Keep Running, Keep Loving

The thing that stands out most for me in the midst of the most recent unbelievable tragedy in Boston is the number of people who stepped up to do good — even in the face of such unthinkable evil. It’s terrible that it only takes one person dropping bombs into trash cans to cause mayhem and chaos, but what isn’t terrible, what is truly great and inspiring and equally unbelievable is the number of people prepared to lend a hand in that same chaos.

The world we live is doesn’t always make sense. People do crazy, selfish, unreasonable and horrible things that make us all question humanity, but the light in this world is the number of people prepared to put themselves in danger to undo even the nastiest of things. We see it time and again in every tragedy that comes up — people running towards the danger, people carrying others from the rubble, people putting other people’s well being before their own safety. And those people are the measure of our society.

So I’ll always be horrified by the terrible things that people are capable of. My jaw will drop every time someone walks into a school and starts shooting children. My eyes will water every time I hear of someone blowing up a celebration of dedication and pursuit of excellence. My heart will drop when I think about how easy it is to do such terrible things. But what I will always return to, what will always console me, what will always give me hope is that there are more people willing to help in those situations even though helping is 100 times harder than being the person behind the chaos.

It is not easy to be a hero and yet every time something like this happens hundreds of them show up out of no where. People that were just spectators become brave beyond belief. So I choose to celebrate the heros. I choose to stand with the people who make a difference. And I choose not to live into the fear of being blown up or shot at. I choose hope.

A picture of the boston marathon finish line that I took for a friend the day before the explosions. Still living in disbelief.

A picture of the boston marathon finish line that I took for a friend the day before the explosions. Still living in disbelief.

I implore all runners to sign up for the next marathon and give a whole hearted, passionate, loud as hell fuck you to the person who chose terror over peace. I implore all people to live for the heros and the peace keepers. Because what I go to bed every night thankful for is that for every nut job with a backpack and a bomb there are about 1,000 decent human beings who honor and respect their fellow man and will go to any lengths to help anyone.

In the face of terror do what you do every day better than you did it the day before. Be more thankful than you were yesterday. And help more people today than you did all last week. Keep running, keep loving, keep hoping and keep dreaming — because giving up on those things, quitting because you’re scared of the terrorists is far more frightening than the fact that evil exists.

“Be the change that you want to see in this world.” It’s a simple quote – but Ghandi knew what the fuck he was talking about.

Thinking of Boston,
Heather C

Awesome Things, Lifestyle, The Planet

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April 16, 2013

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365 Days Later

A year ago, when I started this blog, I said I had two rules about yoga:

1) Never take yourself too seriously
2) Do what you can and love it

While these are a great place to start, I’ve learned that both life and yoga are a bit more complicated than that. Considering the things that I’ve learned in the past 365 days of intermittent writing, I’d like to share with you a couple more rules I’ve picked up along the way:

The first two remain the same:

1) Never take yourself too seriously – If you do you’ll end up spending your life wondering what everyone else is smiling about. Life it too short to scowl and too fast to spend time being embarrassed whenever you fuck up. Laugh off the little stuff, apologize about the big stuff and crack jokes about everything else. Warrior 1 really isn’t all that serious. And neither are the f-ing Yamas and Niyamas, dude.

2) Do what you can and love it – Whether that applies to what you’re doing with your life or what you’re doing on your mat, just love it. If you don’t have handstand, work on it and in the mean time, love your headstand. If you have open hips but weak shoulders, appreciate that child-birth will be easier for you while taking it easy with your knees down in chaturanga. Give up on grasping for shit and love where you are now. You’re going to be bummed out that you spent every day hoping for tomorrow when the time comes that today’s the day you’re going to die. Develop the habit of living for the moment now – it’ll come in handy when it’s the last one you’ve got.

