Current Shananigans and Seva Yoga

I've been teaching at Seva Yoga, a cool Austin, TX donation only yoga studio which has been receiving lots of juicy attention. Tons of classes every day of the week and well trainer teachers in exchange for whatever the student can afford to toss in the Seva money jar. I like this.

Change the equation. Trade, barter, donate ... when I read these words I know I'm about to meet some groovy people.

Yoga gifts us with hidden joys, one being community. Before yoga I felt icky. I didn't understand why. I had never been in a supportive community, open and strong, which collectively pondered the spirit of life and laughed about it. I had no idea I had family worldwide, hundreds of friends waiting to be met, who love just because of the simple common factor: life should be lived, experienced, and enjoyed. Only through yoga did my eyes open to a world of enticing beings who challenge the norms of even the super abnormal. Wild, free, and insightful yogis, seekers, and artists. I could say it changed me but what yoga did was open me. Expand me. I began to fly.

These feelings and experiences do not allow for one to turn back to the old life. I could call doing so impossible. What happens is a washing, a bathing of all which does not serve health, happiness, and freedom. It is a wild ride and a feeling of mind blowing insight. The most revered washing in my life was with people. Old relationships which hurt and held me down dissolved into nothing. I was no longer attached to family, friends, and love. I surrounded myself with greatness; singers, yogis, writers, the wise. I realize what it means to consciously be surrounded by interesting and inspiring beings.

These experiences draw me to places like Seva Yoga.

Free Yoga in Austin, TX

Thanks to AustinYogaTeachers.com I came across many free yoga classes in Austin I hadn't heard about!
Some free classes I didn't find in the list:
Yoga Vida 707 : Friday @ 7pm
Yoga Vida 3620 Bee Cave Rd. : Friday @ 6:30pm
Empower Yoga offers $5 classes Fridays— ALL classes are $5!!!

Free and Donation Yoga Classes
There are free & donation yoga classes offered in the Austin area! Here are a few:
Amala Foundation Sanctuary Sundays 7-8:15pm The 36th Chamber of Yoga (donation)
AOMA (email) Meditation, Sundays at 5pm, 512-492-3034
Austin Kula Yoga - Open Teacher Practice, Sundays 3-5pm; Shanti for the Heart, last Sunday each month 6:30-7:30pm
Black Swan Yoga, all classes are donation based
Blanton Museum of Art , Third Thursdays at 6:30pm (free)
Burly House
Barton Springs, Robert E. Lee side, Kriya Hatha Yoga w/Athuai, 512.928.2281, Saturdays, 10:30-11:30am, donation
East Side Yoga Free:Saturdays 8:15am Intro; donation: Sundays 9:30am Meditation, 10:30am Hatha, 2pm New Teacher Class
Esquina Tango (donation), Sundays 11am Hatha Flow, Wednesdays 6pm Vinyasa Flow,
Fridays 5:30-6:30 Happy Hour
Charles MacInerney leads a Free outdoor Yoga class each month on the Full Moon
Kundalini Yoga at Tara House (donation) email for details
Power Yoga Flow (donation)
Outdoor Yoga (donation)
Ruta Maya
South Austin Cancer Center - Tuesdays 2-3pm
Saturday mornings at the lululemon store
Seva Yoga Daily donation classes
Soma Vida Saturdays through August 9am
Sanctuary at Amala Foundation Mondays 7:15pm-8:15pm (donation)
Sundara Yoga Therapy Thursdays 7-8:15pm The Art of Self-Healing (donation)
The Vortex, Mon/Wed noon-1pm (suggested donation $7)
Yoga in the Park, Shipe Park, Wednesdays 6:30pm (donation)

Lululemon Salutation Nation

Lululemon hosted Salutation Nation at Austin, TX's Festival Beach on August 6, 2010. The way it works: all around the US yogis gather and practice at the same time.

As we all practiced with Christina Sell, a spunky and hilarious certified Anusara yoga instructor, under the trees, protected from the scorching Texas sun, I thought, 'Groovy...this is yoga. Out of the studio and into the grass—let's practice in nature more often!'

Gioconda, another Austin favorite yoga teacher, practiced with a pink cast on her left arm (broken wrist) and smiled the entire time. Rock on sister! Kids, men, women, puppies... there was so much vibrant energy in the park that day!

After class local businesses including Snap Kitchen fed us freebie dishes such as Tofu & Sambal, Ginger Salmon, and Veggie Lasagna. Well fed and feeling bright, my boyfriend and I left the park with a feeling of community in our hearts.

Much gratitude to all ya'll who pulled this off!

Ruta Maya Free Yoga With Pam

New to Austin, TX, I'm doing what I usually do new in town— attending every pseudo–hippie event or class, beginning to find my groove in my new surroundings. Ruta Maya coffee house is an Austin, TX favorite for community classes, music, and local art.

