Ali's Adventures

And Now?

2011-01-27T20:19:00.000-08:00

And what have I been doing in Vero Beach for almost two months you might ask?

Well, I've been calling it "reorganizing" by which I mean applying for jobs, researching grad programs in Counseling Psychology, Social Work and Marriage & Family Therapy and learning about topics I feel undereducated about (like personal finance, sailing and canning). I've also taken on some fun projects including fermenting many different foodstuffs and playing the violin.

I've been having a good time shaking up Vero Beach by cruising around town on my mom's bike (yes, it has a basket, and yes, I put my violin in it to get myself to lessons), and doing neighborly things like asking for a cup of sugar (wait - people actually do that these days?)

I've also been making waves with things like bike lights (I get a full lane clearance at night from the same motorists that crowd me into the gutter during the day - bike lanes? oh yeah, there's that one street...), being seemingly the only female between 17 and 45 (the attention I get is embarrassing - for Vero), and solo dance parties in my Grandma's furnitureless, rent-paying-resident-less condo (okay so that doesn't really shake up Vero Beach, but they're a lot of fun) - when I'm feeling fancy I even walk over to the ocean and dance on the beach under the moon.

Culinary Adventures:

At my mom's house (where I eat and perform culinary experiments), I have a "Projects Cupboard", which at various times contains some sort of fermenting thing including sauerkraut, kefir, kombucha (phase I & II) and sprouts.

(points for catching the Old-school TRiP Nalgene cameo)

Mmm, homegrown sprouts!

Of course, I've also been engaging in my favorite at-home passtime, cooking extravagant (definition: more than 4 adjectives in the description) dishes for friends and family.

Bacon-wrapped, Goat Cheese-stuffed Medjool Dates with Balsamic Drizzle

Spaghetti Squash in Brown Butter Sage with Nutmeg

Beef Short Ribs Braised in Chipotle Coffee Maple Sauce

Musical Adventures:

This is me playing "Yankee Doodle" Don't laugh, it's hard - for me.

Though I am thoroughly enjoying an awesome "How to Play Bluegrass Fiddle" DVD that was definitely first released on VHS in the late 80s/early 90s... great style.

Traveling Adventures:

I've also continued the trend of visiting friends from long ago. I saw JJ Grey & Mofro in Tampa with (trippie and former roommate) Raquel

went up to Atlanta for Peach's band (Jack of Hearts)'s show at the Earl (photo from local ephemera)

and stopped through Gainesville on my way to and from Atlanta to visit trippies. I stayed with Daniel Godwin and repeated last year's Boca Fiesta dinner with Kyle, Sully, Swanson, Jessie & Coop (and apparently failed to take any pictures). They reminded me of one reason I love trippies: they're always doing exciting things! (like going to Mali for the Peace Corps or taking care of bees at UF)

I even managed to track down Cuopli at UF's new, top-secret "East Campus" though I couldn't get him to tell me what it was really for.

Mud-related Adventures:

My last Florida Adventure for this round was the Warrior Dash: a 5-k race with obstacles (like mud pits, barbed wire to climb under and fire to jump over) where costumes are encouraged. In my "pre-race training" I realized there was no way I'd win any prizes for speed, but I found out there was a prize for most outrageous costume, so I went there.

Before

...and after. I raced with some TRiP friends and we donned our warrior hats for a muddy post-race group shot

Next on the itinerary, Virginia Beach to visit former Kripalu roommate Nikki for (aww) Valentine's Day, and then Canada to ~~take advantage of cheaper routine healthcare~~ visit family and reup my Wilderness First Aid certification.

Christmas in the Everglades

2011-01-27T19:32:00.000-08:00

I've spent the past two Christmases away from home, so this one I made sure to spend with family. My mom, grandma and I went down to Everglades City for a few days so my mom could do some painting of the landscapes.

We stayed at the "Rod and Gun Club" a historic location that with better caretakers could have been a nice experience... but as it was, I was unimpressed with the management of it.

I did learn a clever lesson from the waitress there however. One night we were eating in their restaurant (not worth it), and after bringing our drinks, she turned around, screamed, and ran into the kitchen. Murmurs of "rat" went around the dining room and a few people got up as if ready to leave. Seconds later, our waitress came out all smiles and announced to the room that she had been startled by a baby possum. The room sighed and relaxed as a few people said "awww, how cute". Apparently rats are walk-out worthy but possums are endearing. In her case, I think it was probably the truth, but what I gleaned from this was that if you're ever working in a restaurant that does have rats or other undesirable creatures for a food-providing establishment, try to reframe it into something cute if there's a dining room sighting. Your leeway with this depends, of course, on how many customers see what you see, but given what we know about the fallibility of eyewitness accounts, a swift "oh no, what's that poor kitten/baby bird/chipmunk doing in here?" should be at least enough to buy you time and avoid a mass exodus.

The other lesson I learned was at Shark Valley, a part of Everglades National Park that feels closer to a zoo than a national park given the paved "trail", masses of people and preponderance of animals in or just off the path who give no notice to the hundreds of humans passing by. Despite this, I had a fun time taking out one of their rusty beach cruisers on the 15-mile loop and I must have seen at least 60 gators and hundreds of birds.

The lesson came about 10 miles in when I tried to adjust the pants I was wearing that were unsuited to bike riding, seeing as I had been unaware of the day's itinerary upon dressing in the morning.

I stood up on my pedals, one-hand on the handlebars and the other trying to deter my underwear from it's upward course. As I stood, I inadvertently put weight down (and back) on my top pedal intending to coast... and promptly ate shit.

The moral of the story being that you can, in fact, forget how to ride a bike if that particular bike has pedal brakes - the devil is in the details.

Up the West Coast

2011-01-08T14:45:00.000-08:00

So after my lovely train ride from San Fran to Eugene, Oregon, I was picked up by two of my favorite people in the world, Rica Arnesen and Erock Greensfelder (who is now floating the Grand Canyon - have a blast, you lucky bastard!)

We went to a party at a friend of Erik's farm and danced the night away in their barn (okay, Erik & Rica danced the night away - exhausted from my travels, I passed out snug in my sleeping bag in the back of Rica's car).

The next day we drove to Erik's home in Portland and commenced in experiencing it's excellent "brunch culture". We went to a popular place called "The Screen Door" and Erik and I had their specialty which is waffles and fried chicken. Best darn fried chicken I've ever had (commence gluten coma).

Of course being super-hardcore outdoorspeople and being in Portland, it was imperative that we go hiking...

Erik: "The Rock around here is really loose, it's not a good place for climbing."

After Portland, I made my way up to Seattle and stayed with the lovely and gracious Courtney Campbell. I made pilgrimages to some food places like the International District which had some great asian food including a pretty decent bahn mi

I also went to Pike Place Market...

The first Starbucks... not very exciting, but apparently picture-worthy?

I gotta say I was disappointed, a few good food vendors, way too many "handicrafts", and of course, too many tourists. I was not however, disappointed by the Seattle public library - in fact, I was very impressed! The architecture was sufficiently awesome and I even happened upon a medieval violin and choral concert

I also visited the sculpture park in some typical Seattle weather,

and visited the flagship REI store which has this ridiculous(ly awesome) bike testing trail outside the store in the middle of a city block

On my last night I hung out with former TRiP leader and marine biologist extraordinaire Max Maliska as well as the extremely cute and talented couple Rachel Grant and John Rugh who serenaded us into the evening.

A lovely time spent traveling the west coast which I am sure to return to soon!

Further Adventures in Cali

2010-12-03T16:05:00.000-08:00

The last weeks at the ranch were fun while bittersweet; it felt so natural to be there it was weird to think about leaving. The last weekend we were there we had a little party, lots of food and a few visitors. We barbecued about half a pig's worth of pork and had lots of other treats like squash pie and homemade caramel.

After the ranch, we went to San Francisco for a few days and then to visit some friends in Chico. In SF it was 75 and sunny, and two days later we were snowed in at a friend's house near Chico!

We stayed for Thanksgiving and met lots of wonderful people. It was a big potluck affair with 27 people and it was a blast.

There was an enormous amount of food including a "cheeseman" (snowman made of cheese balls)

Evan (friend from Kripalu) came up from SF for Thanksgiving and we drove back through the Central Valley which produces a lot of this country's food.

