Tuesday, June 29, 2010

SHAKTI

"To enjoy the freedom of being. To make beauty, to love, to exult in the goodness of life, to celebrate the Supreme through art/music, to serve by adding more joy and laugher to life~SHAKTI." (taken from the Anusara Yoga Master Immersion manual)


Monday, June 28, 2010

"My heart called me to action and I followed"~Julia Butterfly


So time for 'part' of the vision to happen~First, a journey back to 'Haramara' with D.R. and his wife Bronwin. This trip like the year before was magical! A week of physical yoga, mindful yoga, open hearts, beautiful people and a whole lot of love AND....amazing food! A week to rejuvenate, reflect, feel inspiration, manifest, embrace love and confidence and............. to ignite others dreams and visions. I came back to Haramara feeling the fire within but needed to set the flame within and ignite my dream to a higher place and so I did. After journaling and writing about my true desires and so much more my intention for this year is, "INHALE SHAKTI, EXHALE SHRI, IGNITE!". This is just one small way (well not so small) of manifesting a lot of beautiful and magical things within my life for 2010 and the people around me.

After I returned from Haramara it was time to put everything in action.....what name to choose, what colors, logo, schedule and overall what kind of atmosphere did I want 'jalaBlu' to have. Well, the name was easy......the word 'blu' or 'blue'...we spell it 'blu' is just a fun word to say ......and I love how it rolls off your lips~I love the ocean, it's a powerful and mystical part of mother nature and so, 'jala' means water in Sanskrit. My dear friend Astrid was the artist behind the logo and my first post cards to fly around Colorado and announce jalaBlu. I will figure out how to attach the logo to this blog soon but in the meantime I will explain.......It resembles a peacock feather but means so much more.........there are dots above the logo (7 to be exact...a lucky number) and these are shakti (powerful energy), then there is a green area that stands for Urdhva Dhanurasana (yoga pose: back bend...and my favorite), there is a black arch that stands for an open invitation to open hearts...open minds....and an entrance to a new doorway, there is also a blue arch resembling a giant wave/ water and the peacock feather idea is 'strength'.....So, that is the logo idea and the name idea. Now the true definition of 'jalaBlu'......dadatada.......

1. A place of union and unbounded exploration of the heart; a gathering oasis. 2. an opportunity to explore body alignment and mindful living through yoga. 3. an invitation to express diversity and openness. 4. a sacred place to embrace creative minds, community and bliss. [jalaBlu]

"inhale shakti, exhale shri, ignite!"

love and shri~
jenna and 'jala'

Friday, June 25, 2010

So much in just one year~

OK....so to continue with how 'jalaBlu' ignited. So, after traveling for 6 months in Asia I decided to come home to the States ...well, actually right around this time last year. Take note: a lot can manifest in one year...:)! I wasn't sure where to go, what to do and I pretty much came back with nothing (money wise). Hmmmmm at the age of 38 I was well....some people may say lost but to be honest it was quite the opposite. My world and mind seemed beautiful. I was open minded to endless possibilities and there was something inside of me that was new....comfort, confidence, more love for myself and a lot of clarity. Remember the quote that I carried with me in 2009?...let me remind you, "To embrace clarity and a grander love for myself ....ignites the power within and all around." I was watching everyone around me stress out about such little things in life, people not observing the beauty in front of them or friends forgetting to just be so thankful for the love that surrounds them ~ through a loss of a beautiful friend and guru on my traveling journey in Asia it has blessed me with the awareness....."life is too short so embrace each moment". I also realized that anything is possible if you believe in yourself....may take a little time, may be scary and may be a long path but if it's what you desire than it's worth the risk and patience. YOGA!!!!!! The more I started to take workshops....attend retreats or just regular classes I could feel that love within my heart or that fire within each time....Kind of like when you start to fall in love with someone or something. Since I was a little girl I loved to dance and took many classes (12 years and still dancing): jazz, tap, Luigi, modern, hip hop........and for me yoga is another way of dancing....being in tune with your body and expressing your emotions through movement. This is a beautiful thing!!!!!!! One thing that is forever within ones life is your body~I look at it as a divine temple and one that should be explored. So through yoga it is a form of dance and a way to honor and embrace my own body. It's amazing how many people are actually out of tune with their own bodies and this is just one of the many gifts of giving within the yoga teacher world.

OK...so, a bit off track but part of the story. Once I get past how jalaBlu ignited, this blog will hopefully be a daily blog for the studio......inspirational thoughts, intentions, students and workshops that come our way to the small land of Buena Vista, CO. Maybe this will inspire another amazing soul out there or just encourage someone to try yoga and to me that is just another blessing in the yoga world. "It's never to late to start yoga!"

