music and quotes

This quarter I'm super excited about teaching classes every other Wednesday for Yogis at UW. I'm going to post my playlists and quotes I read for each class here on my blog. For the students, you won't have to try to remember what we did because it's all right here. For those of you who can't make it to class, I hope you will still find inspiration in reading these posts. Here's the first one for today - the quote is from Neil Gaiman:

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something.

So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life. Whatever it is you're scared of doing, Do it. Make your mistakes, next year and forever.

Here is the music playlist:

In class today we are going to do a lot of hip openers (which can bring up emotions) and back bending (which can bring up fear). When we are receptive to our emotions and in touch with our fears, we are in a perfect place to try something new! Exciting and scary at the same time :)

Make mistakes, make magic, make miracles! It's all the same - it's all movement. Moving towards what? Who cares??? Goals can be great, but if you are so focused on getting somewhere, it's hard to enjoy being here. Have you ever experience getting "there" and feeling let down? "I thought if I got that job I would be happy then...I thought if I made that much money, I would be happy then...I thought that if I lost that much weight, I would be happy then...etc..."

For me, 2012 is going to be all about living now and I hope to share that with my friends, family and students.