365 Inspirations—348: Live Music: Pepper Proud & Whitney Monge on the Virginia V

"There's something about good live music. It enters your heart and then it starts to slowly spread out from there. It moves its way out from your chest, down your legs and arms and out through your finger tips, toes and top of your head. And from there it keeps spreading, just like love."—Katherine Jenkins

Seattle is a place where things happen. Coffee, music, books, airplanes, computers happen here. My students once asked me why so many successful businesses and artists come from Seattle.

My theory is that for much of the year it's dark and rainy, so people start creating. They create companies, songs, gadgets, books, you name it. This place is fertile for creation.

Tonight I got to see two up and coming musicians play AMAZING music aboard the Virginia V steamer ship that was decked out in holiday lights and docked down on Lake Union.

I saw Whitney Monge and Pepper Proud.

 Mark my words, these two musicians are going to make history and I'll later be able to say I saw them with an intimate audience aboard a steamer ship.

There's something about good live music. It enters your heart and then it starts to slowly spread out from there. It moves its way out from your chest, down your legs and arms and out through your finger tips, toes and top of your head. And from there it keeps spreading, just like love.

That's what I felt tonight. I felt a lot of love and creativity. I felt the stuff dreams are made of. The part that many of us have lost in our day to day lives. Music, good music, can carry you back. Good books can do that too.

I'm so happy I went to this concert out on Lake Union. It made my night.

Whitney Monge

Pepper Proud

Have you been to a small live concert lately? Did you feel moved by what you heard?

365 Inspirations—315: Being Welcomed into Ohana (Extended Family) at Kalani

Today, after a vigorous Ashtanga Yoga class at 6:30AM and after a night of hurricane rains, Manuela from Brazil came and found me at breakfast and said, "You and Yoon should come to our volunteer meeting.We welcome you."

I was already feeling quite welcomed and people have really extended themselves to us, but the community (Ohana) meeting today really gave us a feel for what Kalani is all about.

There something special about this place. I know it's probably been said at a million places, but Kalani really has something here.

They don't tell you to do anything. There's no dogma or practice or rites or rituals or religion you must follow. There's a buffet of classes offered at the Hawaii Yoga Festival and at Kalani and it's up to you to pick and choose what appeals to you. There are ukelele classes, hula, yoga, meditation, space for being with yourself and enjoying the amazing natural beauty here, there's space for writing, for meditating and for just being. You can come work as a volunteer and cook, clean, do maintenance or garden.

What I love most about Kalani is the way they celebrate each person talents and uniqueness. They believe everyone has gifts to offer and they support each other in offering those gifts. Some people can cook, some people are good at gardening, others here are artists or writers in residence. It's beautiful how everyone is supported in this lovely setting to be who they are. You really can feel a lot of love and aloha here. There's a lot of spiritual growth happening, but that growth and the way it unfolds depends on each individual.

So today Manuela welcomed Yoon and me to the community and mentioned that I was the Artist-in-Residence for the Hawaii Yoga Festival. She placed a lei around my neck and everyone smiled and clapped and we really felt happy to be part of this place.

Yoon and I gave announcements about our upcoming classes and encouraged people to join.

Tonight Yoon gives a talk called Overcome Fear and Follow Your Heart. I'll be there as the designated photographer.

More soon from the land of Aloha.

Have you ever joined a retreat or community where you felt a lot of love from the group? Where was it? Did it encourage you to spread that around?

365 Inspirations—295: A Room Of One's Own

My Writing Room

"Your sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again."—Joseph Campbell

My husband is closing up shop. The overhead at his current, beautiful yoga studio is too high. He's kept it for almost four years, but it's still expensive. He's led dozens of yoga retreats, outings, events and it will be sad to see it go. He will be officially leaving his space next Tuesday.

He has decided to continue teaching a limited number of yoga classes in our house. I look around at our small house and suddenly see it shrinking.

We have a beautiful open living and dining area that will accommodate yoga classes. Now that we've updated and remodeled our house, I know it will be perfect for a small group of students. We've had seven to eight students in our house at one time before my husband opened his own studio.

I find that now, more than ever, I need space to write. I'm very happy to announce that I'm working on my next book, a travel memoir. It's not the book I thought I'd be writing, but I think it's going to be good.