We stopped and bought some fresh winter fruit which we made into a lovely salad

We wandered around the city, went to Golden Gate Park

and the California Academy of Sciences, which is one of the coolest museums I've ever been to. The main part is a multi-level ecosystem where you can view the aquarium from above and underwater as well as 4 different levels of living rainforest, a planetarium, living roof and lots of educational non-living exhibits too.

What a trip!

I also made a pilgrimage to Cafe Gratitude - a raw food cafe whose cookbooks inspired me to experiment a lot with raw, vegan desserts

Then I went to Mount Madonna (another yoga study center with a residential volunteer program) to visit Broderick (another friend from Kripalu) and check the place out. Beautiful hiking trails, deer chilling outside the cabin, lots of good conversation and music.

From there I went to Santa Cruz to see Noush (another Krip friend) and then back to SF. I went up to Berkeley to visit Francie (a friend from Camp Green Cove - way back) and had dinner with her and her boyfriend Matt, wandered the Berkeley campus and hopped on a train to Salem, Oregon (It seemed romantic to take the train up North, but after 17 hours I'm not so sure)... though it was beautiful.

I am about to meet Rica & Erik (friends from UF TRiP) - just having a grand old time visiting people I love on the west coast, next stop Seattle!

Ranch Style

2010-10-29T10:05:00.000-07:00

Most of you know by now that I'm living on a farm in California, helping out with the harvest and living "Ranch Style" as we've come to call it.

The Ranch is a few hours north of San Francisco, up a windy mountain road, and down a 1/4-mile driveway where 4-wheel drive is ideal. It's a beautiful piece of land, a couple hundred acres down in a valley surrounded by hills and trees.

We have one spot of cell service and patchy satellite internet, so forgive me for not posting sooner... or e-mailing or calling. Also, I'm just having so much darn fun that it's hard to get myself on the computer. There are always chores to do, feed the chickens and pigs, get the eggs, weed & harvest the gardens and of course, cooking and cleaning.

I get the eggs in the morning and afternoon and do a lot of the cooking. I am having a blast cooking for 8-12 people, using what comes out of the garden (so much produce!) and even doing a bit of baking.

It was dry & sunny for the first month we were here, and we did some sun-dried cherry tomatoes

Now it's pretty cold and rainy, so we've got the wood stoves going. There are a few "buildings" on the property including a trailer, a yurt, a bus, a few big tents, a bathhouse, outhouse and kitchen.

I'm having great fun learning all sorts of new things... like how to drive a 4-wheeler, use a chainsaw and split wood. The wood stoves are also pretty great for roasting the chestnuts we gather around the property.

I live in the bus, which is a pretty sweet setup - there's a big bed and some shelves and a wood stove, and the outside is painted

It's pretty great being here, though it's more of a timewarp than even Thailand or Kripalu. In the 6 weeks I've been here, I've only left twice and the only people I see are the people that live here, which is cool because everyone's pretty great and it feels like we're a family.

One time we left the ranch, we went to the coast (Point Arena) for the Hops & Harvest festival which was a blast!

We tasted different beers, I helped press fresh apple juice, and we ate lots of good food. We even went out dancing at this fantastic Blues show.

The whole time we've been here "Mama" pig has been pregnant (she got knocked up by a wild boar) and she was huge. The other night she gave birth to some pretty darn cute half-wild piglets and I got to watch; here they are a couple days later.

One of my favorite things about the ranch is what we've dubbed "Ranch Style" a curious blend of odd clothes layering, not bathing and not washing our clothes, but I'll show you some pictures of that in the next blog.

Interlude in Canada

2010-09-13T09:12:00.000-07:00

Between leaving Kripalu and going to Cali, I did some traveling and visiting in Ontario and NYC.

Visiting my Dad and stepmom in Guelph was fun, especially because the Guelph Jazz Festival was on and we saw a lot of great concerts in some cool venues.

We saw Greg Brown at Folkway which is a fretted instrument store and repair shop, which was cool because there were guitar, banjos, mandolins and more covering the walls in the small space where he played. It was an intimate show, only about 60 people.

He sauntered out of the back and took the small stage with his guitar in one hand and a big glass of red wine in the other. He put on a fantastic show playing a lot of old favorites, newer stuff, covers and improvising a good bit.

That night we also went downtown to "Nuit Blanche" part of the Jazz Festival that included concerts, dance performances and art installations in venues all over the downtown and went all night till sunrise. Who ever thought Guelph was this cool? My favorite was an indian-fusion electronic band that played in the City Council Chambers.

I was also graced with a visit from my lovely Kripalu roommate Nikki who was in Toronto and stopped by Guelph to have lunch and cut my hair.

Before...

After!

and dry

I also got to go out to the Garden Plot and pick veggies

Yoga Pictures

2010-09-01T16:11:00.000-07:00

Check out these fun pictures on my beautiful roommate's website (she's awesome, she takes great pictures and we shared a room for 8 months with no fights! We have matching piles of clothes and such on each side of the room and piles of art materials in the middle; how'd I ever get so lucky?)

Summer at Kripalu

2010-08-31T08:32:00.000-07:00

Each term at Kripalu has a different feel, a different energy.

Fall has an active, energetic feel, moving into winter which has a really inward, contemplative focus, and on into spring which has an expansive, outward flowing energy. Summer though has a fun, relaxed style, and hence I've been doing some fun, relaxing things and my summer at Kripalu has been wonderful and also flown by.

I love going to the lake to swim or kayak or canoe...

or going into town to eat ice cream...

...going to cultural performances like Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival (hurray outside stage! - this picture sucks because you're not allowed to take pictures, so I had to be sly)

Tanglewood (summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and host to many other talented musicians) is so close to Kripalu that I can in fact often hear the music through my open dorm room window, but I've also had the opportunity to attend some performances. My roommate and I even did the "classic tanglewood experience" of a pre-show picnic before a classical show. We saw Joshua Bell who is one of my favorite musicians and he put on a wonderful show.

Summer is also the best time for friends to visit and so I had my friend Peach (Dave) come visit and we had a wonderful time doing yoga, writing, reading poetry, singing, and laying in the grandmother tree

One of my favorite things about the summer semester has been the yoga philosophy discussion group that my friend River (the other half of Team Bake) and I started. Every week we read a chapter or two in The Inner Tradition of Yoga by Michael Stone and discuss how it applies to our live and our practice. It's been one of the most meaningful and rewarding parts of my volunteer experience. It's allowed me to go a lot deeper into my own practice and also form deeper connections with other volunteers.

If you're looking for a book on yoga philosophy and psychology, I can't recommend this one highly enough; it's beautifully written, highly practical and well-researched. Thanks to my stepmom Sally for finding it for me!

Kripalu Time

2010-08-27T09:16:00.000-07:00

Kripalu exists in a bit of a time warp.

If you've lived at Kripalu, you know what I mean, but for the rest of you, let me try to explain.

Being at Kripalu is a bit like being in a pressure cooker. The amount of things that happen, emotions you go through, experiences you engage in and things you learn in a 4-month volunteer stint could easily fill a year in "the real world".

It feels like so much gets packed into each day that it must have been more than a day. If someone goes away for the weekend, they're welcomed back as if they were gone for a week "Hey, good to see you! I feel like it's been forever! You missed so much!"

This is especially apparent in relationships; friendships formed feel like they've existed for years, and romantic relationships are thrust into deep realms on an accelerated timeline. When calculating how long a couple has been "together" it's not uncommon to say "well, it's been two months, so in Kripalu Time that's like half a year".

Part of it is living together, part of it is the intense focus on self-inquiry and awareness here and part of it is just the energy of the place.

It may seem like I'm saying time passes really slowly here, but paradoxically it feels like the opposite. I can hardly believe a year had passed since I first arrived. A few weeks ago, we had a lot of volunteers from the Jan-May term come back to visit. They came back and it felt like they had never left. In part I think that after sharing this intense experience, we have the kind of bond that can be picked up after any length of time without feeling like a moment has elapsed, but another part again is the subtle but pervasive energy of Kripalu... the time warp.