The new ones are:

3) Be fearless – If you break your toe doing a drunken handstand don’t give up on getting upside down. Get back on the handstand horse and ride, ride, ride. Life’s full of set backs, rather than worrying about them, dive into them. Nothing in my life has scared me more than moving to New York City. And nothing has ever made me happier. Big risks = big rewards.

4) Say thank you – You don’t get anywhere on your own. So appreciate the people who have gotten you where you are today. All the people. Love and thank your friends and family for being such bomb ass people in your life, but thank the douche bags, too. If everyone you’d ever met was your friend you wouldn’t be half as great a person as you are now. For every unpleasant human you’ve met, you’ve learned something about yourself. Every shitty situation you’ve landed in has taught you something about you. And, if on the off-chance you saw something you didn’t like about your typically wonderful self, guess what! Bet you won’t make that mistake again. Remember: How people treat you is their karma, how you react is yours. And there’s no better reaction to another human being than a simple and polite, thank you. 

5) Do your fucking yoga - You can blow as much theory out your ass as you want, but until you practice yoga (physically, mentally, spiritually, it’s really all the same thing if you get non-dualism) then you’re just being a poser (and not in the cool cover of Yoga Journal way). Do yoga. Do it in everything you do and do it the best you can. Let this ring true: How you do one thing is how you do everything.

6) Never give up - Yeah, handstand is tough. So is algebra, saying good-bye and taking the high road. Don’t ever give up. Don’t ever stop being yourself. Always be humble, but never give up on who you are. Handstand is beautiful and amazing and impressive because not everyone can do it. It’s great because of the effort it takes to get there. Of course you’re not just going to do handstand. It’s not being upside down that blows people away, it’s the work that allowed you to get upside down. It’s a pretty simple rule: Fall down seven times, get up eight. 

Over 365 days ago I started writing things down. Someone asked me what I wanted to do with my life and I said write and they asked me if I was doing it.

I wasn’t.

So I started. It cost me $17 to register a domain name. It wasn’t fancy, it wasn’t planned, it wasn’t strategic, it just was created. And while it’s not bound and published or a New York Times best seller (yet), it is the writing that I am most proud of. Because it has always been and will always be my point of view.

Put quite simply (and wittily, if I do say so) it is the view from  my mat.

Stay tuned, friends and yogis, something tells me this next year is going to be a big one.

XO (as always),
Heather C

Lifestyle, Yoga

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March 14, 2013

5 Comments

In Good Times & Bad: Do Yoga

Over the past four years yoga has carried me through some wild times. I found it ever-so-randomly through a college internship gone strangely downward facing dog. And it has been a staple, a constant and a comfort in my life ever since my Teacher Training in 2010. There’s no great story around how or why I got into yoga. Considering the fact that my college friends and I were more into frat parties than drum circles, the story is simply that I, of all people, got into it at all.

That being said since becoming a certified adult by graduating college the thing that has carried me through some of the weirdest and most wonderful times in my life has been yoga. The thing I have leaned on during transitions, break ups & cross country moves has also been yoga.

I can tell my relationship with yoga is lifelong, because I always need it. I don’t just turn to it when things are rockin’ and rollin’ and I don’t run to it when the road gets rough. My yoga mat, my downdog, my vinyasa, my teachers have been there for me when I had a million things to do or when I didn’t know WTF to do. And now, following an amazing birthday where I was surprised by everyone I love in one way or another, I can honestly say that as I make my way (slowly) towards being middle aged (in 24 years) I know that yoga is my lifestyle, my religion and what I want to spend my life doing.

