want to make sure all my sisters are looking goooooood out there in Santa Barbara". I knew in that moment Zoe was special and she was going to get the job done. We arrived the next week. Shyann had a grin from ear to ear. Here brown eyes were so bright they were blinding. My heart was flooding with happiness, so glad I could make a difference in this girls life. We wait for Zoe to come and greet us. Then, out of nowhere walks a 6'3" black woman. Her feet were as large as she was tall, she wore tight skinny jeans, a giant red sweater that went to her mid thigh, belted with a blingy gold belt, hoopy earrings, big giant boobs, big giant booty, great hair, very Whitney Houston like, and a gap in both the top and bottom set of front teeth as wide as the 405. Zoe smiled big and wide, not ashamed of the space in her smile. She sat Shyann down, looked her in the eye and told her what a beautiful black child she was. She made sure Shyann looked her in the eye. I was in tears already both from the craziness of the situation and then the sweet words. Zoe then starts in on Shyann's posture, specifying that girls with long hair must sit up straight, be proud and "work it". Shyann instantly grows 6 inches in her chair. Zoe goes on to talk about care for the hair and how beautiful Shyanns natural hair really is. Shyann is not swayed. She wants her hair extensions and she will not be deterred with a cute cut and natural fro. Zoe then goes on to talk about how beauty really comes from with in and that it does not matter what kind of hair she has. I can see Shyann's irritation and then all of a sudden, Zoe's hair comes flying off, the Whitney Houston is swirling around on Zoe's 10 inch finger. It could have, maybe should have been a basketball. My jaw is on the floor as is everyone else's in the salon. Shyann looks like she has seen a ghost. Zoe then proves her point that a brown skinned black woman with nappy hair is hot and beautiful. I'm still trying to decide if Zoe was born a man or a woman, not sure but at this point it does not matter. At this point the entire salon is in stiches, laughing, crying and shocked. Zoe is not from around here. She is either from Hollywood or Heaven. Either way, she's got our business and our hearts and I'm convinced she is a Hair Angel Fairy. As I dropped Shyann off at her home I looked her in the eye and said "Do you believe now?" "Magic happens" She looked me straight back in the eye and said "YES". How do we continue to keep the bliss we cultivate from yoga, surfing, nature, loving etc into every day activities and living? How do we live in bliss?Please join, me, Chris Makens & Hillary Courtemanche for a 3 hour workshop dedicated to inversions, hip openers and backbends. We are teaming up with lots of hands on assistance and adjustments. The workshop will be held at Yoga Soup and the time approximately 1-4. Flyer and more info to come. Please join me tomorrow, Thurs 8/23 for the 7am Morning Flow along with Yoga Santa Barbara Style. Bring your energy, your beautiful bodies and your support to help represent our most delicious ritual, Morning Flow @ Yoga Soup. The class will be filmed and is a great opportunity to share this incredible space and group. Bring a friend and get a free class! See you there. Marie Saturday my two kids and I attended a birthday party on the Toot Toot Taxi in the Santa Barbara Harbor. It was beautiful, hot, the perfect day to be out and about. We meet the party and make our way down the dock and onto the little boat. The ride was super exciting, especially if you are 3 years old. The kids screech and take turns driving Toot Toot. After checking out the pier, the local barge with more than a ton of pelican shit on it, and the buoy with seals we head back to the dock. Carefully we shuffle about 10 3-7 year olds off the boat. Jokingly we laugh nervously about keeping them walking straight and out of the water. | Author: MarieLiving, loving and teaching in Santa Barbara, CA. ArchivesApril 2013 CategoriesAll |
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