For me, even the time before Kripalu becomes less significant, so that differences in age don't separate members of the community as they might in other places. Not everyone would agree with me on this one, but it feels like Kripalutime levels the age gaps, as we're all just people working on our process and walking our paths. The lens of yoga allows us to see we're looking at the same things, perhaps from a different turn on the expanding spiral of life, but we're gazing in the same direction.

The Kripalu labyrinth is a wonderful place to lose track of time...

Road Trip: Philadelphia

2010-08-17T09:21:00.000-07:00

A while back I needed a little space from Kripalu, and on a whim, my friend Slefy and I went to Philly to visit a friend who had been a volunteer and moved back home for the summer.

As soon as we were on the road, I felt a weight lift. Being at Kripalu and engaging in self-study is wonderful, but it can get a little heavy at times. Enter: the road trip.

We went all over as our tour guides (Jessie & Avi) showed us their city.

We went downtown and saw city hall and love park

hung out and read poetry at hipster coffeeshop Café Olé

visited Reading Terminal Market (and did a little first aid in the middle of it)

and viewed the city from Avi's rooftop terrace

Overall, a refreshing trip to a cool city. Success!

A Day Off in the Life of a Kripalu Volunteer

2010-08-17T04:12:00.000-07:00

So I've taken you through A Day in the Life of a Volunteer at work, but how about days off?

There are plenty of things to do in and out of the building at Kripalu, as well as of course many road trips to go on including Boston, NYC, Philly, Canada, and even little sojourns into the cute towns surrounding Kripalu like Lenox & Stockbridge.

Lets start in the building: On any given day, there are several different levels of yoga classes at 6:30am, 12noon, and 4:15pm, sometimes even 5:15pm too, sometimes as many as 12 classes in a day from gentle to vigorous. In addition to yoga, there's yogadance, a big free-flowing dance party that is varyingly structured depending on who is teaching.

The best day to go is Saturday because there is live drumming!

There are also workshops throughout the day on various topics like chakras, nutrition, ayurveda, breathwork, and journaling.

In the evening there is always an event, Monday: drum circle, Tuesday: cooking demo, Wednesday: Kirtan (devotional singing), Thursday: movie, Friday: varies - sometimes dancing or Nia, Saturday: concert, and Sunday: meditation. There are also "samplers" which are mini-programs given by outside presenters who are teaching at Kripalu and want to give people a taste of what their weekend or week-long program is like. These can be lectures, experiences or performances.

The above activities are part of R&R (rest & relaxation) and are open to all Kripalu guests, staff and volunteers. In addition to that (are you starting to see why I don't call/e-mail back when I say I will? There's so much to do!) there is "the Flow" which is a schedule of events just for the volunteers and includes volunteer-led yoga classes, meditations, lectures, sports games, study/discussion groups, craft nights and anything else we can come up with as well as the mandatory volunteer events Community Sangha and Off the Mat.

Sangha is a gathering the community (two meeting for half the group each time) for activites that usually inlclude meditation and group sharing. Personal sharing about how we feel and what we're working on is a big part of being a volunteer at Kripalu and community sangha included classes on conscious communication, one of the cornerstones of Kripalu's community philosophy. Off the Mat is a weekly class about different aspects of yoga such as philosophy, psychology, as well as different breathing practices or physical postures taught by Kripalu teachers.

Okay, so that's just inside, once you venture outside (because why would you be inside when you could be outside?) there is the lake to swim or paddle in and the beautiful grounds and hiking trails to wander or meditate in.

Take that one step further and there are plenty of places to go outside the grounds...restaurants or bars (yes we still go out sometimes), concerts and cultural events, and of course road trips - but I'll save more on that for the next post.

Really, the most important aspect of being a Kripalu volunteer is the relationships that you form, so my favorite activity (and where a good bit of my time goes) is just sitting with friends in silence, or discussing life and yoga at one of the many beautiful spots on the property. For example, "the spot":

Chess Therapy

2010-07-12T13:29:00.000-07:00

Last night I played chess for the first time in a while and was reminded of some thoughts I wrote down while traveling through Malaysia playing people in hostels.

Chess, it turns out, is kind of like therapy - or yoga (from a "yoga is a way you live your life" perspective, not a "yoga is stretching" perspective).

As "fun" and good for the mind as chess is, playing has always kinda stressed me out. When the board is getting set up, I get a little rush of nervousness and I feel emotional. You could say it's just because I'm competitive (because I am...), but I think it's more than that.

Maybe it's all the yoga philosophy I've been reading (more on that later), but I'm really seeing chess as a metaphor for life, and therefore playing as kind of like working through my issues (even though it stresses me out!).

Here are some conclusions I've come to, check it out:

1. I hate making decisions that close off certain options (hence, why I haven't chosen "what to do with my life" or even "what to do next"), I always want to be able to do anything and everything, so it's hard for me to make big moves with potentially big consequences on the board.

2. I hate being surprised because I like to know what's going on (control issues?) so I hate when I don't see a dangerous move coming (also vulnerability issues?)

3. I'm an individualist and I get sort of emotionally attached to each piece. I don't want to sacrifice anyone, even for the good of the game (alright, so maybe this helps with #1, at least I can cross of army commander and corporate exec from the list of possible jobs...)

4. I have a tendency to get too zoomed in on one part of the board (or one moment or one aspect of my life), and get into the details on the micro level. This can cause a poorly structured force on the board or a big imbalance in my life.

5. Related to the last point, I often think too much about things, trying to figure out and analyze, think too far ahead, follow through on all the details, moves and countermoves... in chess this can cause stupid moves, and in life? decision paralysis (see #1...)

I wrote some of this about a year ago, so it was interesting looking back while getting ready to publish this post because I've definitely gotten better at chess, and I think I've gotten better at life too.

After my friend and I finished our game, we were talking strategy on the walk to our dorm and another friend walking behind us asked what we were talking about. She was surprised when we said chess.

"I thought you were just talking about life," she said " 'every move should have a purpose... you don't want to have to backtrack... try to look at the whole picture... back up the moves you make... don't get too focused on one strategy...' "

"Yeah, kinda like life," I said.

More Fun in the Bakery

2010-04-14T14:36:00.000-07:00

I've recently discovered a love (and dare I say talent?) for creating "interesting" cakes.

This one (in the shape of the "om" symbol in case you don't recognize it) was for a dual birthday last week:

and a cookie cake for our resident cookie monster

and this one was requested from the grounds/facilities crew for a staff member who was leaving the team. This staff member was often in charge of ploughing the roads and parking lots on Kripalu's property so we made a (somewhat to scale) replica of Kripalu

complete with the main Shadowbrook building and the Annex (built by Carl, the facilities supervisor out of graham crackers and marshmallow fluff) as well as chocolate roads, cream cheese frosting snow, broccoli trees and even a tractor plough and stop signs...

so fun! and it tasted good too.

A Perfect Trip to Florida

2010-04-03T12:27:00.000-07:00

While it was short, it gave me all my favorite things:

sunrise over the atlantic, and swimming in the ocean

the smell of orange blossoms carried on hot, wet air after an intense spring thunderstorm

azaleas blooming all over the place

krishna lunch and all my favorite people in gainesville (quite amazing: in 24 hours I saw pretty much everyone I know that still lives in Gainesville - without a phone and without really making any effort, it all just came together)

I sat on the Plaza of the Americas for about 2 hours and people cycled through as classes ended and began... listened to kirtan and lay in the sun. It was great to meet some of the new trip leaders and hang out with old ones, and know that TRiP is in good hands.

a visit to the Lake Jackson Marsh for painting with my mom, some gator sightings (it's mating season)

as well as my aunt's birthday lunch, opera with my grandma, a lecture by Jim Leher, cooking for my mom and grandma, and a good solid dose of love and perspective on the world...

All in all, a very successful trip.

and now.... because I heart irony:

I saw this on the way to the marsh

allow me to zoom in on those two signs

well, I suppose they did fail to specify what it was destined for...

Dead Poets Tour

2010-03-08T15:31:00.001-08:00

While I procrastinate on the "So You Wanna Be a Kripalu Volunteer" Post, I thought I'd give you a recap of a little adventure I went on with some friends last week.

