MC YOGI photo by Estevan Oriol

A Practice with MC YOGI

A sleepy English bulldog naps in a pool of afternoon sunlight on the cool polished concrete floor of Wren & Wild, a sort of holistic hub that houses a highly curated resale shop, a healthy beauty products store and a big yoga studio in Bend, Oregon. Booker is oblivious to the foot traffic a few feet from his nose in the big space with high ceilings and lots of big windows.

“One two. One two,” the soundman levels up the PA system as a few movable walls are pushed into position, transforming the place into one open space for tonight’s special class.

MC YOGI (aka Nicholas Giacomini) ambles in, understated style in jeans, black hoodie and baseball cap — he’s seems at home here.

MC YOGI teaching at Wren & Wild. Photo by Julia Duke

MC YOGI Shares Vedic Verses on his Book Tour

A wild-style, cryptographic cipher and hip-hop oracle who writes Vedic verses about Ganesha, Hanuman and Shiva, he’s in town on his Spiritual Graffiti book tour. Joined by his partner/wife, street artist Amanda Giacomini (aka 10,000 Buddhas), they’ve covered a lot of ground together over the years.

“We’ve both been practicing yoga for about 20 years, teaching for 16 years out of our studio,” he says as he settles on the couch under a big painting of Booker the far end of the space.

The source of their earthly power is a small yoga studio in Point Reyes, California, where it all began. “I feel like we were an anchor for it for a long time,” Amanda says about their studio Point Reyes Yoga. “And now it’s an anchor for us. We go out into the world and have all these ups and downs, we teach several thousand people in yoga classes, and then come home and we’re there with our core group.” MC YOGI concurs, “Yeah, I think Amanda and I have taught close to a million people because we’ve taught for 16 years or so.”

The début memoirist and Bhakti-circuit darling who has headlined some of the biggest sacred stages around has now penned an alchemic tale of transmutation. Spiritual Graffiti tells the story of transforming urban-American teen traumas and troublesome past life samskaras through the power of yoga.

Photo by Julia Duke

“It’s about how yoga opened the door to this incredible ride I’ve been on as MC YOGI, going to India and studying with masters, traveling around the world performing at festivals,” he says. He’s referencing two of his teachers: San Francisco’s radical yogi, Larry Schultz as his first point of contact as a teen in the early nineties, then, later, with Ashtanga Vinyasa pioneer, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois in Mysore.

Good karma in a country where drug rehab has become the primary coming-of-age ritual, MC YOGI stumbled into some decidedly profound grace in the form of a yogic intervention by his father, who brought his troubled teenaged son to Larry’s class.

MC YOGI on Teachers and Transformation

MC YOGI writes like he talks, with the fluidity of a practiced poet. Spiritual Graffiti streams effortlessly off the page. It’s an effortless read. “Krishna Das read it in two days,” he offers. But MC YOGI has more than just his story to tell; he wrote the book to impart the wisdom he acquired along the way. “I wanted to tell story, which is kinda interesting, about how my life transformed through the practice of yoga and meditation, but even more importantly, to tell the story of my teachers, because many of my teachers aren’t living anymore.”

Spiritual Graffiti is an autobiography of a yogi as road trip. Its pages track an inward journey that originates in Northern California, then travels east to New York, onto India and back again. MC YOGI’s early life scans like a blueprint for disaster. He was kicked out of three schools and a group home; violence, drugs, guns, gangs and cops all conspiring to propel the child of divorce into an asana practice that incited a Kundalini awakening and blew the fat-cap off his Rust-Oleum, firmly fixing his drishti on involution.

“I think I was about 18 years old the first time I read Autobiography of a Yogi [ParamahansaYogananda]. For me it was like a graphic novel. Hearing all the stories of the yogis and the saints and the mystics and the sages, it was like reading about super heroes. It really inspired me, and really led me to traveling to India and studying with my teachers.”

Further awakened by Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha, Ram Dass, Patanjali, and others, he found his soul mate, Amanda, in Larry’s yoga studio. They made their way to India together to develop a foundation in yoga under the guidance of realized masters.

Rooftops and Hip-Hop

Somewhere along the path, Nicholas Giacomini dreamed MC YOGI into being on a rooftop in India and connected the dots between the Rock Steady Crew and Babaji; between hip-hop and Kirtan; between the old and new; sacred and mainstream.