The room across from our bedroom will be my writing room. This will be my space to write, blog, and create and I think I'm going to really personalize it into the space I dream about. Right now it's a bit minimalistic, which I like, but I want to spend some time changing things around a bit.

Now that there will be classes in our house, a room of one's own and staking out space is of utmost importance. I'm glad there is still space for me to have a room of my own, besides our bedroom.

My husband has transformed a room in our basement into his man cave. He hangs out down there and watches videos from the library, reads, and relaxes. I'm glad he has a space too.

Our little house has seen its share of people and events. We've had three live concerts, a talk about happiness from a Tibetan Rinpoche that drew a rather large crowd, yoga classes, barbecues, badminton matches, picnics, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas family events, a baby shower and we've had NUMEROUS people stay over. My writing group, whom I've been meeting with for over 4 years, has come here on many occasions.

A few summers ago, our house got a facelift—new floors, walls, kitchen update, bathroom update, new roof, etc. It's quite cozy now.

To tell you truthfully, as much as I fret about the space becoming smaller, I do like the community or the sense of community we have around us.

But I am also very grateful to have a space to call my own.

Do you find it important to have a room of your own?

365 Inspirations—223: Breakthrough

“For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them.”—Thích Nhất Hạnh 

We just came back from a yoga/writing retreat we led at the Yoga Lodge on Whidbey Island and the word that comes to mind, for some reason, is breakthrough. 

Perhaps it's because my husband said, on numerous occasions, during our yoga practice, to "just move through it." I think what he was saying is not that we bring ourselves to pain or injury, but that we don't become fearful of what we are capable of and we don't run away when things 'look' difficult.

I believe each and every human being has incredible strength within. We are all warriors. We all have the ability to breakthrough any hardship and come out on the other side with an entirely different view.

This is exactly what happened on our yoga and writing retreat.

Yoga and writing (and we threw collaging into the mix) are such powerful tools to access what's inside.

Yoga helps one to go inward and feel every single part of the body. All tensions or past traumas one has endured are actually first felt in the body and stay there until one has worked through the body and allowed them to be released.

Writing and collaging help to take that energy that is inside and bring it out. Both of these activities use the right side of the brain. I teach intuitive writing. I believe that 'first thoughts' contain the most energy.  They can often lead us to clues about ourselves. When one does intuitive writing, the inner critic takes a back seat and the writer allows whatever is inside to form words on the page or images on a collage.

Collaging at The Yoga Lodge

I've used both collaging and writing for a good part of my life as a means to access what is inside. I use 'first thoughts' for this blog and much of the 'meat' of my book Lessons from the Monk I Married came from intuitive writing. Intuitive writing is the act of moving the pen across the page or your fingers over the keyboard without stopping. Later you can go back and read what you have written and I guarantee you will find more than you ever thought you'd find. There are lots of golden nuggets in intuitive writing, but it is a practice and to be fluent in it, you have to practice it.

I really believe that the combination of yoga, writing and collaging was what caused many breakthroughs on our retreat. People moved through things and arrived at higher ground. This was so beautiful and amazing to witness.

I was happy to be a part of the transformation of our entire group and can't wait to see how each person's life blossoms in the coming years!

Have you ever used yoga, writing or collaging as tools to breakthrough something that has been holding you back or keeping you in a place that no longer fits who you are?

365 Inspirations—222: Everyday Enlightenment

"Each and every animate and inanimate being and object feels full of light today. It's everyday enlightenment. Nowhere to go but right here."—Katherine Jenkins

I'm sitting on the deck off my bedroom at the Yoga Lodge on Whidbey Island. A lawn mower hums in the distance. People are scattered on the grass, on picnic benches, in lounge chairs, under trees and they are writing and resting! I led a workshop today on intuitive writing or free flow writing.

I encouraged the people on our retreat to let go of the inner critic and just write. I can see they are doing that and each one of them feels full of light to me. In fact, each and every animate and inanimate being and object feels full of light today. It's everyday enlightenment. Nowhere to go but right here!

Here are some pictures from our retreat:

Have you ever joined a yoga and writing retreat? Would you be interested in joining one?