We decided to do a New England Literary tour, with the highlight being a pilgrimage to the graves of some dead writers.

We paid our respects to Thoreau, Emerson, Hawthorne & Alcott:

and poked around outside Emerson's old house (which was closed for the season)

Our next destination was the really not very secluded (or pond-like) Walden Pond, which we renamed the Sea of Walden, being as it's quite large.

we even had a picnic at the site of Thoreau's old hut while we discussed becoming born-again transcendentalists...

It being only lunchtime, and all our objectives accomplished, we decided to carry on to Boston.

Upon arriving, we tried to absorb some of the smart that floats around the Harvard campus. We walked around and looked decidedly unfashionable in what came to be known as our "homeless gypsy" outfits. My companion Sara and I further tried to embarrass our urbanite friend Dave by donning fake accents and pretending not to speak English.

I was quite miffed to learn that Harvard does not allow outsiders into its library...libraries being one of my favorite places to explore.

Not to be deterred from a fabulous day by a little exclusive snobbery, we continued into Boston proper and wandered around Boston Common and Beacon Hill, eventually following the Freedom Trail and visiting Paul Revere's house and church...

...some cool graveyards and, (the highlight of the day) discovering our new hero, Mary Dyer. She was a Quaker religious rights activist hanged for refusing to be exiled from the colony.

She inspired the now-flourishing, decidedly tongue-in-cheek underground newsletter-for-the-revolution, "The Mary Dyer Times". The first issue is circulating the Kripalu volunteer community as I write this - but keep it on the down low.

We finished up the day wandering the Italian section of town and visiting Caffé Vittoria, the oldest Italian coffee shop in Boston (est. 1929) - excellent cappuccino and tiramisu.

Puzzling it Out

2010-02-18T09:00:00.000-08:00

One of the really beautiful things about yoga for me, is that it makes everything into a metaphor for life:

-Increase your flexibility in a pose... increase the flexibility of your mind and your ability to accept impermanence.

-Focus on alignment of your bones and muscles in class... have an insight about the alignment of your values, thoughts and actions in life.

On January 1st I started a 2,000-piece puzzle of Van Gogh's Cafe Terrace at Night

I also spent time (since it was the beginning of the new year) setting goals and intentions, and generally putting pressure on myself to know what I need to be doing; the next steps in my life.

The irony of that hit me as I was trying to fall asleep one night, and visions of puzzle pieces danced in my head.

So you have a puzzle, and you have a general idea of what it's going to look like, but it only gets revealed one piece at a time. Sections become clear bit by bit, and you simply have to trust that all the pieces will fit together eventually to make a beautiful picture.

So relax Ali :)

"Let go of the life you imagined, to live the life that is waiting for you."

- Joseph Campbell

Bakerista

2010-02-16T09:49:00.000-08:00

As I've mentioned, my "new" (January) Seva is in the bakery, and I so so love working there.

Cooking and baking are two of my great creative loves, and I don't think I even realized how much I missed them until I got into the bakery and started creating again.

It makes me so happy; I have a new energy, a spring in my step, and feel like I'm in a beautiful flow of creativity. People have actually told me I look different!

I work 8-4, five days a week, but it doesn't even really feel like work. I leave with more energy than I went in with. We have a really nice space to work in with a gorgeous wooden table to work bread on, a giant oven, and a giant mixer...

My supervisor Hedley is awesome and lets me and River (the other volunteer baker - see above with handfuls of icing) experiment when our regular work is done. I've been having a lot of fun making vegan, raw and gluten-free stuff, and generally being creative.

The only thing that's hard about the bakery is the list. We have a list of things to do each day, and you'd think that would be nice for my brain, but Hedley likes to mess with me by crossing things off the list while I'm doing them! UNacceptable! We have an ongoing competition to sneakily cross off the other's work before they get a chance.

Overall, I'm learning a lot about bread and pastry and even find it easy not to eat too much sugar or gluten while I'm working. Sunday marked the end of my sugar- & gluten-free month and it went really well (lost another 10 lbs! geez) I noticed a distinct evenness in the quality and quantity of my energy throughout the month and feel really healthy and happy here at Kripalu.

Next: Why Life is a Puzzle

And then: So You Want to be a Kripalu Volunteer?

Why I love(d) Veggie Prep

2010-01-21T09:30:00.000-08:00

Even though I'm now in the bakery, I still have a very soft spot in my heart for my old job of Veggie Prep, and here's why:

Veggie Prep is a listmaker's dream job:

I'm a fairly obsessive listmaker and cross-er off-er (to the point where, if I've done something that wasn't on my list, I'll write it on just so I can cross it off).

Working in veggie prep is like working on giant list. You start out the day with a board full of labels, and every time you finish a job, you get the satisfaction of sticking a label on your container, and by the end of the day, you're left with a clean board. My brain LOVES this.

Another thing my brain likes to do (almost as much as making lists and crossing stuff off), is to learn a job really throughly and then try to think of ways to do it better and more efficiently. Not only were there lots of opportunities for this in VP, but it was highly praised as well (double hurray!). So basically I was really good at my job, which always feels nice.

Also, I love working with food, and having the opportunity to put my love into the food that goes out to everyone at Kripalu has been really rewarding.

So my brain was happy in all sorts of ways.

But the other big reason I loved it is that we just had lots of fun:

Giant Daikon

Squash!

Turnipman

Be still, my beeting heart...

We also liked to add punctuation to the labels:

potatoes? Sweet!

Spinach, baby!

...but of course, what makes or breaks any job is the group of people you work with, and veggie prep has some of the best.

On my last day in there before I went to the bakery, they gave me a going away card and we all toasted with leftover sparkling cider from New Year's.

A few messages from the card:

"Ali, I want cookies all the time so I can eat my feeling of betrayal and loss. I'll miss you"

"Ali! You're leaving! Your loyalty's a fakery! I can't believe you're going to the bakery!"

the funny thing is, the bakery is about 10 feet away from the prep kitchen, so I still see them all the time :)

Next time, I'll tell you about my new job in the Bakery

A Day in the Life of a Kripalu Volunteer

2010-01-20T08:54:00.000-08:00

Just like in the "real world", your day is very different depending whether you're working, or you have off.

We'll start with a workday.

There are several different "sevas" or "jobs of selfless service to the community" or "karma yoga" (which is traditionally doing service without the expectation of anything in return, whereas we get room and board and programs, but we'll let that slide for now).

The sevas that volunteers do include: housekeeping, dishwashing, veggie prepping, grounds keeping, maintenace, production support for events, and a few office jobs.

Let me tell you about Veggie Prep, the seva with which I am best acquainted:

We go in at 8 am, and there is a magnet board filled with labels for the day that need to be fulfilled.

These labels are spit out by a computer and are for the recipes the chefs will be cooking the next day (we prep one day ahead). They're based on some (I'm sure fabulously complicated) math taking into account projected guest & staff headcount.

The labels tell us what to prep, how to cut it, how much, and what it's for.

When you're done a job, you stick the label on the container and put it on a cart that goes upstairs to the hot kitchen.

We work in a large room with tables that are giant cutting boards, chopping and slicing not just veggies, but cheese, tofu, tempeh, and some meats. We also measure out and soak the beans, and crack the eggs. So basically, we see just about everything before it goes upstairs to the hot kitchen.

There is a gigantic walk-in fridge where thousands of dollars of produce are kept, as well as a walk-in freezer and "39 degree room" where we keep proteins (meat, fake meat, cheese, eggs, milk and nuts).

There are all sorts of cool machines that help us do our work. We have a giant carrot/beet/potato peeler/scrubber:

as well as a few chopping/dicing/slicing/crumbling machines.

It's actually a really fun job, and I loved doing it.

Next time: Why I love VP

30 New Friends

2010-01-19T08:25:00.000-08:00

Alright, so obviously I've been busy (and/or avoiding blogging for various creative block reasons). But here's a quick update, which I will begin expanding on in posts to come.

1. I'm still in Massachusetts living and volunteering at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health and loving every minute of it. I might stay. Like, for a long time...

2. In January, we started a new "term" (we commit to volunteer for 4 months at a time), and so about 30 volunteers left and 30 new ones came (all in the same day - what a crazy emotional transition).

