365 Inspirations—One: Cirque Du Soleil Performers

"I never found anything that I would leave the circus to do...Like I never said, 'Oh, I want to be a veterinarian.'"—Alan J. Silva (Cirque du Soleil Performer)

My first inspiration for the new year has to be the Cirque du Soleil performers. Have you ever seen a Cirque du Soleil show? I saw my first show (The Beatles LOVE) on December 26, 2012 (my husband's 40th birthday) in Las Vegas.

I guess I didn't have many expectations. It's just a "refined"version of the circus, right? WRONG. These people train their entire lives and put on the most amazing and inspirational shows I have ever seen. The things the human body can do are unbelievable and they are only believable if you have the opportunity to watch a show.

I love the quote above because it shows that this performer has found his calling. He loves what he is doing and don't we all want to find that completely?

"When the audience [first] sees me, they never expect I will fly through the air," said Silva. Not just fly through the air, but fly through the air with only a few silk sheets holding him up!

Alan J. Silva was one of the many performers I saw that blew me away. He performed in the very provocative Cirque du Soleil show called Zumanity that plays at New York, New York hotel in Las Vegas. We also saw The Beatles LOVE show at the Mirage that was equally impressive.

After watching these two shows, my husband and I have decided that we'd like to return to Las Vegas in May for our 10th wedding anniversary. We'd really like to see "O" and "KA" next.

My husband is a yoga teacher at Yoon's Yoga Bliss in the Seattle area, so these performers really impressed him. I am a regular yoga student at Yoon's Yoga Bliss, but after seeing these performances, I'd like to practice yoga more (at least 2-3 times per week) and try an acrobatics class or an acro-yoga class at some point. I dream of flying through the air....

Keeping my body in good shape through regular exercise is one of my resolutions this year.  Seeing all the Cirque du Soleil performers perform really made me realize what an incredible gift our bodies are. We were given a body, we should treat it well!

ON TOUR: Lessons from the Monk I Married is HITTING THE BIG APPLE!

Start spreading the news, we're leaving in June!...We want to be a part of it...New York, New York!

I've missed you all! I haven't been here in a while. I think it's been over two weeks! That's the longest I've gone in two years without a post! All my time has been consumed with planning an EAST COAST BOOK TOUR! I'm very excited about this! I'm also excited that we'll be doing a book reading/signing at 7pm tomorrow at Village Books in Bellingham, WA. I've only heard excellent things about this bookstore and we'll be sure to post photos after our adventure. We are headed to Bellingham tomorrow morning and will stay a night in the area for our event. I am preparing a slide show of Yoon and my travels from the book for this one!

Are you on the east coast? Well, please don't miss us in June when we come to town. We'll be at Community Meditation Center on the Upper Westside, NYC at 7pm on Wednesday, June 20th (See sidebar for upcoming tour dates). My father and step mom will be flying in from Florida for this event! Namaste Bookstore in NYC also plans to come to the event to sell books! My husband will be bringing his gong all the way to NYC for the event and we hope to have a slide show there as well.

We'll spend a couple days in NYC with family and friends and then we'll head out of the city to Hawthorne, NJ for a book event at Well Read Bookstore on Saturday, June 23rd at 6:30pm. I'm still trying to work out all the ground transportation details. I think we'll rent a car at the Newark Airport and drive it to our event in NJ where will stay a night in a hotel and then head out the next morning for a four-hour drive to Baltimore where we'll have a book event at Breathe Books on Sunday, June 24th at 2:00pm. A friend in DC will be coming to our event at Breathe Books and then we'll stay with him for a few days!

It's going to be a whirlwind trip with three book events in six days, but we can't wait! We hope to use the extra time to explore the Big Apple and meet up with friends along the way. We feel so lucky that our book tour has taken us to so many exciting places and that we've had the opportunity to meet so many friends—including blog friends—along our journey!

If you are not on the east coast, please share this with friends who are and who may be interested in coming. They can RSVP on LESSONS FROM THE MONK I MARRIED EAST COAST BOOK TOUR page on Facebook. All are welcome!!! More soon from the road!

In June 2010, I was in NYC.  I went there to meet my agent. I had finally received agent representation for my book, but was still swimming through the uncertain sea of traditional publishing. I wrote a blog post while in NYC called: To be a Famous Author, you need to be a Famous Author. It's a post about never giving up!