MC YOGI has cleaved a clear channel to receive the knowledge he imparts in the book and in his life. “I think when you open to receiving, when you really want it, when you’re thirsty for the truth, when you really have this insatiable desire to become awake, then all these teachers appear. When you have that desire to practice your life becomes like a magnet for teaching and for wisdom because you get it from all directions.”

Photo by Julia Duke

While he was in India the spiritual graffiti in the streets of Mysore lit up the cartoons in his head. “Because I grew up reading comic books, when I went to India and saw the Hindu deities like Hanuman and Ganesha… they were like super heroes in my mind. I really gravitated to those myths and those stories, and it helped me to understand the philosophy of Yoga.” It was around this time when he found some Hindi comic books that opened his mind to traditional myths and stories in a easily digestible graphic format.

MC YOGI on Comic Books as Teachers

“These myths been huge teachers to me,” he says, “There’s a lot of encoded wisdom in those stories that have been passed down from generation to generation to generation…It really depends on the commentary you listen to because everyone is deciphering the code in their own way. I like to read the stories, listen to the stories and see how they apply them to my everyday… these archetypes of being broken down so you can rise up. Going through tragedy, going through these traumatic experiences and coming out the other side sort of like a new person. I feel like all the great myths have that story of transformation, of going from darkness to light, over coming obstacles of pain, trauma, and suffering so you can come back and be of service.”

Music, Language, and Practice

The class now about to begin, MC YOGI switches to teacher mode, picks up the mic, queues up a track on his laptop at the front of the room and opens the yoga class at Wren and Wild with a full mat capacity. More than 150 yogis are poised to practice. He opens with a lighthearted joke, then does one of things he does really, really well: teach yoga. Invoking the unifying magic of music and the power of language he takes these yogis deep into a collective asana experience. He opens new doors for some, like a bearded guy named Rich with a brain injury who is new to yoga, while others lean deeper into their practice.

Photo by Julia Duke

Satsang, Spiritual Graffiti and 10,000 Buddhas

After the class, Amanda leads the satsang, or spiritual gathering. She imparts some moving stories from their travels and invites us into the 10,000 Buddha’s experience with a video presentation and reading. MC YOGI reads from Spiritual Graffiti and settles back on the couch for someone one-on-one book signing as a line snakes through the space.

“While I was finishing the book she reached her 10,000th Buddha,” he says about Amanda, who synergistically achieving her goal of painting 10,000 Buddhas.

Energized after the class, MC YOGI takes a beat and a few breaths before he greets each person one at a time. He meticulously and artfully renders his gratitude in sharpie inside their hardcover copy of Spiritual Graffiti.

“That’s why I love practicing yoga, I slow down and just breathe. After about 15 minutes of just conscious breathing, doing some postures and sitting in meditation,” he says, “I always feel completely refreshed. I always feel better. I think we need yoga more than ever,” he says. He adds that he doesn’t usually practice or teach to music, but he sometimes invokes it as a unifying element for these big classes.

MC YOGI on Creating Ritual through Yoga

“The theme of the class today was creating your own rhythm and routine, like your own personal ritual. Not what someone else is telling you to do, but something you’re creating for yourself that helps to provide structure for your life.”

He says most of the people he talks to come to yoga because of some kind of trauma. “Because of something they’re trying to work through. That was the case when I came to yoga. It’s always amazing to see people come to yoga and move through so much difficulty. The practice help to free it up and move the energy.”

MC YOGI doesn’t see yoga as a luxury.

“In this day and age with all the overstimulation and the saturation of all kinds of misinformation, you need something to be able to cut through that noise.”

After Bend, the Spiritual Graffiti book tour headed north to Canada for the Bloom Festival, where they taught a yoga class to 300 high school kids. “Usually, we do festivals and big stages. Doing this stuff is like getting back to where we came from. Back to the local mom and pop yoga studios.”

His parting words, like his book, are inspiring. “Keep going, keep practicing, keep developing, keeping evolving, keep listening, tuning in and connecting because the more you come to your practice, if you do it every day, it starts to open and unlock all these doors that you may never have known existed.”