3. I left my beloved job (and friends) of Veggie Prep and am now working in the Bakery, which I absolutely love.

4. The holidays were a dietary disaster, but with the new moon (new moons are good for setting intentions) last week, I'm back off sugar and this time gluten as well (more experiments, hurray!)

5. This past weekend I did a 4-day workshop with Dharma Mittra (pretty well-known yoga teacher who posed for the book 608 Yoga Poses - that's a lot of postures!) and it was really wonderful. It kicked my butt, but I loved it. I also started learning Capoeira, took people contra dancing, and led a partner yoga class. New Year, new energy.

#2 Expanded:

In a lot of ways, the Kripalu volunteer program reminds me of TRiP (the outdoor adventure program I led trips for in college).

One way for sure is that whenever a new group comes in, it's like automatically getting 30 new friends. Simply by virtue of the situation you are in (leading trips or living and volunteering together), you will become friends with a lot of these people.

I'm really excited about this new group, there are a lot of really wonderful and talented people who are enthusiastic about Kripalu and the karma yoga program. I have been re-inspired by their fresh energy and look forward to this semester.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T17:36:00.000-08:00

So today I worked and did yoga, and now I'm sitting in my room stalking people on facebook... it doesn't so much feel like Christmas as it feels like a normal day.

Kripalu tries to pretend that Christmas isn't happening. I guess mostly because there are a bunch of people here trying to pretend the same thing? For some it's a retreat from hectic holidays, for some a retreat from a lonely time when you're not supposed to be lonely. Good ol' Kripalu, always the retreat center.

We did have a special meal, which was nice, but the only sign of Christmas is a tree for the volunteers that is relegated to the basement.

I'm not really bothered, I had a nice time with my mom and Grandma last week in Florida, and my Dad and Stepmom came to visit Kripalu for a couple nights, and left today.

But I did want to say Merry Christmas to those I love and am far away from

- there are too many of you to phone individually! (which I've realized will always be true -that's what happens when you travel around the world collecting friends and then go live in a place far away from all of them and your family... serves me right I suppose! but I do still love you)

Christmas Morning at Kripalu:

Sun Dogs in the icy sky:

Free, at Last!

2009-12-09T04:09:00.000-08:00

I ate some honey today, it was quite sweet.

Free? well, not really. For me, freedom would be if I didn't care that today was December 8th because all my sugar cravings had ceased.

I must say, they have significantly dropped off in the last week. So that, on the first day in a month where I could have any sweet thing I wanted, I just had some honey and a couple pieces of chocolate, and didn't want much else.

But I did indeed care that today was the 8th. The other night I actually had a dream that I came across some really nice chocolate and took some ONLY to save for the 8th, and the next thing I knew, I was stuffing my face! I woke up feel ing all guilty and stressed out... Layered, I tell you. This sweets things in layered in my subconscious.

I learned some very interesting things in my month:

1) Sweets are Stealthy:

When you're not eating something, you begin to notice how often you would've eaten it on a normal day. In my month I noticed all the unnecessary sweets I would normally consume.

There are the obvious ones like cookies and cake, but I started noticing jam, granola, soymilk, every time I would've put honey in my tea, how many sauces for lunch and dinner have sugar in them, even soups... juice, crackers, bread, maltose, dextrose, maltrodextrin, sucrose, fructose... it's everywhere!

2) Sweets are like Crack:

Okay, maybe not that bad, but even a little bit makes you want more. I had a spoonful of cranberry sauce on thanksgiving, and for days my cravings were in full tilt! They had been abating a bit, but after that I thought about sugar all the time.

3) Sweets Numb Your Tastebuds:

This one isn't going to be popular, but the most interesting, least expected thing I noticed was that I tasted everything more.

One might expect that my sense of taste for sweetness would become more sensitive (which it definitely did), but what surprised me was that all the other flavors came through more clearly as well. I stopped putting salt on things, plain vegetables or brown rice were more delicious than ever.

Also, I desired lighter, healthier foods. It made all my other dietary goals easier. Bread, cheese and anything rich or heavy turned me off. I couldn't eat it. Give me steamed Kale! Bring on the Spinach! Collards here I come!

Last night I stopped eating the piece of bread I had thought would be so good, and got a second bowl of plain steamed collards... because my tastebuds wanted it. Who am I?

In conclusion, I would recommend this experiment to anyone interested in their health and their body (I also happened to lose about 10 lbs, if that's your thing).

Life is not always how we think it is, and doesn't have to be like it's always been.

In other news, this is what Kripalu looks like: (hurray!!)

Exploring the Yoga of Life

2009-12-03T08:08:00.000-08:00

Before I came to Kripalu, my Dad asked me why I do yoga. My stock answer is "because everything in my life is better when I do yoga".

And it's true.

I feel better emotionally, physically, and spiritually, I'm calmer and more present, I enjoy things more, I eat better and have more energy. I make better decisions and my mind is clearer.

The other thing I really love about yoga though, is that it's a metaphor for life. On a very real level for me, yoga is life/life is yoga, because it's a way of looking at things, and a way of living.

Kripalu's slogan is "exploring the yoga of life" and I couldn't think of better words to describe why I'm here.

Yes, I'm here to live my yoga.

The yoga that most people are familiar with (asana: postures) is only one part of it, but it is where most people start and is a very important part of the path.

Asana is like practice for life:

We purposely put ourselves in stressful situations (postures that require strength and/or flexibility), to practice dealing with whatever comes up (discomfort, anger, fear, frustration). It brings into focus how we react to situations in daily life. It breaks down our patterns so they're easier to see.

How you are in yoga, is very likely how you are in life.

When your muscles start to quiver, do you immediately back out of the pose? or do you stay steady? Do you push you edge?

If you usually back out, can you stay in? If you usually push, can you back off without judging yourself?

If the teacher guides the class into a pose you've never done, do you sit back and say I can't do that? or do you try it out?

I think my favorite thing about yoga (and it shares this with outdoor adventure activities) is that it allows people to do things they thought they couldn't do.

Which hopefully prompts the question: what else in my life can I accomplish that I think I can't?

Through my experiences as a TRiP leader I saw many students climb a rock they thought was impossible or raft a whitewater river that scared the crap out of them. To see that look of surprised confidence on their faces was the most rewarding part of my job. I'm not a yoga teacher (yet) but I can imagine it's a similar experience.

Tempting Fate

2009-12-01T07:45:00.000-08:00

Week 4 of my 1-month fast from all things sweetly delicious.

Right now I work in Veggie Prep (VP) to earn my keep here at Kripalu.

As much as I love chopping Kale for hours on end (actually, I really do like my job), I'm moving on next semester to learn a thing or two about commercial baking! I got accepted to work in the bakery for next semester (only two volunteers get to do this awesome job).

I've been going into the bakery on my days off from VP to train and get a feel for the place so I'm not starting from scratch in January (pun intended).

I love baking so much, that when I'm done in there, it still feels like I had a day off.

It puts me in a bit of a situation for right now though...

Baking brownies and not eating any?

Throwing away the last little bit of cookie dough?

Washing off a perfectly lickable spatula full of icing?

Sacrilege!

One day last week, I found myself with fingers inches from my mouth, maple syrup dripping off them after a slight spill... years of tasting-while-I-cook habits propelling my movements... then slowly, deliberately, I brought my fingers down to my apron and wiped them off as tear slid down my cheek (okay, so it wasn't quite that dramatic, but it was a big step for me!)

December 8th, I have my eye on you.

ps. It's SNOWING!!! (after 8 years living in places that don't have winter, I'm actually excited that this is the view from my window)

Sugar Update

2009-11-22T17:03:00.000-08:00

I was a little delayed in writing the last post. I in fact stopped eating sweets on the 8th, and so today marks the beginning of my third week.

But lets rehash...

Week 1: easy peasy! I was full of resolve and also the support of my community here, as I made my intentions public (pride won't let me fail now!)

Early Week 2: Definitely a little withdrawal... I was grouchy one day and my co-worker said "Geez Ali, go eat some sugar or something!" but overall not too hard.