365 Inspirations—175: City Life

Seong Yoon looking out at Seattle from Space Needle

"We don't accomplish anything in this world alone... and whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one's life and all the weavings of individual threads from one to another that creates something."—Sandra Day O'Connor 


I know many people think the country is where it's at, but there's lots of inspiration to be found in the city too. I think community is the most important, wherever you find that.

After six days out in the country on solo retreat, I was happy to be reunited with my lovely husband and see people.

Lounging in the city

A friend was in town too, so we all hit Greenlake Park (Seattle's equivalent to Central Park) and walked the almost three-mile loop together.

People were out with dogs, moms were with their kids, roller bladers cruised passed us—it was quite busy for a Monday afternoon. We stopped our walk to watch a painter doing a Monet-esque painting of water lilies. I've seen this painter before. He's been slowly working his way around the lake catching all the beautiful seasons and flowers in his work.

At Greenlake Park in Seattle

At the end of the quarter, two students gave me Starbucks cards. I remembered this on my walk and we stopped off at Starbucks and I treated everyone to drinks and pastries. I got a chocolate, cheese and regular croissant for the three of us to share.

We went up to the roof top and spread out on comfy lounge chairs.

I felt happy today.

Happy to have choices.

Happy to connect with people.

Happy to be part of the grand tapestry of life that I have found in the city.

It's good to be back.

To top things off, Yoon and I went out for sushi and to the movies....

Yes, it's true. I'm a city girl through and through. However, I love to visit the countryside, go on hiking trips and adventures. Fortunately, Seattle is surrounded by nature, so I feel like I'm getting the best of both worlds.

Are you a country or a city person?

365 Inspirations—160: A Weekend Wedding in the Countryside

Flower bouquets we arranged for wedding!

“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.”—Maya Angelou 

I was gone all weekend for a wedding out in Washington State's beautiful Methow Valley. Even though it's the busiest time of the quarter at school AND I had to pre-schedule a few blog posts, I was not about to miss this beautiful union of two dear friends.

While the ceremony out in a lush green field with beautiful surrounding hills was definitely the highlight, there were so many other wonderful things about the weekend.

Sometimes I think it's very easy to get caught up in our own little worlds and forget that there is a much bigger world out there. I'm grateful for the fact that my friends invited me to leave my little world behind and take part in something very beautiful.

To get to the venue, we had to drive through the Cascade Mountains. It was breathtaking. Every twist and turn in the road offered more phenomenal views.

With each mile we drove, I felt the stress of my busy life in Seattle melting away. I was meant to be at this weekend wedding and I was meant to leave my computer, technology and everything work related behind.

When we got to the venue where we'd be spending the weekend, I already felt instantly rejuvenated. We arrived just in time for the rehearsal dinner and caught up with good friends. Later that evening, I spent time in a wood-burning cedar sauna and, after a nice warm shower, enjoyed a starlit walk to my room. I've never seen so many stars!

The next morning, we ate breakfast and headed to the fields. Several of us were in charge of arranging flower bouquets for the wedding. We went out to our friend's property and picked three huge buckets full of yarrow. Then, we delivered the flowers to another house where we assembled them into beautiful bouquets of flowers which were gathered from various friends' and neighbors' houses. After a brief flower arranging lesson, we got to work.

 It was such a memorable experience and one I will truly treasure. What a joy to see so many people coming together to help out in this beautiful country wedding.

I wish my two friends a beautiful life out on the farm. They've now got me contemplating the country life. They made me see how beautiful it is to participate and be part of a community. I'll never forget the weekend. It was so full of joy and love!

Have you ever participated in a wedding or community event that was memorable?

365 Inspirations—24: Yoon's Yoga Bliss

"That taste of the present moment through the physical body is good. Through that taste, we begin to enjoy the state of simple existence and I think that is right concentration of the mind because we are not distracted by outside things and we naturally want to reside in the deeper sense of ourselves."—Seong Yoon Lee on Practicing Yoga

*special note* Yoon's Yoga Bliss closed its doors at its former location, but yoga with Yoon is still happening! Contact Yoon a seongyoonyoga@gmail.com to find out about classes and retreats!

Okay, I might be biased because this is my husband's yoga studio, but going to Yoon's Yoga Bliss has always left me feeling inspired. I feel lucky to have a husband who is a very good yoga teacher in the Seattle area and fortunate that his studio is a 5-minute drive from our house. I should have no excuses for missing yoga, but I'd like to go more often.