So, I decided to land my wings in Buena Vista when I returned for a couple different reasons. Most importantly, all my friends have migrated here from the Vail area and I was only going to hang out for the summer and spend time with them. Well....obviously the summer has now turned into fall and winter and now summer again (full circle). So, yoga was on my mind and I knew I had to somehow keep going with that intuition. I was a fitness instructor for 5 years so I knew I had no trouble of teaching in front of people, being motivational and optimistic and more than anything I have always wanted to help people and to make them feel good. I had expressed this to several friends that I wanted to teach and as always they encouraged and gave me the support I needed. My friend Barb who owns the magnificent cafe "The Evergreen" said, "Why don't you teach some classes in the apartment behind the Evergreen?"....hmmm, didn't know there was one back there....and my mind felt something or knew something before I even saw it. So, I took a look and then the magic started to really ignite...the vision! Many people would have not seen what I saw when I looked at this place but it all started to come together.

Many places in Asia (or yoga places) had the same description.....a yoga studio but so much more! Most of the people who owned the places would also actually live there, a place of gathering (potlucks, music, other group oriented discussions, yoga classes, women groups, etc....). The apartment (which is now jalaBlu) needed work (mostly paint) but I could imagine it coming together. The upstairs would be a small yoga studio (fits about 15) and the downstairs would be the gathering oasis along with the outdoors. And so, this is where it started and manifested. At the end of October I started choosing colors, working on my logo, working on the name, ordering supplies (mats, blocks, etc...) Just making it happen! A few friends and family took the time to help which was so amazing and still the support of them is needed every day in this 'jala' Jenna journey.

So, starting this all all in October was also the one year anniversary of going to 'Haramara' (Mexico yoga retreat with Darren Rhodes and his wife Bronwin). It was coming up again in November and even though I wanted to go again so badly I knew financially it just wasn't going to happen. However, I just kept thinking about my next intention for the new year and how it had such an impact on 2009. Well, to keep the story short, sweet and a bit of a secret....an angel (actually two angels..:)) came out of no where and blessed me with the gift of going to Haramara again.......tears of joy and a magical moment in my life (as there are many).

The colors are next and the journey to Haramara to spark the fire~

love and shri~
Jenna and 'jala'

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

The Dream of jalaBlu~How did it ignite?

Inhale shakti, Exhale shri, Ignite!~

The word manifest is probably one of the strongest words within my own vocabulary. It has a meaning that is so magical and can ignite many blessings within ones life, truly! In 2008 when I thought my world was falling apart, I decided to go to a yoga retreat in Salulito, Mexico (Haramara). I had taken a random workshop with Darren Rhodes (known in the Anusara yoga world) in CO and oddly enough when I looked at the website for Haramara I saw his name and the exact week I wanted to go, "perfect"!!!! Little did I know that 'D' would become one of my main yoga teachers in life~AND.....introduce me to the word 'manifest' in one of the fullest ways......! I have told 'D' that he is one of 'the master manifestor'......in life. So, during Haramara (the yoga retreat) we would practice yoga A LOT but not just in the physical form, also in the mindful form. We would write in our journals, share with others....'D' would ask us life long questions that would leave us with blank faces or hearts and minds that were battling with what is right to write....laughing......When your faced with the question, "What do you desire in life, what do you really want, who are you, what are you waiting for, etc...." and then 'D' would say ..."ok"....5 minutes to write....My first thought was, "5 minutes"?????? "are you kidding me"?.....No,he wasn't. No time to think with the mind, write with the heart and so I did. And so, this is how jalaBlu began even though at the time I didn't know the name (jalaBlu), I didn't even know what it was going to be but somewhere inside of me I started to write, write, write and write. My intention that I left with that year at Haramara was "To embrace clarity and a grander love for myself, ignites the power within and all around".

After Haramara I traveled through S.E. Asia for 7 months (Thailand, Indonesia and Taiwan). If you have interest my blog is: www.jennagoestoasia@blogspot.com . I carried this intention with me the whole time.......kind of knowing what it meant and not knowing what it meant at all and not expecting it to mean SOOOOOO much. Traveling by myself was so powerful in so many ways and even now as I think back it's still having such a great impact on my life, my beliefs, my love for life and the way I choose to live. To sum up traveling alone...well, you have a lot of time to get to know yourself and look deeper within. Some things you don't want to know but they confront you and you invite them in....:)

I started yoga 9 years ago when I was a fitness instructor in Vail. Yoga really started to impact my life when I was in my mid thirties and when I lost my job as an Assistant Designer yoga was my way to heal and think about my next path.....Well, that path was traveling....:) Throughout my travels in S.E. Asia I studied yoga in Thailand and Indonesia and started to realize that my love for yoga was really never ending and unconditional. I knew that I was like a humming bird, wanting more sweet nectar and that I just wanted more more and more~! Something clicked within my heart desire during my travels and during my thoughts of "What do I desire, what do I want, etc...." I realized that I wanted to teach yoga and deep down inside I wanted to make yoga a HUGE part of my life~I wasn't sure how but this is when I started to 'manifest' the dream of jalaBlu without even knowing that I would own a small little yoga studio in Buena Vista, CO. So this is just the beginning~

love and shri~
jenna