Really cool opportunity to observe my patterns:

While I have been quite aware of certain patterns (sweets as comfort, sweets as reward, sweets as distraction) I wasn't really aware of how much of my eating was quite impulsive and "under the radar"

how many times I almost just grabbed something and stuffed it in my mouth without being aware of whether or not I even wanted it (and realizing that my body pretty much never wants it, but my mind wants it a lot).

Late Week 2/Today: I just want something sweet! and NOT a fucking sweet potato! (but yes, they do taste sweeter than ever before)

The bakery is next door to veggie prep (where I work) and I swear they must be trying to make me fail.

The two days ago they put 3 (THREE!!) brownies on the drink table and I must've walked by them 18 times. Usually any bakery gifts are gone within minutes, but these sat there all. day. GAHHHH!

Then today, there was an entire pan on cranberry walnut muffins leftover from breakfast and the dining room staff just decided to give it to veggie prep... and, oh wait - the bakery gave us some cookies they messed up... AHHHH

I was told the day three would be hardest and cravings would subside after that, well apparently for me it's week 3.

Another interesting observation is that mealtime has gotten a whole lot less exciting for me. I used to spend a very good portion of my day thinking about food

what I had just eaten, what was for the next meal, what I was cutting, what I wanted to eat that night, what I might eat on my break, what I hadn't eaten in a while and missed

but it's really gotten less interesting... good? maybe.

Sugar

2009-11-18T08:04:00.000-08:00

doo doo doo doot doo doo ohhh honey honey....

It's over. We're breaking up. And just like any other relationship, we need to spend some time apart before we can try to be friends again.

So I've decided to give up sweets for one month. This will be hard, as I have a ravenous sweet tooth, and use sweet things to make myself feel better when I feel sad, reward myself when I feel good, give me energy when I have none and several situations in between.

I thought about just giving up sugar, but in a place like Kripalu where honey, agave and brown rice syrup are available at any given moment and most baked goods are made with other sweeteners like maple syrup or sucanat, I figured that would be too easy.

Besides, it's the pattern of eating sweet things I want to address more than simply taking sugar out of my diet.

I will also continue to avoid gluten and dairy as I have been doing since I found out during my elimination diet that they don't do good things for my body, but the main focus will be sweets, so if I want a piece of bread sometime this month, I'm just gonna go for it.

Why give up sweets? I'm doing it for several reasons

Physical:

I want to see how my body feels and what my energy levels are like without sweets in my system.

Sweets depress the immune system and with winter coming for me for the first time in 9 years, I can use all the sickness fighting ability I can get.

Mental/Emotional:

Besides the challenge of disciplining myself not to eat something I love and have probably eaten just about every day of my life until now, I want to unravel my patterns.

I know that I eat emotionally sometimes, and also use food as a reward, but despite analyzing this issue for a while now, I haven't made much progress on understanding it, and can't seem to make changes in my behavior.

Spiritual:

As part of the volunteer program, we have weekly classes about yoga called "Off the Mat". Two weeks ago, we had a lecture about the yamas and niyamas (guiding principles/practices of yoga such as non-violence and contentment). Our teacher asked us to choose one to work with for the next several weeks and I chose Brahmacharya (restraint, conservation of energy, recognition of the divine as omnipresent).

I found it hard to keep this in my mind and so I devised this 1-month sweet restraint practice because I knew it would consistently remind me to examine Brahmacharya in my life.

Also, in general, one of the practices of yoga (as in buddhist mindfulness) is to be aware of your cravings and aversions, rather than simply reacting to them (that brownie looks delicious - hmm I find myself eating a brownie, how did this happen?)

So I'll keep you all posted about any discoveries I make on this journey. Support in the form of blog comments or snail mail is highly appreciated.

Birthday

2009-11-08T04:19:00.000-08:00

Thank you for all the wonderful birthday calls, cards, e-mails and facebook wall posts. They sure make a girl feel special.

I had quite a nice birthday here at Kripalu. A community member was leaving and we had a combined "Farewell Troy and Happy Birthday to all the Scorpios" party in the volunteer common area complete with drumming, dancing and a snackluck (we get free meals here, so instead of a potluck we all brought our favorite snack).

The next day I went bouldering with some friends

So fun!

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T17:46:00.000-07:00

BROCALI

Addicted to Tension

2009-10-28T07:15:00.000-07:00

Last week I did a program with Seane Corn called Detox Flow. We did a lot of intense postures, building heat and twisting and detoxing our bodies with yoga. What I wasn't expecting was her emphasis on emotional detox as well.

She said on the first night "We are addicted to our tension" and I thought: sure lots of people, but not me, I'm pretty flexible and get massages, I have an active job and I don't sit in front of the computer a lot. I thought of people with office jobs and long commutes, yeah it's fair to say that lots of people are addicted to their tension.

Oh wait - she meant beyond the physical body...

As she kept talking I realized that I am quite addicted to tension in my life.

Pay the bill at the last minute? tension
Start studying the night before the exam? tension
Minimally planned travel? tension
Leave thing unsaid in a relationship? tension

I may not have much muscle tension, but I have tons of emotional tension.

Tension between the known and the unknown, between desires and fears.

Not all bad of course; some tension in life is what keeps it exciting and as a lover of adventure, I cherish that.

What Seane's workshop made me realize though, is that I have to own that tension because much of it I choose for myself, and if I realize that it's not serving me, I can choose to let go of it.

Unpacking

2009-10-27T06:53:00.000-07:00

It's been really nice to settle into Kripalu.

Beginning March of this year, I've packed and unpacked my bags a ridiculous number of times:

Starting with packing up all my stuff in Chiang Mai, then staying in about 15 different places while traveling Bali, Malaysia & Southern Thailand, then living out of my suitcase back in Chiang Mai for a few weeks, lugging everything back to Florida, visiting Gainesville, packing for Canada while unsure whether I would be following that with a stay at Kripalu, visiting Padg in Toronto, going to Guelph, up to Muskoka, right back to Guelph again, a couple trips to Ottawa... in sum, I haven't felt able to unpack literally or metahporically for a while.

Almost immediately upon arriving at Kripalu though, I felt at home. I unpacked all my possessions the first night, and have since been unpacking emotionally.

I had planned to stay at Kripalu for the minimum 4 months, but have since decided to stay for at least another 4 (till May). The program here is one of deep self-inquiry and personal growth and in order to really "unpack" some of the issues I'd like to delve into, I need to know I'll be here for a while.

Apple Cider & Pumpkin Pie

2009-10-22T17:35:00.000-07:00

If you've been reading since I started blogging, you might remember how much I missed Fall last year (to the slightly desperate degree of downloading desktop wallpaper pictures from google...)

But this year is completely making up for it. Yeah, Fall in New England is pretty incredible.

I've been hiking around the property, smelling that decomposing-leafy smell and stopping ridiculously often to bend down and say "This one! This one is so beautiful!"

I've been having fun getting crafty too

and every weekend Kripalu gets a big delivery of fresh apple cider... and the new fall menu is replete with squash and pumpkin and apple and parsnip dishes including butternut squash lasagna - amazing (totally worth the post-consumption gluten/dairy stomachache).

I'm making the most of it while it lasts, because whispers of winter are already in the air...

Living at a Yoga Retreat Center

2009-10-15T04:00:00.000-07:00

So it turns out that Kripalu is kind of a big deal.

Last week CBS came and filmed a yoga class I was in for a piece they did on contemporary American spirituality (funny to see yourself on TV...)

The week before, superstar self-help author Byron Katie was here lecturing and before that, Deepak Chopra packed in about 600 people.

The other day, I was in the sauna with Shiva Rea (pretty famous yoga teacher).

While I'm not really one to get starstruck, it is kind of cool having some of the big names around because they often open up their programs to staff & volunteers. I've already become a bit spoiled:

Hmm, should I go to Shiva Rea's Trance Dance class or just walk under the full moon? (I opted for moon...)

There is definitely a downside to having celebrities in the house though, and not just that I have to cut twice as many vegetables. When a famous person is doing a program here, that person draws groupies - lots of them.

So for that weekend, my home is overrun.

It feels kind of like on the holidays when all your relatives come over and you don't know everyone that well, but you have to be polite and the house is a little too full and all you want to do is go about your business. ("I live here, okay?!")