Sam Slovick

Award-winning journalist, documentary director and long-term LA Yoga contributor Sam Slovick is the director, writer and producer of the Radicalized documentary, currently working on the Kirtan Road Dogs documentary.

samslovick.com

The post MC YOGI writes Spiritual Graffiti appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Photo of Jessica Rosen by Sarit Rogers

To call Jessica Rosen busy is both an understatement and a simplification. A youthful, playful spitfire as well as a woman who values community, Jessica Rosen is a yoga teacher who is the founder, owner, and director of popular One Down Dog yoga studios in Silverlake, Eagle Rock, and now Echo Park. In addition to her life in the studio, she’s married to her high-school sweetheart, Daniel, and she is the proud mom of their two-year-old son, Max.

When we first met in 2012, I was struck by how much she is a force of nature. It’s a force she’s used to create One Down Dog (affectionately called ODD). I continue to be inspired by her strength—and her long-term vision for the ODD community. One Down Dog is a community—and family—that has been embedded in the studio since the beginning, from securing funding, to actually building the space, to rainy photo shoots, and to love, support, and heart.

Photo of Jessica Rosen by Sarit Rogers

Jessica Rosen and One Down Dog

Even the name One Down Dog has a heartfelt and community crowdsourcing-based origin story. Jessica, while searching for a name for her growing business teaching and organizing yoga in rehab facilities, had a timely conversation with a friend who reminded Jessica of her frequent in-class instructions, “It’s not about the pose; just take it one down dog at a time.” Her friend yelled, “That’s it! That’s the name! One Down Dog!”

The name stuck. A high-school friend created the logo: Jessica’s dog, Patrick—in downward facing dog. Other friends helped create the website, flyers, logo, and photographs. Jessica began photographing herself in downward facing dog anywhere and everywhere. She also created a series of “Patrick Says” memes with photographs of her dog. Taking it further, Jessica asked people to send in images of themselves down dogging during their travels.

Travels through Practice

Throughout her own journey, Jessica’s practice has been an important source of support. She began yoga when she was in graduate school earning a Masters in Psychology at the Center for Humanistic Studies in Michigan. It was her mom who suggested that an awareness of yoga and mindfulness might be beneficial in a therapy practice. While Jessica completed her teacher training, at first she had no intention to teach and was terrified to speak in front of people. Nevertheless, Jessica was asked to teach yoga at a prestigious rehab facility in Michigan. While she was eventually promoted to a full-time therapist position, Jessica discovered she preferred teaching yoga and felt it was an area where she could make an impact.

When Jessica moved to Los Angeles, her interest in working in recovery led her to Visions Adolescent Treatment Center where she met the Center’s co-founder Amanda Shumow and felt a connection to the their treatment philosophy. The group Jessica led included an hour of yoga, and an hour of sharing. While she no longer actively teaches at Visions, Jessica continues to direct their yoga program with has a few select ODD teachers running the groups. She’s committed to helping people dealing with addiction and she said yes when I asked to offer a Refuge Recovery-based yoga class at ODD.

Photo of Jessica Rosen at One Down Dog by Sarit Rogers. Jessica is wearing clothing by Soybu.

Creativity and Community at One Down Dog

Jessica and the entire team are conscientious about creating an open and supportive environment through One Down Dog’s open, fun, playful and nourishing atmosphere. It’s a studio where people connect and practice together without judgment or fear of not fitting in. She says, “The yoga world can feel intimidating and very limited.”

Jessica says, “We are a yoga studio, but more than that, we are like Cheers! where ‘everybody knows your name.’ More than that, I want to know what do you do for a living, what brings you joy, how can we help you? There is a sense of belonging [at ODD] and people need that. I need that.”

The Juggling Act of Family, Practice, and Business

Jessica says running a studio “boils down to asking for help and delegating.” At ODD, Jessica’s surrounded herself by a phenomenal crew and she is adamant about taking care of them. Her persistence and rebel soul is part of what fuels this connection in the studio and at home, where the foundation of her family life is collaboration, joint effort, and equity.

Jessica Rosen on Fitting in Personal Practice

Teaching and running a group of studios make personal practice even more of a necessity. Jessica is honest about her challenge for maintaining the time for a personal practice with raising her son, Max. Yet life with a toddler can bring unexpected gifts—and a few realizations. For example, a current read Oh Crap! Potty Training: Everything Modern Parents Need to Know to Do It Once and Do It Right offers lessons on how to not get in the way of your…crap.

