Happy 2008

New Years Fun.
Some Friends.
Some Skiing
Some Bearskin Lodge
Some Food
Some Sauna, Some Hot Tub
Some Discussion about the meaning of life.
Could it be better than that?

Yoga North Teachings

On Saturday December 8th, I had the opportunity to give a class at Yoga North. Yoga North runs a 200 hour teacher training every year and this year, I was involved in teaching some basics of Thai Bodywork. I feel very honored and blessed to have this experience and I hope to have more! It was great...hopefully the students learned a great deal; I know that I did!

In Memory: Scott Kimmes

I have lost a great friend and loyal client. One of my good friends Scott Kimmes was/ is one of the brothers that died in the tragic accident in Superior on November 1st. He died quickly but very tragically. He was a young man of 40 years and has a loving wife Mary Kimmes. Yesterday Hansi and I built a cairn in memory of him on the top of our rock wall in the back yard. The cairn sits looking over our beautiful rock garden; we bought the rocks from Scott and his company. I usually see Scott every other Monday evening; tommorow night he will not be in my presence and for that I am saddened. I am unsure that I will ever be able to take someone else in "his" time slot. I will take a moment of silence tommorow to recognize him and his giving soul. Thank goodness he has joined his mother and is with his brother Joey in some higher place. Peace to you Scott; you will be remembered here. We love you and will miss you dearly.

Boundary Waters Mice are Wise

After dining on a fine dinner in the pouring rain on Ella Lake in the Boundary Waters last Saturday, I thought I saw a leaf SLOWLY blowing across the rocks. To my dismay, it was a little vermin taking off with a very large piece of coconut white chocolate. This is not the first mouse encounter I have had on canoe expeditions. They are also known to sit on the edge of freshly baked pizza pans and uninvitedly enter into Jeep Cherokees that are waiting in the parking lot for ten days (while you are on a trip) in order that they may nest into lovely Patagonia Down Vests and home-knit wool hats ( made by yours personally ). They are indeed quite classy and wiley characters. If you enter into the wilderness, beware these sneaky ones.

Focus of Thai Yoga Bodywork

Thai Yoga Bodywork has its history and basis in Thailand, obviously, with a fair bit of focus in Ayurvedics and Buddhism. One of the main focuses is to keep the lower body open and flowing so that the Earth Energy may flow through the entire body more freely. Without open hips and legs, we can not have open shoulders and necks. It is used as a part of Traditional Thai Medicine and is one of the primary avenues to health and longevity.

Namaste, Margaret

Thai Yoga Level 3

Moving right along with Thai Yoga Bodywork.
I am honored and delighted to say that I have completed over 145 hours of Thai Yoga Bodywork Training! I have trained initially w/ Jonas Westring and now have the honor of having completed my basic certification w/ Tanya Boigenzahn of Minneapolis. I plan on completing Level 4 with her in a year and hopefully going to Thailand in the interim. This level was a new thing altogether. Lots of additional armwork and energy work. More to follow; I feel very energized about this work; it is a beautiful thing.

Eating Locally, Organically or Both

Recently, I have spent a lot of time thinking about and looking at where my food comes from. It is a constant quandry. I feel like we do a pretty good job; we have a big garden, we buy poultry and winter vegetables from the Fisher-Merritt Farm in Wrenshall and I always pay attention to where my food comes from when I buy it at the co-op or other stores. Somehow, it is a losing battle. We try to eat organic and we try to eat local; doing both is best but not always possible. So then, what is more important? Local or organic?

I feel like more folks should think about this. With all the recent craze of organic foods, the fancy new co-op, the new organic section at Cub and no less buying organic foods at Sams club, what is a consumer to do? Well...here is my take on the matter.

Buying at Sams Club is simply out of the question; sure it's organic but it is a big store and I care not to support their business. Besides, most of the food comes from far away places racking up "food miles". (A food mile refers to the number of kilometers that various food items travel from where they are grown or produced to where they are consumed. We all know, for example that buying apples from Chile is probably not a wise choice.)

Buying at Super One or Cub. Well I would rather would not support these stores either but I admit to buying some things there. I will also say that hey...for a big guy Super One does a pretty good job supporting local companies. Kudos to them; Cub is a little lower on my list. Sure, its a little nicer but they don't support as many local companies.