But really? who am I to complain? I get to live where people come for retreat.

The entire energy of this place is dedicated to feeling good.

Sure, I work, but really not that much, and veggie prep is actually quite fun.

Hmm, this yoga class looks a little full, I guess I'll just go down to the whirlpool...

Getting a Feel for Kripalu

2009-10-13T19:32:00.000-07:00

To give you an idea of the kind of place Kripalu is, let me describe the "All Staff Meeting" I attended yesterday:

As I mentioned before, Kripalu is kind of like a giant beached yogic cruise ship, and so a meeting with all the staff involved around 200 people. From kitchen, to registration, to front desk, to marketing, household, finance, etc... it's technically a non-profit, but the meeting felt quite corporate as the CEO displayed a powerpoint with a financial slide showing revenues of $27 million and "guest nights" of almost 90,000.

What made it Kripalu though was that all this started with a centering meditation and an "OM"

Totally awesome.

Contacting Ali at Kripalu

2009-10-03T14:53:00.001-07:00

I don't currently have a phone (it's actually really nice not have one), but you can call me and leave a message on my skype number:

772-360-4303

If I happen to be on skype at the time, I will answer, otherwise just leave a message and I'll call you back.

Also, if you feel like sending some snail mail (have I mentioned how much I love handwritten letters?) my address is:

Alison Mills

Kripalu Center c/o PATH

PO Box 309

57 Interlaken Rd.

Stockbridge, MA

01262

Kripalu Volunteer Program

2009-10-01T13:53:00.000-07:00

The Gist:

I am currently living in Western Massachusetts at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health. I am part of a 4-month live-in volunteer program in yoga and self-inquiry. I work 35 hours/week in exchange for room, food, yoga, workshops, and a few other perks.

I love it and am so happy right now.

A Little More:

*Kripalu Center:

Kripalu used to be an ashram and is now a non-profit education yoga center (the largest in North America). It has a "Retreat & Renewal" program that includes yoga classes and other workshops taught by Kripalu faculty. The center also hosts outside presenters who lead weekend or week-long workshops in yoga, health, self-development, outdoor activities, creativity and lots more.

It is located in the Berkshire Hills (close to the border of New York) and the surroundings are really beautiful. Lots of hiking trails that I am loving.

(The main building is like a beached cruise ship - it's gigantic - 4 acres of floor space!)

*The Volunteer Program:

A crew of 60 volunteers helps to run Kripalu and we work for 4 months at a time. In addition to living and working at the center, volunteers take part in weekly classes in yoga philosophy and pyschology, peer mentoring groups, and are free to attend any yoga classes, other workshops or events (see perks below) when they're not working.

A big part of the program is simply living in community and being part of each other's lives. I live in a room with two other women in a big building with lots of other people. A lot of emotional, personal things come up while in the program and there is a lot of space held and support provided for doing personal work and self-exploration.

The people here are wonderful.

*My Seva:

The program is considered karma yoga: the yoga of action, and a big part of this is our work. Our "seva" is our selfless service to the community and mine is veggie prep and I LOVE IT.

We prepare all the vegetables for the kitchen, which means we chop veggies for 7 hours/day.

We work in the basement kitchen and we have a great time. We listen to music and chat and dance and sing and haul around giant boxes of kale and sweet potatotes and carrots, cutting and washing and putting all our love into the food.

We feed 200-600 people 3 meals every day and so the quantities are incredible. The other day I chopped 98 gallons of kale. It took me ALL DAY.

Because it's such a big kitchen, we have all sort of fun machines to help with the big quantities, like a Robot Coupe and a Halde (big chopper-dicers) and a fancy big scrubber (we drop in big bins of carrots or beets and it spins them around with big rolling brushes and water - way cool). Another thing I think it just great fun is that we get to power wash the floors at the end of the day. I mean, when do you get to dump soapy water on the floor, spray it with a giant hose and then squeegee it? Okay, I'm sure the novelty will wear off eventually, but right now I'm having so much fun with it.

*The Food:

Kripalu has AMAZING food. If you know me, you know what an important factor that is in my satisfaction with the place. It's really healthy, mostly vegetarian, lots of gluten-free stuff (even decent gluten-free bread!) and most of it is organic and local. It's beautiful and fantastic.

*Perks of the Program:

I am really impressed with how awesome they make it to be a volunteer. In addition to yoga and other workshops, there are nightly events like concerts, drum circles, kirtan (traditional Indian devotional chanting), speakers, and movies.

There is also a whirlpool and sauna we have free access to, we get discounts on massages and other healing arts, several free guest passes for friends and family, and two free programs (weekend workshops by outside presenters, normally $200-$400).

So:

a) if you are in the area, come by; I can get you in free!

b) I'm extremely happy here and know I'm in the right place in my life right now

Georgian Bay Kayak

2009-09-23T10:25:00.000-07:00

As the capstone experience to my Ontario summer, I went kayaking with my Dad and Sally on Georgian Bay for a week.

It was gorgeous weather with sparkling, clear water and bright sunshine.

I love it up there and it was a wonderful opportunity to feel the expansive calm of the wilderness

We paddled, did yoga and ate really well

especially the morning on an island with wild blueberries, raspberries and blackberries

It's pretty wild up there. We saw very few people, and of course in the absence of people, there is the opportunity to see animals, like this cute bear

for more pictures you can look at this facebook album (you don't need to have facebook to see it!)

Ontario Summer

2009-09-13T12:21:00.000-07:00

While it started out a little rough, and there were a few existential crises in the middle, in the end I would have to say my summer in Ontario went quite well.

I'm now at the Kripalu Yoga Center in Massachusetts, about which I will blog soon, but I wanted to share a few experiences from my summer first since I haven't written much yet.

One thing that called me home from Thailand was the bounty of an Ontario summer and I was not disappointed.

My Dad and Sally (stepmom) had a garden plot at an organic farm just outside of town. I frequently went overboard on the harvesting (it's just so fun!) and ended up with trunkloads of veggies.

I also volunteered with an organization running a CSA with organic veggies grown in unused urban backyards and learned a lot from their awesome farmer, Scott. And of course, Guelph has a wonderful farmer's market that I enjoyed every Saturday.

I found food gardening to be fun and immediately rewarding (hehe) - as in, sit yourself down in the cherry tomato patch with your harvesting container: "one for me, one for you, one for me, one for me...."
but also rewarding in the more metaphorical sense of growing your own food and cooking with local, fresh, organic ingredients.

For anyone who has never harvested potatoes before, let me tell you: It's MAGIC.
You scrape some dirt away from the bottom of the plant and there are potatoes just lying there! It's like digging for treasure, but easier.

I had a lot of fun experimenting with cooking and preserving foods as well: pesto, sauerkraut, kimchee, soups, breads (when you leave the zucchinis on the vine too long, they get huge and you end up with a giant bin of them... and then what do you do but make zucchini, dark chocolate, cherry bread?)

and of course, there's nothing better than just plain fresh (I mean FRESH) veggies in a salad

Another highlight of my summer was Kayaking for a week on Georgian Bay. I'll post about that next time!

....and Sometimes Plans Change

2009-07-12T20:03:00.000-07:00

I haven't written in a while. I've had a bit of a hard time.

The plans I had to come to work this summer with an old friend/lover fell through in a heartbreaking way. So I've been mending my heart and figuring out new directions to walk.

I was warmly welcomed back into my Dad and Stepmom's home which made all the difference. I had gone up to the place where I was to work and it became clear that it was not where I was supposed to be for the summer. So I came back to Guelph.

One month goes along and some ups and downs, but generally I am doing well these days. I am volunteering with an organization that turns unused urban backyards into organic vegetables for a CSA. I am working food prep at a raw food cafe.

My home hosts a musical jam every Tuesday and I am remembering my singing voice and my drumming hands... as well as exploring the other creative avenues artsy Guelph has to offer, making some new friends and reconnecting with old ones.

A friend reminded me that while I was in Thailand, one of the biggest draws to come back to Canada was the summer produce. Fresh spring greens, first strawberries, tart rhubarb, fat raspberries, late-summer peaches...whatever else has happened, in this I have not been disappointed.