I woke at 7:40am, remembered Ruta Maya's Monday 8:00-9:00am yoga class, hopped in the car and headed South on Congress. About 25 yoga students, from beginners to advanced, sat on their unraveled mats which covered the entire floor! This coffee house is large and even has a stage for the bands who come and play.

Pam, a sweet, straight forward and clearly spoken yoga instructor, guided the class through a sequence of salutations, twists, and hip openers. The class was planned very well and Pam offered everyone pose variations depending on flexibility and experience.

I hope you can attend a free class at Ruta Maya! It's a kind gesture to tip your teacher and Ruta Maya asks that you purchase a coffee or tea after class to supliment the cost of their awesome space. No biggie for a well thought out class! Here is their schedule:

Yoga Is Always FREE at Ruta Maya with Coffee House Purchase

Yoga Class Schedule at a Glance

Class	Day	Time
Hatha Flow Yoga	Monday	8 to 9 AM
Happy Hour Yoga	Monday	5:30 to 6:30 PM
Vinyasa Yoga	Tuesday	9 to 10 AM
Hatha Flow Yoga	Wednesday	8 to 9 AM
Happy Hour Yoga	Wednesday	5:30 to 6:30 PM
Hatha Flow Yoga	Thursday	9 to 10 AM
Hatha Flow Yoga	Friday	8 to 9 AM
Family Yoga for Kids	Saturday	10 to 11 AM
Hatha Flow Yoga	Saturday	12 Noon to 1 PM

How Yoga Works at Ruta Maya

1. Show up for class and set up your mat.
2. Return to the counter to make your purchase.
3. You may get your purchase at this time OR bring your receipt back to the counter after class to collect your purchase.

Amala Foundation, Austin, TX

Years of un–layering and introspect bring most to this important fact: like attracts like. Black Swan Yoga of Austin, TX offered their studio to the Amala Foundation to host Keep Austin Peaceful, a party to celebrate the upcoming Wimberley, TX camp for 45 of Austin's 65,000 refugee children— 4th Annual Global Youth Peace Summit.
Volunteers and councelors, yogis, and new friends were all celebrated as Vanessa, founder of Amala Foundation, voiced her insight and experience after 10 years with the foundation.

She touched on our willingness to gather and how gathering can be done anywhere but must be done now with intent. The war within us and around our neighborhoods is more difficult to dissolve than the war of countries. It starts within.

I was invited to a volunteer meeting at the Amala Foundation sanctuary in South Austin. Tibetan flags, and large chimes, Cedar trees, and sweet smiles, burning Nag Champa, and safe breezes surround this enticing sanctuary, inviting all to enjoy peace— the peace that is felt through the simplicity and spirit of a home like the Amala Foundation.

Many arms opened to me as i walked in the door. Chai tea was passed from hand to hand and pillows lined the floor. We shared our talents and jobs and skills were partitioned off to the necessary places. All donations needed to complete preparations for The Summit; Verizon phones to use as walkey talkies, children's clothes, trailers, trucks, etc. were found within the glowing group of 40 volunteers. The power of community was reaffirmed within me as this collective of goodwill took place.

The 4th Annual Global Youth Peace Summit is an 8-day conference uniting 70 international, refugee, immigrant and local youth ages 12-18 as peace leaders of a global community. This year's Summit brings Austin’s youth together with refugee and immigrant youth from Iraq, Afghanistan, Cuba, Somalia, Bhutan, Iran, Burma, Colombia, Congo, Guatemala, Tibet, Cote d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Burundi, El Salvador, South Africa, Mexico, India, Nepal, and Thailand. About 80% of the youth who come to the Summit live in the Austin area.


The goal of the Summit is to challenge and inspire youth to extend beyond their cultural differences to create One Village united by values of peace, healing, respect, and service to others. Through activities, discussions, art, music-making, and special events, the youth will learn to communicate, to think and act with compassion, and serve others with love. The Amala Foundation partners with other peace-centered social change organizations to offer a truly inspirational event, including Urban Roots, the Indigenous People Institute, local artists, musicians, educators, and peace leaders.


The Summit is a place for healing. Many of the youth come from homes challenged by poverty, violence, and deprivation; some have witnessed the atrocities of war and have literally run for their lives; many have been uprooted from their native cultures and struggle to integrate into an entirely foreign world. Everyone in the Village is invited to speak about their experiences, to share their perspectives, and to find within themselves new inspiration to live as leaders for peace. The Amala Foundation offers scholarships to underserved and refugee youth in order to ensure that this powerful experience is available to all youth who are inspired to take part.

The 4th Annual Global Youth Peace Summit begins Friday, Aug 7th and ends the 14th.