Prioritizing self-care is one of these lessons; Jessica’s journaling practice helps her uncover ideas she uses to adjust her practice based on her daily needs. Practice can include journaling in bed, a daily gratitude list, regular sessions with a personal trainer (for scheduling and accountability), as well as time on the mat—especially on Thursdays, her long day at ODD. Sometimes Max joins in. His favorite: Chanting “Om.” In addition to the ongoing practices, she schedules one day a month for self-care when she makes a point to be outside in nature with trees, dirt, and sunshine: it’s her medicine. She also makes it a point to learn and grow, integrating her commitments to business and yoga.

Photo of Jessica Rosen at One Down Dog by Sarit Rogers

Inspiration, One Down Dog at a Time

Jessica keeps herself on the studio’s schedule. It is one of the many ways she connects to the ODD community and it’s an ongoing source of inspiration. She loves hearing people share their experiences, their ah-ha moments, and their trials and tribulations. Jessica is uplifted by her crew; her staff, teachers, family, and friends. ODD is a home, a place to go to when things are going well and when things have gone awry. “Community is why it works. People come together and are willing to be vulnerable. That willingness, that’s IT. Essentially, that’s love.”

More Information

For more information about Jessica Rosen and the growing One Dog Dog community, visit: onedowndog.com

Jessica would love to see your ODD dogs, so send a pic to her at hello@onedowndog.com.

Clothing by Soybu (selected photos). For more information, visit: soybu.com

Sarit Rogers

Sarit Rogers is a photographer, yoga teacher, writer, and founder of the LoveMore Movement, who is a Somatic Experiencing™ Practitioner. She is also a contributor in the anthology Yoga Rising, by Melanie Klein: saritphotography.com. saritzrogers.com

www.saritphotography.com

The post Yoga Teacher Jessica Rosen: Practicing One Down Dog at a Time appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Normandie Keith photographed at her home by Cheryl Fox. Clothing by Lavaloka

There are some people who remind you that there’s magic in this world. Beings who shine so bright they can sometimes blind. Normandie Keith, with her long blond braids and thousand-watt smile is one of these people. She has the ability to be as opened-hearted and present with the homeless gentleman leaning against the bus stop, as the A-listers with whom she shares 30-year friendships.

Normandie is a formidable Kundalini Yoga teacher who leaves behind a little trail of glitter (and evil eye necklaces) everywhere she goes. Students, friends, colleagues, social critics, former fans, and other football moms may think that she effortlessly has it all figured out. What they don’t realize is that it’s often pressure that makes diamonds.

Normandie Keith and Bright Beginnings

As a young model spending time in the Bahamas, Normandie Keith could not stop staring at a local shopkeeper. Sixty-five years old and well over two hundred and fifty pounds, the woman contained an energy that was unfamiliar to the aristocratic East Coaster. Normandie recalls, “She was just the most beautiful woman to me, her eyes, her face, and I just kept saying to her, ‘You’re so beautiful, where did this come from?’ She said, ‘It comes from the spirit. The spirit is inside you, and you have it too!’ She made me feel and know that beauty was on the inside. So, I was always looking for that spirit.”

Idyllic Aristocracy

A few years and several print campaigns later, London’s Tatler Magazine, put model Normandie Keith and gal pal Tara Palmer-Tomkinson on the cover. Big, bold lettering labeled them “It Girls” inciting an international phenomenon. The duo were part of a pack of twenty-something socialites, who traveled by private planes to private shores, where paparazzi used long lenses to get shots of them with Prince Andrew, Simon Le Bon, and Posh Spice. Processed negatives were printed next to pics of Princess Di on every tabloid cover in London-town. Normandie Keith married The Honorable Lucas White, becoming part of the English aristocracy herself.