Harvesting Honey

2009-06-04T17:09:00.000-07:00

While I was in Florida, I got to join my good friend Ethan at his parents' house for a honey harvest. His mom and a few of her friends keep bees in his parents' backyard and the whole neighborhood comes over to help/watch.

First they smoke the bees to calm them down and make them go away so they don't get squished while the racks full of honeycomb get moved around.

Then you take a special hot knife and slice off the wax that holds the honey in...

and then the honey comes oozing out and you lose all self-control.

Once you've gorged yourself on honey-filled beeswax, you put two racks in the centrifuge and crank away

then the honey comes pouring out the bottom

Oh. My. God. Delicious.

Somebody's learning the Future Perfect...

2009-06-02T20:55:00.000-07:00

I got an e-mail from a past student asking what courses I was teaching this semester (I feel so loved), and when I replied saying I was no longer in Thailand I got this:

Dear teacher

I don't know when you come back your country.
you will come back to thailand?
I hope you will have been a success everything.
I will have missed you.Thank you for everytime.

Or perhaps we could say "learning" the future perfect...

which brings me to my new favorite blog that made me laugh so hard I cried last week:

The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks - check it out

I supposed this outs me as a grammar snob. Well, then I might as well share this too, from The Economy Isn't Happening: a rant about the over(and incorrect)use of the word literally.

Enjoy!

Going Home

2009-05-27T18:47:00.000-07:00

It's always a sad moment when you realize that the only thing you and old friends have in common is your past. All you have to talk about is memories.

I was glad to find out that was generally not the case with friends in Gainesville. Of course there was reminiscing, and laughter about old jokes, but we also still had lots to talk about: sharing new interests, books, recipes, and resources.

I lived in Gainesville for a greater portion of my time in Florida than in Vero Beach, and so going there feels like going home.

I made a list of all my favorite restaurants and things to do and was excited to go back. (A friend in Chiang Mai warned me about doing this too much - "you can't go home" he said, "nothing ever tastes the same").

I realized, however (with the help of 55 degree weather and never-ending rain), that most of the things I like to do in Gainesville require sunshine to actually be enjoyable, and so I spent much of my time in a great new coffeeshop, Volta.

While part of me objected ("Ali, I can't believe you came all the way to Gainesville and you're not eating/doing/seeing/going to _______!!!") part of me knew that:

a) This is what I needed:

I did a whole lot of nothing, just reading articles and writing e-mails and journaling, but it gave my mind a chance to catch up with my body and I left Gainesville with a lot more clarity and a lot less culture shock than I had had in Vero.

b) My Chiang Mai friend was right:

If I tried to force my old experiences, they wouldn't have been the same, because it's not really the thing you do or the taste of the food, it's the people you're with and the circumstances under which you experience them that make them that good.

I allowed myself to have a new, organic experience and enjoyed myself all the more for it.

Culture Shock - with Odd Timing

2009-05-14T13:40:00.000-07:00

My first week back was totally fine. I did all sorts of fun things, enjoyed myself and even though that maybe... miraculously... I had evaded culture shock?

Well, not quite. Week 2 (pretty much to the day), I started to feel quite miserable, out of sorts and out of place. All the normal things I do to make myself happy when I'm at home (yoga, writing, reading, cooking, eating, watching movies, listening to music) weren't working. I still felt a vague restlessness and underlying anxiety. I didn't know what I wanted - just not this.

I finally went to beach for some quiet time - no books, no music, no other people.

I walked, I ran, I did yoga, I swam in the ocean and the pool, did handstands, and sat on the beach... and I finally started to feel okay.

Nothing like the vastness of the ocean to make your problems seem small.

I started to feel like I was at home - at least in myself if not my surroundings.

A little Perspective:

I decided looking at the ocean, that I needed some perspective on things. Two ways I know how to do that are:

1) Get outside

2) Go to Wal-mart (let me explain)

When I go to Wal-mart, I invariably see many of the things I hate about this culture: overweight, unhappy looking people (often being mean/rude to their spouse/kids) all sorts of junk you don't need, and obnoxious leering men/boys.

By going to Wal-mart, I am reminded to be grateful for all that I have (I don't have to work there, or shop there) all that I am (not those fat ladies smacking their kids around while they load cheez-its into the cart) and all the wonderful people I have in my life .

(If I'm really lucky, I even remember to have compassion for people who do shop there!)

Getting outside always works to make me feel better about life, so I went to a nearby state park with marshes and prairies, and was joined by gators, birds, foxes, raccoons, deer and bunnies.

this little guy was prancing along until he saw me and got low!

Not Quite There Yet:

While it's getting better, it's not over yet.

This morning I pulled out of the driveway and saw someone in the oncoming lane! I said out loud to myself "What the fuck is he doing?!" and my automatic reaction was to get further to the left of him - but there was no more road over there...

I then realized that everyone else coming towards me was in that lane too, and swerved back over to the right...

After 2 weeks of safe driving, I thought this was odd timing, but I guess culture shock affects us in unpredictable ways.

Oh well, coming back - slowly but surely!

Mainland Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur, Melaka and Penang

2009-04-29T23:22:00.000-07:00

Dated: March 18th - 25th

After Bali, I spent about 2 weeks traveling around Malaysia. Overall, not my favorite country; nothing really stood out (food, natural beauty, culture, activities, etc.) it was all okay, and interesting to see, but for me, I wouldn't go back.

Kuala Lumpur:

I'm not a big city person, so I didn't spend much time in KL, just long enough to see a few things, try the food and catch my bus to Melaka.

I don't even know why I bother going to big cities, the first thing I always do is find a green space and chill out there.

I went to the botanical gardens, and got a nice view of the tower

Next day I went to Melaka, a cute town on the west coast, with a nice Chinatown and (supposedly) good food.

I rented a bike and meandered around the old town. It seems that all Malaysian towns follow the same pattern: Chinatown, Little India, and a shopping district with strip malls and western stores.

Chinatown was cute and I tried the local specialty, Laksa, a coconut milk curry with noodles, fish and seafood. Good, but not spectacular.

Found some nice deity statues and good flowers for my altar

and Melaka does have the most pimped out rikshaws

The coolest park of Melaka was the guesthouse I stayed in: Emily Traveler's Home

sitting area

jungle shower

garden

It had a very homey, community feel (I was introduced to everyone staying there within 5 minutes of arriving) and my first night we had a barbeque all together using the (amazing) table/barbeque that the owners (two cool brothers) had made.

It's a stone and wood table that turns into a grill! so cool!

Penang:

Penang is famous for it's fusion cuisine and culture, mixing Chinese, Indian, and local Malay flavors.

I found this not to be the case. I found that the cultures (and food) were very segregated; each had it's own area of town, very separate from the others.

I think the segregation leads to a feeling of disharmony in the country. Overall, I felt a bit ill at ease in Malaysia; it distinctly lacked the feeling of community and harmony that I felt in Bali and Thailand.

There's a lot to be said for multiculturalism, and I grew up thinking that was the best way for a country to be (this is sort of assumed in Canada) but I'm beginning to appreciate the peaceful sense of calm that seems to come from having a single cohesive culture/religion in a country.

As elsewhere in Malaysia, there was a "modern" part of town, where I felt like I could have been in suburban Miami: big boulevards, half-hearted landscaping with palm trees, lots of concrete, subdivisions, and strip malls with western stores (Starbucks, Borders, Toys'R'Us, etc.) - lame.

I stayed in Chinatown at this dingy (but so cheap!) guesthouse where the (very large) Indian owner decided he loved me (buying me food, flowers, tea...) and that he needed to bless me (by touching my face and hugging me and massaging my shoulders) several times a day... awkward? yes.

I thought Penang was pretty ugly, concrete-y, and uninteresting , and the food not so great. I ate Indian most of the time, and it was okay.

Oh well. There was a cool temple (whoa, haven't seen one of those before...)

and a big hill you could take a funicular up and was supposed to be "nature" but was totally paved and boring though it had a nice view

and a cool Hindu temple

There were two cool "touristy" things about the Penang area:

Butterfly Garden (outside of Penang):

feeding on a vanilla plant

mirror image

for my mom

and Batu Ferringhi, a beach (also not in Penang..haha)

Maybe I was just spoiled by Bali... ;)