There is always time for yoga. There is always a reason to get on your mat. If ever you find yourself looking for a reason not to go to yoga I challenge you to make that the reason you do go to yoga. Am I getting too convoluted? Allow me to simplify:

Reasons you have come up with not to go to yoga: 

  • I have kids
  • I have a deadline
  • It’s early
  • It’s late
  • I’m afraid to get into it
  • I haven’t been in a while
  • I sweat a lot
  • I feel fat in my yoga pants
  • I’m having a terrible day
  • I’m busy
  • Work is crazy
  • And, my favorite, I don’t have time

Now, reasons why you should go to yoga: 

  • I have kids
  • I have a deadline
  • It’s early
  • It’s late
  • I’m afraid to get into it
  • I haven’t been in a while
  • I sweat a lot
  • I feel fat in my yoga pants
  • I’m having a terrible day
  • I’m busy
  • Work is crazy
  • And, my favorite, I don’t have time

You will come up with a million reasons not to go to yoga, but the bottom line is this: no one ever leaves a yoga class and wishes they hadn’t stepped onto their mat. Life is full of shit: great shit, terrible shit, mindless shit, errands and children and partners who don’t get why downward facing dog is like dropping to your knees and praying. But regardless of all that shit, you still have yoga class. And as I’ve said before: when you think you don’t have time for yoga and you have a millions reasons not to go, that’s when you need more than ever to grab your mat and get your ass to yoga.

In good times, in bad times, in busy times – it’s always a good time for yoga time.

XO
Heather C

Asanas, Awesome Things, Lifestyle, Yoga

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February 19, 2013

10 Comments

The Journey Is About the Company: A celebration

Yesterday I did a SoulCycle class to end my last day as a 25-year-old. As usual we were getting our ass kicked by Kym at SoulCycle Noho. Sprint, after sprint, after sprint and we were totally wiped. But as always she had that one final song to really make us hurt. And more importantly, to make us think.

That last song is always the one you need to dig deep for, you’ve got to find inspiration from somewhere, from anywhere. Today, it was easier for me than usual.

The song was Ben Howard’s “Old Pine”. The very song that one of my best friends in the world introduced me to. The song I played time-after-time during savasana when I was teaching yoga in Miami. I’ve got nostalgia woven like an F-ing web around that song.

And sweating my ass off, beat red, tired, ready to unclip my shoes, have a tantrum and quit I thought of the thing that has been so important to me over the past 26 years:

The people who have been with me.

So this post is for all of them, every single friend I’ve had over the years, the things they have taught me, the absurd laughs they’ve had with me, the good times they’ve shared with me.

To the best friend I’ve known my whole life, and will know, until I the day I die. The one who dug holes in the dirt with me, went through childhood with me and understands me better than anyone I’ve ever known.

To that unique and faithful Crew who carried me through high school and helped me to get through those awkward years where all sorts of things seemed to be going wrong. The people who showed (and continue to show) me how to be myself above all else. 

To the posse I met in college who lived through the beers, tears, trips to the hospital(s) and beyond. The family we had to create because we were randomly assigned to know each other. The people who (sometimes literally) carried me into adulthood with no questions asked.

To the friends I have lost or disconnected with; despite anything, we shared a time in our lives together and I am thankful to you for helping me arrive where I am as the person who I am.

To that faithful roommate who put up with untold numbers of bizarre behavior including but not limited to: extreme sloppiness, sleep walking, random acts of hunger-induced-rage, and occasional bouts of passive aggressiveness. To knowing that addresses may change, but roommates are for life.

To those yogi pals who are constantly encouraging and impossibly talented, while still so human, real and down to earth. The people who have been and continue to be my teachers – thank you for taking your experiences on the mat and using them to show me who to be on my own.

To those friends who welcomed me to New York and accepted me without question or hesitation. Who showed me the city and made me feel as though I’ve always belonged here. And get up at 6:45am just to sweat with me on my birthday.

To that fella who has been a friend for so long and will always be that above all else. Thank you for making me laugh and for being so stupid amazing. 

And to the friends I’ve had forever: My amazing family. Thank you so much for simply always being there. And more than that – for always being who you are. Thank you for making me proud every day to be a part of such a sarcastic, thoughtful, hysterical and caring group.

To all of you: THANK YOU.