Normandie Keith photographed by Cheryl Fox. Tunic by Raj Wear. Necklace by Darshan Sacred Jewelry

Normandie Keith White with her high cheekbones, perfect nose, and porcelain skin, became a muse to icons of fashion. In Valentino, Vera Wang, and Diane Von Furstenberg, she graced the pages and some covers of magazines including French Vogue, Harpers & Queen (now Harper’s Bazaar), Hello!, OK, and more. Polo matches, Dom Perignon, party favors. “It was Balenciaga’s at dawn,” she laughs. “It was a time of amazing opulence, but it was also a very high pressure time. A time when I felt like I had to compete and wear the season’s couture and carry the most current handbag, I had the outfit together on the surface, yet I wasn’t complete in myself. So

[I wondered] how can I arm myself, and put on enough of a shield, a costume, so that nobody knows that I’m really afraid?”

The Golden Thread

Normandie read books on Buddhism, studied Kabbalah in a tiny room in Regent’s Park, and attended the Landmark Forum. She even enrolled in a Kundalini Yoga course, but at the time that didn’t click. She reflects, “I obviously wasn’t ready for it then.” While at home one day working on her beauty column in You Magazine, Normandie saw Cindy Crawford on TV. The American model had written the forward to a yoga book. Normandie remembers, “I saw a quick flash of this woman in Los Angeles with a turban, and I thought, well that’s interesting.”

The Whites welcomed son Finn to the family, and the new mother made a resolve. “Because my parents were older, I was pretty much raised by a nanny. I wanted to ensure that I didn’t do that.” Thus, the trio traded life in London’s fast lane for the spaciousness and privacy of LA. Upon arrival, Normandie realized that the fast lane had followed her. “There were a lot of industry parties, and a lot of parties at my house. I saw that this was going to be the same as in London.” She became reclusive, Uneasy, feeling that, “Something was wrong. Deep in my intuition, in my soul, something wasn’t jiving right.”

Normandie Keith photographed by Cheryl Fox.

Breaking the Mask

After a Tatler Magazine shoot at The Beverly Hills Hotel, Normandie returned home in full hair, make-up, and wardrobe. As she reached her gate, “I tripped!” she squeaks. “Because my hands were full, I couldn’t put them down. So, I fell into a big metal drainpipe. I broke my nose and eye sockets. At that moment, my mask was broken. The mask of illusion. My face, which is what I had traded on, which had been my sense of self with this external life – the beacon of that was my face. And my face was gone. I remember feeling the blood coming out of my eyes, and what was my nose. That earth-shattering sound when I heard my face break, it was like everything inside of me broke. It was done.”

The confidante she most counted on couldn’t handle the gushing blood, and her husband was unreachable. So, Normandie made her way to Cedars-Sinai… alone…. for the first time in years. New to the country and without insurance, the ER intake nurse was reticent to tend to her. Normandie screamed, “Please help me! I’m somebody’s daughter! I’m somebody’s mother!” But the bureaucratic medical staff bellowed, “Nope. Back of the line!” She asserts, “Everything that could go wrong, did. I didn’t have a bridge in my nose, they didn’t get me a plastic surgeon. They ended up gluing the gravel from the fall into my nose, which then got infected.”

The pretty porcelain façade of Normandie Keith White crumbled, and with it her marriage, modeling career, and financial footing. Some members of the jetset that she called “friends” faded out. Her toddler son was so scared of her stitches and bruises that he asked her to wear a costume Ironman mask.

From Darkness

Normandie’s soul-sister Sadie Turner came to live in her guesthouse atop La Brea in the Hollywood Hills. At 3:30 am Sadie would scurry down the driveway. Normandie recalls, “I thought that maybe she was going partying so I waddled over in my Ironman mask to ask if she was ok.” Sadie responded, “Am I ok? Are YOU ok?!” Then she explained, “I’m going to Morning Sadhana. It’s Kundalini Yoga. Do you want to come?” Normandie exclaimed, “I tried that in London. You mean I can be there in the dark and nobody is going to see me?! Yyyeeeeaaa I want to come.”

The next morning, just before 4 am, the two entered Golden Bridge Yoga in Hollywood. Normandie recounts, “I remember walking in the door for the first time and it was so dark. And it was so still. The feeling that was in the building, seeing vividly the energy that was in the air, and the colors that surrounded it.

Normandie Keith photographed by Cheryl Fox. Clothing by Lavaloka

As the dawn rose, we were chanting. I knew every mantra of the Aquarian Sadhana. Everything was in me. I felt that I had always been there. Aside from having my son, it was the most beautiful experience in my life. This feeling of complete wholeness, that this is what I needed to do, and this is what I needed to be. I remember looking up on the stage, and seeing the man who was leading the sadhana. And I said to myself, ‘I will lead this. I know this; I know this in every part of my being.’”

