Generous Adventure Yoga Featured in the Grand Junction Free Press

Reverse Warrior Pose

An interview with me about Generous Adventure Yoga & Wellness is in today’s edition of the Grand Junction Free Press!

Check it out:
What goods or services do you provide? I am a yoga teacher. I offer group yoga and meditation classes around town that are open to everyone! I am also pleased to offer private sessions to yoga students who prefer to practice individually or with groups of friends and co-workers.

What’s new or exciting at your place? I’m offering several new yoga classes in Grand Junction. I’m currently teaching classes at Fairmount Hall (2511 N. 12th St.) and Healing Horizons (2139 N. 12th St.). Before year-end, I will be adding new classes at Yoga West Collective and Western Colorado Center for the Arts. Check my website at www.generousadventure.com or call for the latest schedule and locations. New students receive 10% off Generous Adventure multi-class passes!

What strategy do you use to differentiate your business from your competition? I believe one size does not fit all. I tailor each yoga class to the abilities of the students who attend. Yoga is a great way for busy moms, dads, and professionals to treat themselves to a bit of personal time that also benefits their physical and emotional health. I love giving a gentle yoga class to senior citizens, enhancing their mobility, lung capacity, and psychological wellbeing. I also enjoy offering a higher-intensity class to athletes to enhance their performance in their sport—whether it is running, biking, skiing, soccer, or whatever!

What philosophy do you follow in dealing with your customers? “ANYONE can do yoga!” If you can breathe, you can do yoga. I welcome people of all shapes, sizes, ages, and abilities.

What can your customers expect from you? I offer a welcoming, supportive, and non-competitive environment where yoga students of all levels can come to enhance their physical and emotional health. Results of a regular yoga practice include increased self-confidence and independence, stress reduction, and improved bodily function.

Tell us a little about your background, education and experience. I started practicing yoga at the YMCA in 1999. I was immediately hooked on the feeling of relaxation and rejuvenation I felt after each class. I received my Certificate of Vinyasa Krama Yoga from Loyola Marymount University with yoga master Srivatsa Ramaswami. In 2006, I completed my 200-hour yoga teacher training at Yoga Works in Los Angeles with Natasha Rizopolous. I studied in the Yoga Works 300-hour Professional Program under senior mentor and yoga therapist Jasmine Lieb. I’m currently studying to receive certification in Kundalini Yoga & Meditation through Golden Bridge Yoga in Los Angeles, and I have also begun a long-term course of study in ParaYoga® with renowned Carbondale-based yoga master Rod Stryker.

Happy Baby Pose

What is the most humorous thing that has happened at your business since you opened? I love to teach a yoga pose called “Happy Baby”. Every time teach this pose to a new student, it always gets a chuckle. It looks and feels just like it’s name: “Happy Baby”!

Essential Characteristics for a Possible Life Partner

I’ve been going through all my stuff, cleaning out everything as we prepare to move to our new house next month (!) .... So I came across this page I wrote back in 2002. I knew what I did NOT want in a life partner (thanks, exes!), but I really had to consider honestly and brutally ... What was going to be non-negotiable for me? This is the list I wrote (apparently I couldn’t count that day; it must’ve been past my bedtime!).

One thing I added later, but didn’t write down: #8 was: He should be willing to do something with me that he doesn’t particularly care about—just because he wants to make me happy. After writing this list, I was pretty hard-core about how I assessed the people I dated. The moment I had an inkling that someone did not possess the qualities I required, I gave them the boot!

One day shortly after writing this, I met Matt. We’ve been together since! I think by putting my requirements out there and sticking to them, not compromising... I actually was able to see through all the b.s. and see people for who they really were. Not that other people were bad people, but they simply weren’t the ONE.

Matt met my expectations from the beginning, and still does... even more so! Thanks, Smarty Beeswax!

Recent Small Paintings by Yours Truly

Knot. 4x6 inches. Ink & Acrylic on Plastic.

Check out a few of the new small paintings I’ve recently finished. I have about 15 new ones. I’m going to post some of them for sale on my Etsy Shop over the next few days. I hope you’ll buy one as a gift for family or friends!

Link. 4x6 inches. Ink & Acrylic on Plastic.

Tumbleweed. 4x6 inches. Ink & Acrylic on Plastic.

Luke Jerram’s Beautiful Diseases

Smallpox, HIV and an ‘Unknown Future Mutation’

Check out these amazing sculptures by artist Luke Jerram. (Thanks to my friend James Gladman for sharing them with me.) These are visualizations of the microbiotic structures of various diseases such as HIV, H1N1, and small pox. The pieces are stunning in their beauty. I’m always drawn to round things, and especially radial symmetry. The irony in this beauty is what makes these pieces all the more fascinating. How can something so deadly be so beautiful?

HIV

Jerram said, “Its great to be exploring the edges of scientific understanding and visualisation of a virus. Scientists aren't able to answer many of the questions I ask them, such as how the RNA is exactly fitted within the Capsid? At the moment, the technology isn't there to answer all these questions for certain. I'm also pushing the boundaries of glassblowing. Some of my designs simply can't be created in glass, Some are simply too fragile and gravity would cause them to collapse under their own weight. So there's a very careful balancing act that needs to take place, between the limitations of current scientific knowledge and glassblowing techniques.”

HIV

Swine Flu

Small Pox

Devastated about the Station Fire in the Angeles National Forest

IMG_7995
Originally uploaded by Scott Dukes

UPDATE 10/20/09: Today, 53 days after it began, the Station Fire has officially been declared “contained.” I’m looking forward to my next trip to L.A. so we can maybe get a look at the places we love to see how they’ve changed. I fully expect the wildflowers to be amazing each spring for the next few years.

Matt and I have spent more time in the Angeles National Forest high country than anywhere else. We know the trails like the back of our hands! Our first date consisted of a 12-mile hike on the Silver Moccasin Trail to Mt. Vetter & the Vetter Mountain Fire Lookout. Our second date was a hike up San Gabriel Peak to watch an amazing meteor shower.

Matt worked at the Chilao Visitor Center while he worked on his masters degree. There was a stuffed black bear in the visitor center that we named “Curtis”. There were special trees in the forest too. One I remember specifically, we called “Murphy”. I wish I had taken a picture of him.

Rumor is that the Chilao Visitor Center is gone, as is Newcomb’s Ranch. Most of our other favorite spots will be forever changed. But most of all I feel a deep sense of sadness for the Forest Service employees and other residents who have lost their homes, and the two fire fighters who died.

Matt took this photo of Chilao Visitor Center when he used to work there for the Forest Service. What a spectacular building. I hope it survived!

The area hasn't burned in about 50 years. The terrain is extremely steep and rocky. Lots of manzanita and other bushy chaparral cover the ground. These kinds of plants are loaded with oils that help them survive drought conditions, but can be explosive during a wildfire.

More Station Fire Images / Los Angeles Wildfires

This photo by @kjdrill shows the fires across the city from Mullholland Drive. Matt and I used to live about 2 minutes from Mullholland Drive in Studio City.

This image was taken by Kevin Tiqui from Sugarloaf (not sure where in LA that is).