I work late on weeknights, so I can only attend yoga classes in the mornings. It's hard for me to get up early and do yoga because I stay up so late after my class doing my blog posts, etc. I try and get my posts done before I teach at night, but I'm not always successful.  

Last night was one of those nights where I stayed up too late writing, so it was hard to get up. Somehow I managed to get myself to yoga class and I'm sooo very grateful that I made it.

I think the hardest part in life is just getting there. Once I'm there, time flows and I'm always grateful that I made the effort. I've never once regretted going to yoga. Have you EVER regretted exercising or eating healthy or showing up for a class? It's the getting there that is hard.

So I woke up, ate a little breakfast, made sure my blog post was up for the day, jumped in the shower, pulled on my yoga clothes, grabbed my mat and water bottle and headed out into the rain. 

Once I was sitting on my mat in the studio, I felt a BIG feeling of relief and immediately felt relaxed. I was so happy to be there today. I needed the time to tune in to both my mind and body.

My husband was a Buddhist monk for 10 years in Korea and had never held another job (besides very short part-time jobs) outside of the monastery. When he decided to be with me, he left everything he knew behind and had to figure out what he would do for a living. He was trained both in the monastery in Korea and in India in yoga and had a natural knack for teaching others yoga. The fact that he now owns and operates a popular yoga studio in the Seattle area is so inspiring to me. It shows that someone with nothing can do anything if they put their minds to it. (You can read all about our journey in my book Lessons from the Monk I Married ^_^).

My husband became friends with Sonam Rinpoche from Tibet who is recognized by the Dalai Lama. He has come to Yoon's Yoga Bliss on several occasions to chant and give talks. We've felt very fortunate to be connected to him. This is a picture of all of us above at the second anniversary of Yoon's Yoga Bliss.

The studio is inspiring because my husband has made it that way. It is bright and cheerful, has beautiful art on the walls from many yoga students, and the energy and people make it such a great place to practice yoga. There's now a pretty strong core group of people who attend this studio and we often go on yoga retreats. We've had two on Whidbey Island, WA at the Yoga Lodge, one in Sedona, Arizona and we are going with a group of students to Kona, Hawaii this March. I think the community of people who attend the studio make it very special.

So this morning I felt gratitude for reconnecting with the studio and this community. I also felt gratitude for my husband who has created such a special place, an oasis of peace, in the midst of the city! 

Have you ever practiced yoga before? Is there a yoga studio near you that you find inspiring?

365 Inspirations—12: My Writing Group

 The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers and cities; but to know someone who thinks and feels with us, and who, though distant is close to us in spirit, this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden. —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I've been meeting with my writing group for almost four years I think!  When I made a commitment to publish my book, I felt I needed the support of other writers. I wasn't sure who would be in this group. I mentioned out loud at school one day that I wanted to form a writing group and two of my co-workers at the community college where I teach ESL piped up that they wanted to be a part of it.

We started out meeting weekly, but now we meet once a month. Our enthusiasm for meeting each other and sharing our writing and our dreams has not dwindled over the years. If anything, it's grown stronger. We even had a writing weekend getaway at my family's lake house in November last year. We had so much fun and I hope we have a chance to do that again one day! Above is a picture of us collaging together which also helped give direction to our writing and goals.

We are currently writing a novel collaboratively. Whenever we get together, ideas for this book seem to spring forth effortlessly. I have no idea if this book will ever come to be, but boy are we having fun writing it.

I think inspiration is contagious and if you have a group of like-minded people to share your ideas, interests and dreams with, it really does help to speed things along. And when you do succeed in your endeavors, your community or group will be the ones who are right there next to you. This has been my experience and I feel so fortunate to have these people in my life.

Last night we met for yet another session. We hadn't seen each other since mid-December. Everyone came to my house and I made a Crockpot of chili, one friend brought corn bread and a big tossed salad and the other friend brought some dip and crackers and some dessert.

Not much writing happened in the meeting because we needed to catch up with each other and find out what was going on with everyone. We enjoyed the food and chatting and planned our next meeting time and place. I have a feeling we'll be writing and sharing quite a bit in the next meeting.

Do you have a community or group that you meet with regularly that shares a common interest? What is it and what do you usually do together?