Sadhana ended at 7 am. Normandie stayed for the next class, and the class after that, until the doors closed that evening, and back at dawn the next day. She signed up for Tej Kaur Khalsa’s teacher training that began the following week. She laughs, “Finn was being dragged to Golden Bridge every three seconds.”

When the Student is Ready

Grateful for the refuge, the well-mannered, former model wanted to send a “thank you” note to the studio owner. She discovered that it was Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa, the woman in the turban who had flashed on her TV screen with Cindy Crawford four years before. The wise crone was away in Rishikesh, India, for many months. Then one day while in Golden Bridge, Normandie chokes back tears, “I was walking up the stairs, and Gurmukh was walking down and she said, ‘You’re Normandie!’

I knew her. I mean I knew her deeply. It was like coming home to your mother. There’s something so magical about her. She’s a fairy, or a pixie, or an elf, and then she’s the biggest queen and goddess and saint. And then she’s a human, in this tiny body. Like the genie in the bottle. There was so much that radiated from her. Her aura, her energetic being, spoke to the deepest parts of me that hadn’t been nurtured properly, that hadn’t been called home. I know I am far from the first person who has been transformed by her without saying a word, but when you’re in the presence of grace, this happens.”

Over the course of nearly a decade, the two developed the type of relationship that can only be described as dharmic. “I have been so incredibly blessed by her!” Normandie weeps, “I’ve taught with her, and I have had the most fun with her, the hardest times, and the most transformative teachings. She’s been not only my teacher, but my incredible friend.”

For many years, Gurmukh and her husband, Gurushabd Singh lived in Normandie’s guest house, atop La Brea. It was the same one Sadie stayed when she first brought Normandie to sadhana that dark morning. Normandie revels in sincere reverence for her surrogate family saying, “Gurushabd has been protective and kind, and always a solid voice for me. And their daughter Wah is like my sister. She is someone that I value so deeply for her counsel and her friendship.”

Thousands of practitioners from all over the world considered Golden Bridge to be a sacred site of pilgrimage, transformation, learning, service, and community. When it closed its’ doors in 2015, it devastated the hundreds who oriented their daily lives around it. “We were like rudderless ships,” Normandie reflects, “It’s been tough, but it’s given me the lesson that you carry your temple with you. Your sanctuary is within yourself, and you bring yourself back home, by your thoughts, by your breath, by your actions. You can’t depend on a physical roof.”

Normandie Keith photographed by Cheryl Fox

The Student becomes a Teacher

Alhough Normandie had been teaching and leading sadhana for many years, the studio closing kicked her out of the metaphysical nest. She expanded her teaching beyond those walls with an active private clientele, retreats and workshops, classes at Wanderlust Hollywood, Soho House Malibu, Unplug Meditation and Yoga West, and her dedication to service work at Blessed Sacrament Jesuit Parish in Hollywood with people who are homeless. She also has two online programs on Yogaglo: Kundalini 101 and Morning Ritual: Wake Up to Create Your Day.

These programs and initiatives create a safe space for students to remove their own “masks of illusion” (without the severity of falling in a drain pipe). Through her teachings, Normandie inspires others to reveal their own true selves.

Normandie Keith photographed by Cheryl Fox. Tunic by Raj Wear. Necklace by Darshan Sacred Jewelry.

The Lighthouse

One of Ms. Keith’s favorite parables of Yogi Bhajan’s is that of a lighthouse. She teaches, “What the lighthouse is, is a beacon. A lighthouse doesn’t leave its post and go out and rescue one ship. In doing that, all of the other ships would get lost. A lighthouse, it stays rock steady, it stays firmly rooted, and it beckons everyone home. It leads by example.”

During her birthday week last year, Normandie was as spastic as any single mother driving around town in legendary LA traffic. Privates, studio classes, her son’s football games and studies, service with people who are homeless, and her own sadhana. She didn’t feel very lighthouse-like. “Ugh! Ack! I have GOT to get myself to a yoga class!”