About a month ago I was drop-dead, scared shitless, irrationally upset about leaving the 18-25-year-old check box (you know, on applications and official forms)… But what I realized in what turns out to have been one hell of an awakening spin class is this:

If, in the next 87 years, I meet even one more person that is even half as amazing as any of the people I’ve spent my life with thus far it’ll be worth the many trips around the sun (and inevitable crows feet).

Here’s to 26 years of unforgettable people. My journey would be dull as dirt without you people beside me.

XO
Heather C

Hot sand on toes, cold sand in sleeping bags, 
I’ve come to know the friends around you
Are all you’ll always have…

Awesome Things, Lifestyle, Yoga

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February 13, 2013

2 Comments

Panic In The Trader Joe’s Line

Today I witness a total and complete breakdown of human communication. More to the point I saw a real live tandem adult tantrum. I walked into Trader Joe’s with great trepidation in the first place – I’ve never had truly solid experiences with the one near me in BK. But I was only looking for three things so I figured I’d bet against the odds and assume I could find them all there.

With my soft bell pepper, limp mixed greens and a container of pre-crumbled feta I headed to the checkout line. Now, get this, in New York you encounter a lot of lines. People are waiting in line left right and center – for coffee, for the subway, for subway cards, for shoes, for yoga, for soft bell peppers… So, you’d think everyone would have gotten the hang of it by now. Even when faced with challenging lines that required directors and colorful lines of tape running along the tiled floors, one can only hope that intelligent adult human beings can calmly figure things out.

Alas, no.

I walked up to this irate woman, scolding this truly horrifying employee. The rude customer was dancing back and forth between two lines demanding to know which one she should stand in, while the irrationally infuriated employee waved a nondescript sign at her. Neither one of them were understanding the other one, because neither one was listening to the other one – and yes, both parties were speaking at the same time.

The woman with the sign was saying: You people are acting crazy walking around here blocking this lane. Can’t you see I don’t want you in this lane? This one line, turns into two and then three! I don’t understand what’s so complicated about that. Come in here yelling at me, I’ll give you something to yell about…

The French woman with the cart was saying: I don’t understand you! Why are you waving that sign at me? You say one line, you say two, which line am I in now? I just want to pay for my groceries and leave. Which line? Which line?!

Neither party was taking a moment to listen to what the other one was saying. If they had both just settled the F down they would have seen what everyone around them were seeing: Two adults behaving like bad kindergarten kids. Where were the dunce caps?

What the woman with the sign meant was: Please don’t block this lane, people need to walk through here, if you’ll just start the end of the line here I’ll direct people to line up behind you.

What the Frenchie with the cart meant was: I’m really confused by this system and I’m not sure where I should be standing, could you please direct me?

How hard is it to take a breath and be polite?!

The saving grace of this entire scenario was a gentleman who seemed to be very amused by the entire ordeal. I thought Frenchie was going to smack him when he poked fun at her later down the line: “Excuse me miss,” he said while trying to get a sample of marinara sauce, “But you’re blocking my path. I need you to start another line.”

This fella was making everyone around him laugh – and was therefore making the entire stressful line experience much more enjoyable. Meanwhile Frenchie accosted yet another line attendant who was directing from the front. And when I looked back at the woman with the sign she seemed to be preparing to smack someone up side the head with it.

Bottom line: Life (and lines) are what you make of them. If you think people around you are deliberately trying to put you out, get one over on you, or inconvenience you, you’re going to have a pretty uncomfortable and impatient ride to the “checkout counter”. But if you just work with the people around you, chat with them, listen to them and trust them, you’ll find there are a lot more laughs along the way.

Thank you to the very polite fellow who was just as confused as the rest of us, but had the common sense of humor to make a joke, rather than declare a civil war in the middle of the Trader Joe’s.