Turkish absurdities

My father, twin sisters and Turkish step mother live in Istanbul, Turkey. This ensures my visiting the 'largest city in Europe' once a year to kiss my family, practice yoga at Ciyangir, and sip Turkish wines at the top of one of thousands of secret roof-top apartment-bars. However, this last trip was different.

Not only was I able to attent the Turkish president's party for Istanbul being named the Capital of Culture 2010, I was invited on a snowboarding extravaganza in Kartalkaya, Bolu 3 hours East of Istanbul where I found myself being pampered at the ever-so-shi-shi Golden Key Hotel. After living in Bali for over a year, I was deep in powder soft snow—observing individual snowflakes as they graced my mittens.

After a long day of training on a board with the Turkish champion of kite and snow boarding and too many lovely glasses of red wine, my crew headed to the hotel room for much needed sleep. Someone in our room opened the window in the beautiful living-room to smoke a joint and then, forgot to close it. In the morning, the rooms were like icicles. We dressed and made our way downstairs to the lodge. Empty. Restaurant—empty. What the heck?

This may be the only time I'll give weed credit for saving the day because 16 people went to the intensive care unit at the far away hospital. The cause: Carbon Monoxide poisoning.
Our open weed window allowed the winter night air to circulate the rooms, saving us from a fatal woe.

Just another day in the life of Emily.

Balifinds.com

A year of training my noggin as a computer, striving to create a web site which would allow people to communicate about housing, volunteering, jobs, and more in Bali, resulted in Balifinds.com!

The community's response has put a huge smile on my face!

Basically, Balifinds.com is cool online classifieds for Bali, Indonesia.

Post & Search everything in Bali and let us know of your favorite Balinese artisans, non-profits, and eateries! We will post a classified for them-bringing more people to their Bali goodness!

***Check it out! If you're coming to Bali Spirit festival and need a house, a friend, or want to volunteer post or search for free on Balifinds.com and someone out there will see your ad and help you! Many people are listing, many people are talking and making new friends!

Also, if you're teaching yoga, music, dance or want to learn any of these in Bali please post!

Help us make Balifinds.com a wonderful community resource!

With gratitude,
Emily

Kiddy Yoga In Ubud

The kids wait for me. Maybe it's more like they play until I arrive. Regardless, every Sunday I walk through the temple doors at Arma Museum & Resort and past the garden gargoyles feeling quite serendipitous knowing how many smiles await me.

YOGA time ya'll.

This weird concept of YOGA and the many unique gifts the practice brings to the table unties people, kids, adults, colors, and sizes in a manner nothing else possibly could.

We gather in a circle, hold hands and raise them to the matahari (sun) then exhale forward bowing to the awesomeness in ourselves and to the people we love. Breath.

Making our way into down dog, Wellie, the local mut pup decides to sit in the middle of our circle. We walk on hands and feet towards her, half barking, half giggling. There's maybe 30 of us.

Moving on - cat, cow, cat, cow. Meow, moo, meow.

Inhale. Exhale. (Tarik napas. Buang napas.)

We move together and when one kid tumbles the others lend a hand.

The girls donning their ceremonial sarongs try tree pose, yanking the sarong above the knee with subtle determination and fearless lack of ambivolence.

Behind us the river flows. In front, incense burn from temple stones.

We sit. A circle of smiles.

Breathe.

Mmmm. Sundays.

Ubud Yoga

UPDATE!!! YOGA LESSONS HAVE BEEN MOVED TO PENESTANAN KELOD IN UBUD.

When in ubud
practice Yoga at Arma Museum @ Resort.
Indonesians and visitors welcome! We teach in both Bahasa and English. All levels welcome!
Much love,
Emily

+62 0812346483434
emilykuser@gmail.com

Sing a Song For Me

Music, my elixir.

Aside from my current submersion into guitar lessons with a french master of strings, Antoine, I've begun teaching English through song to Balinese children at Ubud, Bali's Arma Museum & Resort. We rock out to everything from Jason Mraz (quite the popular choice around these parts) to tunes from The Sound Of Music - Raindrops On Roses anyone?

With two cranky speakers, some friends on drums and guitar, and my voice, English Through Song is manifesting into a wicked opportunity to jam and blend the divide between two cultures - one Hindu, one... not.

My eager craving to speak Bahasa Indonesia in a non-robotic way is soothed by the help of my older Balinese students who have English down more than I have Bahasa. With super smiles, they help me translate a song's poetic or symbolic message so the young ones may better understand the emotions within the music.

Try explaining a song about 'virtue' to kids...

Philosophical loops of thought are ingrained into the Bali upbringing so even my meager english/bahasa obstacle is magically overcome through intuitive understanding.

I've finally seen 'cool'. Sharing music in this way is my true defonition of 'cool'.

Much love.