After the daily hustle, Normandie dragged herself into her house, where the Star Wars theme song blasted. She saw lit candles everywhere and two yoga mats perfectly aligned. “Uh, what is going on…?!” Her now 12-year-old son Finn jumped into frame announcing, “I know that you don’t have time to go to yoga, so I want to teach YOU a yoga class. This is my birthday present to you. I found a good mantra.” She laughs, “And ‘good mantra’ was Star Wars, but I was like,‘Ok, Yoda’s in the house! We got this!’” Like any proud mom, she cried through the entire practice. Her little candle burned bright.

Normandie Keith photographed by Cheryl Fox. Clothing by Lavaloka

Later in the year, a radiant, wise, and generous teacher led Kundalini Yoga classes at Coachella. New students asked about the Aquarian Sadhana and her spiritual name. Normandie Keith, calm, quiet, compassionate and still, responded humbly, “Dharam Prakash – it means one who travels the path of righteousness fearlessly and is lit from within.”

What the shopkeeper in the Bahamas had tried to tell her all those lifetimes ago.

More Information

Normandie Keith and her teaching schedule can be found at: normandiekeith.com

Cheryl Fox is a professional photographer and yoga practitioner based in LA: cherylfoxportfolio.com

Hair and Makeup by Kumiko Ando (IG @kumikohairmakeup)

Styling by Designer Venius Adams: venius.net

Clothing

Martina Sports Bra ($49) by Lavaloka (lavaloka.com)

Brooklyn Mesh Legging ($94) by Lavaloka (lavaloka.com)

White Tunic: Aphrodite by Raj Wear (patriciasill@me.com)

Select Jewelry by Darshan Sacred Jewelry (darshansacredjewelry.com)

 

 

Amy V Dewhurst

Amy V. Dewhurst is the President of Sense + Color, a full service production and consulting company, ensuring success for conscious projects, brands and personalities globally.

www.senseandcolor.co

The post Normandie Keith; Lit From Within appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

High Vibrations and Healing Energy at Be Crystal Clear

The creative healing touch of Sugar Panbehchi is in evidence everywhere throughout Be Crystal Clear. The Santa Monica studio space, healing center, and high vibration crystal boutique offers a sanctuary for classes, workshops, sessions, and shopping.

Sugar spent some time with the LA YOGA team sharing her inspiration for the art, the crystals, and her commitment to being of service.

Sugar Panbehchi on Be Crystal Clear

What inspired you to open the studio?

For more than 30 years, I’ve worked in the service industry with my family. Being of service and helping people was always where I found the most fulfillment. Nourishing people’s bodies was just the start. Now it’s MY time to complete the circle. I am Awake, Crystal Clear, and ready to be of service to help everyone on their journey to Wake Up and Be Crystal Clear physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Realizing my purpose, I created a vision board on January 9, 2018. In the months following, I was in awe by how quickly my manifestations came to fruition. I knew I must open a center where people can come to nourish their mind, body, and spirit through vibrations, music, dance, and energetic healings. Throughout my journey in life the one thing about me is my profound love for helping people and the strong desire to nurture them mentally, physically and emotionally.

I’ve lived in Los Angeles for the past 38 years and want to welcome my community to come home and remember what is feels like to be crystal clear.

How did you come up with the name Be Crystal Clear?

I studied child development and realized a long time ago that we’re all born crystal clear, and filled with love, joy, and pure energy. But along the way life and society shapes us and, at times, takes away a great deal of that clarity, love and joy.

Be Crystal Clear is a way to reignite and rediscover our inner selves again, find clarity within and remind us to live our lives with passion and purpose, to be grateful for what we have and always pay it forward. I wanted that to manifest itself in the studio and provide fun and meaningful activities to help crystalize and set your intentions.

What is a story that you’d like to share ?

After I opened the studio, I noticed that people were finding themselves attracted to the energy and high vibration of the studio, which left a warm feeling in my heart confirming that I’m on the right path. Some of them even started giving back to me in very personal ways.

One client surprised me with a beautiful painting she drew representing me and the love I have for people and my mission for the space, and I chose to hang it in my Wish room next to the tree of life. I feel blessed that the people that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting so far have truly given me a lot of wonderful feedback and I look forward to continuing to give back to my loving community.

While you offer yoga, you’re more than a yoga studio. How do you make decisions about what to include on the schedule?