XO
Heather C

Lifestyle

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February 12, 2013

2 Comments

New York City Karma: A Hot Chocolate Follow Up

A couple of days back I wrote a post about the homeless in NYC. I got several reactions from friends, family and followers. Some people sympathized with how uncomfortable and confusing it can be to live in a city where you are faced with homelessness on a daily basis: i.e. you can’t help everyone so you end up not helping anyone. Other people took the decidedly more jaded stance: ignore them & save yourself a dollar. And I found myself very much divided between these two points of view.

On the one hand I don’t much care for strangers approaching me and asking me for money. I like to think of myself as a hard ass, no-nonsense kind of gal. And I like to spend my hard-earned money on things like yoga classes and shoes.

On the other hand – I am a huge softy and like to help people. I’m a yogi and think that you should treat others how you would want to be treated in any situation. And I have more money than I probably need (though if you asked my parents they’d probably tell you that isn’t as true as I believe it to be).

So, feeling so divided I suddenly began to find existing in New York (outside my apartment) to be very awkward. I’d have my dollar ready and then dance back and forth between giving it to someone, not giving it to them and being frightened because sometimes homeless people are honestly crazy.

Then, on just a usual cold February morning I walked past him. My homeless pal. The most polite homeless gentleman I’ve ever met. I wrote about him in my last post – the fellow who is always asking for spare change for a hot chocolate on my route to work. And it just hit me: I wasn’t in a rush. I had plenty of time. And if there was one thing I could afford it was a hot chocolate for a man who was asking very politely for one. So rather than just toss him a quarter I decided to pick him up a hot chocolate during my routine Starbucks run. And yes, I sprang for whipped cream.

Handing him that warm toasty beverage amidst a flurry of snow flakes sealed the deal for me. I’m a softy, not a hard ass. I’m more a yogi than a New Yorker, I guess. I stand by my plan to help the homeless one cup of hot chocolate at a time. While they don’t have any right to my money, my time or my consideration, I do have that gift to give them – so why shouldn’t I?

“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.”
― John Bunyan

So the question I pose to you is: Have you lived today? 

XO
Heather C

Lifestyle, Yoga

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February 8, 2013

3 Comments

A Reminder To Be Awesome

Screen shot 2013-02-04 at 9.55.19 AM

I’m a sucker for all sorts of Youtube videos. Most especially but not limited to: Youtube videos involving, adorable dogs, adorable cats, adorable exotic animals doing unexpected things, children laughing like adults, people being surprised by their loved ones, people being scared nearly to death by their loved ones jumping out at them, Charlie biting his brother’s finger, and inspirational videos.

My post today is concerned mostly with this last one, but don’t get me wrong, I’d be just as happy with a puppy chasing his rear end.

When this particular video cropped up on more than 5 of my friends’ Facebook walls I decided it was time to jump on the band wagon and take a little looksie at the Kid President Pep Talk.

And having taking the 3 plus minutes to watch it I came to one conclusion: This little fellow is bomb ass. He is reminding us of a lot of important things that we, as adults, stupidly forget far too often.

How have I at 26 allowed myself to be bored? How have I allowed myself to wake up on more than one occasion and not wanted to dance? “This is life people!” this lil’ dude shouts. “What will you create that will make the world awesome?”

What an amazing question out of the mouth of a kid?

It’s so beyond easy to get caught up in the daily “To Do’s” and lose sight of what we want most in this world. It really is easy to be boring. Pay the bills. Do the dishes. Clean the shower. Do the laundry. Life is too short to be bored stiff doing the same thing everyone else is doing. So I’m doing something no one else is doing, something no one else can do: Sharing my perspective with the world.

This is, after all, my time… this is your time, this is our time.

As our new little friend tells us: “We got work to do. We could cry about it. Or we could dance about it.”

Which do you choose?

How are you going to make the world awesome? I beg of you on this fine Monday, be more than just one of the masses. Stand out. Shine. Be brilliant. Be risky. Be bold. Be one of a kind.

Be awesome and thereby make the world awesome.

XO
Heather C

 

Awesome Things, Lifestyle

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February 4, 2013

3 Comments

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