Buying at the Whole Foods Co-op. I do most of my shopping at the co-op but I admit to recently being a little disappointed there as well! They do a pretty good job carrying local products but I still see an awful lot of items from far away places that come in an awful lot of boxes. I just check every label to help determine which brand I am going to buy, which will not include those apples from Chile.

Buying from the Fisher-Merritt farm, harvesting in my own garden, picking local strawberries at Finkes, picking local raspberries in Esko, picking blueberries in Cloquet, picking apples in Bayfield, picking cranberries in Hayward, visiting the cheese place in Carlton, heading over again to the Fisher-Merritts to pick up my Thanksgiving bird, freshly slaughtered, heading down to the freezer to get some venison or grouse shot by my husband....these are all things I feel VERY good about. I never thought I would say that I had a deer in the freezer but now I do and I am glad! Some of the drawbacks of eating locally is that not all things are in season all of the time. You may not get mangoes to eat, but you WILL be supporting the local economy and doing what little part you can to do your part in helping our Mother Earth. She really will take whatever she can get.

Keep in mind that some of the things you may buy may not say "organic" but just read the ingredients or ask the farmer and you will find that a great number of them are pretty damn close to organic, they may just not have the money to afford the label "organic". A great local resource is to go on www.minnesotagrown.com and see what you can find locally. You have to work at it, you have to take the time. It is well worth your while and you will be helping our local economy, your body and our earth.

Ganesh, the Remover of All Obstacles

Thai Yoga has some of its roots in Ayurveda which stems from India. It would make sense then that many of the deities worshipped in Thai Yoga are Hindu deities. It seems that the most heavily seen is Ganesh, the remover of all obstacles. He is an interesting character with the head of an elephant and body parts of a human. He is seen all over Thailand, especially in spiritual places. Really, we should all have a remover of obstacles....life would be so much easier! Read below for more information on Ganesh.

Ganesha is one of the best-known and beloved representations of divinity in Hinduism. Although he is known by many other attributes, Ganesha's elephant head makes him easy to identify. Several texts relate mythological anecdotes associated with his birth and exploits, and explain his distinct iconography. Ganesha is worshipped as the lord of beginnings, the lord of obstacles, patron of arts and sciences, and the god of intellect and wisdom. He is honoured with affection at the start of any ritual or ceremony and invoked as the "Patron of Letters" at the beginning of any writing.

Ganesha appears as a distinct deity in clearly-recognizable form beginning in the fourth to fifth centuries AD, during the Gupta Period. His popularity rose quickly, and he was formally included as one of the five primary deities of Smartism, a Hindu denomination, in the ninth century AD. During this period, a sect of devotees who identify Ganesha as the supreme deity was formed. The principal scriptures dedicated to his worship are the Ganesha Purana, the Mudgala Purana, and the Ganapati Atharvashirsa.
Today, Ganesha is the most-worshipped divinity in India. Worship of Ganesha is considered complementary with the worship of other forms of the divine, and various Hindu sects worship him regardless of other affiliations. The devotional cult of Ganesha is widely diffused and extends to Jains, Buddhists, and beyond India.

Enlightenment

Wow...Thai Yoga Bodywork is great. Today we worked with the energy lines of Thailand. My energy lines have some very painful areas; hopefully I am alright. What an amazing awakening. I am rejunenated and enlightened. I can't wait to keep learning and practicing more and more. This is Master Pichet in Thailand....the master who has taught both of my trainers, Jonas Westring and Tanya B. To learn more about both of them, go to www.thaiyogabodywork.com and www.thaiyogahealing.com

Thai Yoga Bodywork

Sweet!
Finally, I am in my second training of Thai Yoga Bodywork at the Minneapolis Yoga Center in Minneapolis from Tanya B. I am here during a snowstorm of what seems like 3 feet ( probably 30 inches ) and am holed up in the yoga center. Loving It! I am hoping to finish up this training and continue on to the next level. Hey, after school, skiing is fun too! Or shovelling.

You should all come check out Thai Yoga Bodywork. I offer it at my studio and the benefits will be listed in new posts to come. It is amazing.