I wanted to have the studio be an all-inclusive wellness and vibrational healing space. Along those lines, I didn’t have any pre-conceived notions of what should or shouldn’t be on the schedule. There are so many different wonderful wellness modalities that people discover every day.

I planted the seed and love nothing more than to see all the different branches present themselves and come to life. I chose to have it all manifest and co-exist here creating a space for everything from dance, cardio, meditation, yoga, sound bath, stretch, breathwork, workshops, painting and creating. Anything that can be a catalyst to help people get to their own place of clarity, I love to put it on the schedule.

I also want to expand people’s comfort with different things they’ve never tried before, help them find other things they wouldn’t typically do and provide a safe environment to experience it in. Someone may take a high-intensity cardio dance class and see the Sound Bath on the schedule and try it out. Or someone will come to one of our spiritual meditation workshops, then will come back and take a break from work in one of our stretch classes at lunch to loosen their body. Anything having to do with Mind-Body and Spirit seems to find itself into our studio and I love people walking in unexpectedly and educating us on something our community hasn’t experienced yet.

How do the use of crystals in the space and for healing integrate with the work at the studio?

I hand-picked all the crystals that adorn the various parts of the studio for their healing, cleansing, and protection properties. I’m a Reiki practitioner and crystal healer. And I spent many months creating an environment in our studio that makes people feel open, safe, and able to release any stuck energy in their mind, body, and spirit.

It is interesting to me how some people are drawn right to the crystals from the moment they step foot in the door and have shown an emotional connection, while others come in and take their class or workshop and tell us what an amazing vibe the studio has without mentioning the crystals. It appears the crystals provide just the right amount of the right energy for each person individually. Of course, I also use the crystals in my private healing sessions with clients along with breathwork, sound healing, and Reiki.

How did you choose the artist to work with to create the murals inside and outside the studio?

Brian Farrell was introduced to us by a mutual friend and we hit it off with him right away. His creativity spawns from a place of nature and the universe. He’s very in touch with space, reality and the universe, quantum physics, and different dimensions. Brian’s work blends all of that into human consciousness and brings it back to nature. He gave us an initial rendering and he nailed it. There’s so much meaning and different layers to his work.

Child of the Universe

He titled his outside mural “Child of the Universe.” It represents everyone, everything, and every being. “Child of the Universe” is reminiscent of the child in all of us and being one with every particle and infinite sea of the universe. It is so gratifying to see people briskly walking by on the sidewalk sucked into their phone, then they suddenly stop and the look on their face as they look at the mural and their imagination flows. The images gives them a sense of coming back to themselves for a few seconds before they go ahead. It is very special.

Be Yourself

Then his inside piece is titled “Be Yourself.” It embodies how a child innocently and joyously creates from their dreams and thoughts. This piece is painted next to the room that we have our kids’ classes while the parents are having a class in the main room. Even the parents stop to try to decipher Brian’s work and they get a kick out of it.

Mari Pavanelli

We were also fortunate enough for Brazilian artist Mari Pavanelli to do an inside mural in the main studio for a charity event we held to held to raise funds to give access to clean water around the world. Her inspiration as well comes from nature and us spreading our wings.

Learn More about Be Crystal Clear

Visit Be Crystal Clear in Santa Monica

Read about Dawn Sorenson’s visit to Be Crystal Clear in Santa Monica.

Felicia M. Tomasko

Felicia Tomasko has spent more of her life practicing Yoga and Ayurveda than not. She first became introduced to the teachings through the writings of the Transcendentalists, through meditation, and using asana to cross-train for her practice of cross-country running. Between beginning her commitment to Yoga and Ayurveda and today, she earned degrees in environmental biology and anthropology and nursing, and certifications in the practice and teaching of yoga, yoga therapy, and Ayurveda while working in fields including cognitive neuroscience and plant biochemistry. Her commitment to writing is at least as long as her commitment to yoga. Working on everything related to the written word from newspapers to magazines to websites to books, Felicia has been writing and editing professionally since college. In order to feel like a teenager again, Felicia has pulled out her running shoes for regular interval sessions throughout Southern California. Since the very first issue of LA YOGA, Felicia has been part of the team and the growth and development of the Bliss Network.

www.blissnetwork.com

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