Welcome to the Friendly City!

I couldn't go to yoga tonight since my bedframe was finally being delivered and assembled (much as I enjoyed sleeping on a futon, on the floor, like the hippie I am, it's nice to have a real bed again), so I figured now might be a good time to compose a quick update to y'all on my life and times in small town Virginia!

So here I am, at the delightful little Earth and Tea Cafe, a stones throw from my new apartment, drinking a $5 large pot of gingersnap rooibos tea, and missing my Pittsburgh crew so very much.  But moving here was one of the better decisions I've made, for sure...

It's Only Goodbye for Now...

So I don't read my horoscope much...but one particular day in late September, I happened to check it out.  And here is what it said:

Standing at the edge of a new experience is a reassuring feeling for you Rams. You might even begin an extremely exciting venture now, for you have an optimistic sense about life and you are eager to play out your part. Be as adventurous as you wish. Live outside the constraints of negativity and reach for the stars.

Why so shocked, Keanu?  Because that very day I had been offered an amazing job in a small town in Virginia.  So I decided to take it, and I'll be leaving my beloved Pittsburgh (and even more beloved studio) on October 26th.

Competition Recap, or Danielle Should Probably Get A New Computer At Some Point

Hello yoga family,

I wrote you a beautiful blog post.  I shared funny anecdotes about all the concerts I've been to this summer.  I talked about the amazing Mary Jarvis seminars I've been lucky enough to attend.  I described the terrible terrible plague that is heat rash when you're not only a full time Bikram Yoga teacher, but also training for yoga competition...yet somehow, I transitioned the hilarious story of that horrendous plague into a learning experience about new student mentalities, and I tied it into an inspiring tale of one of my 6am students and it was BEAUTIFUL, I TELL YOU.  BEAUTIFUL.

And then my computer froze up, and I had to restart, and Blogger had decided that it just didn't feel like saving my post.  Any of it.

My memory is that of a goldfish and therefore I cannot recapture for you the glory of the hours I spent this weekend writing that post, dear readers.  So I'll just focus on what you're probably most curious about...

Competition Recap 2013!

Adventures in Verizon Wireless Customer Service

Yes, I know that I owe you all a real blog post related to yoga life, and I promise that is coming soon (Mary Jarvis in NYC! Competition July 27th!  This awesome photo!)  But first, I have had the most laughably insane customer service experience over the past few months, culminating just now in "We're sorry, there's no answer; this call is being disconnected."  

BUT MR. BRADLEY HAS MADE A PROMISE AND I WANT THE WORLD TO KNOW IT.

Our story begins on a cold winter's day in March 2013...

More Tales of a Traveling Yogi

Hello my fellow yoga friends!  Before I get into the happenings of the past few months, please allow me to indulge in a little shameless self promotion...

Click on that button, watch my silly video, and then "share" it via 1 - 5 methods to vote for me 1 - 5 times!  A bunch of students and friends and family members have already been sharing it around via Facebook and let me tell you, nothing warms the heart quite like one of your beloved students saying "vote for my teacher!"  

Of course, Stephanie's promo might take the cake: "Wouldn't yinz rather see this lovely lovely filming in Bora Bora or Cairo? Then VOTE FOR HER so she no longer has to make videos of Pittsburgh."  HA!

Farewell to Mr. Fancy Car & Yummy Mummies

Yaris and I in happier times, the day we met...

As every part of my life seems somehow tied to yoga these days, I thought I might share with you the story of Mr. Fancy Car, to whom I bid a tearful goodbye this week.

Those of you who have been in my little Toyota Yaris know that it is the opposite of a fancy car.  The responsibility of the passenger in the front seat is to shout "LOCK YOUR DOORS!" (training buddy/roommate Kelly is still the champ at that particular role), you have to blast the heat for ten minutes before you feel a thing, there is no cruise control (which made my cross country drive a challenge), and even the windows have to be rolled up manually.

Oh yeah...high tech.

Nevertheless, I love my little car, and it has served me well.  I took it in for its first official Pennsylvania inspection a few weeks ago and the mechanic said "usually I see an average of $500 worth of work for these, but all you needed was a little windshield wiper fluid."

A few days after that (as it turns out, weirdly prescient) statement, I came home late after my first Steelers game, and as there was no parking on my street, and I knew I'd be up to teach a 6am class (well before metered parking kicked in), I parked on desolate, empty Liberty Street. 

Five hours later I walked back to my car to drive to the studio and saw this:

One Month Later...Competition Recap!

The Pennsylvania regional yoga competition has come and gone, and perhaps you are still wondering...how did it go?  Did Zeb show us how it's done in his spaceship-style Crane?  Did Leigh Ann blow us away in Split Arms?  Shouldn't your knees be a wee bit closer together in Bow Pose, in that new profile photo of yours up there, you show off, you?  Yes, yes, and yes!  Here's a quick recap of competition weekend for your reading pleasure.


Friday, September 29th Competition weekend dawned with a 6am class at Bikram Yoga Pittsburgh taught by the lovely Miss Shannon.  I can count the number of classes I've taken at 6am since becoming a teacher on one hand (maybe two), given that I am not anything close to a morning person.

Sun Dance Kids and Studio News

Hello readership!   This video has nothing to do with anything...but in the four months since I last wrote, I've accumulated some videos, images, stories, etc that I kept meaning to "put in my next blog post"...and then just never got around to writing the thing. This is one of them.  Catchy, right? 

So according to Google Analytics, amazingly, people have still been happening upon my blog - presumably mostly computerized trolls, but also people who are googling phrases like "bikram yoga camel pose emotions" or "bar method butt" or ominously, "'bikram yoga' and 'teacher training' and 'regret.'" 

Adventures in Other Yoga, Electrolyte Imbalances, Exciting/Sad News

Hello my friends!  I've been getting a lot of questions about electrolyte replacements so I wanted to write a quick post on that, share a new obsession, and also some sad/exciting news (that most of you probably know already)...

So Bikram Yoga Vancouver has a wonderful blog that is worth following, full of posture discussions, student profiles, and recipes.  I'm often referring back to their post on electrolyte sources and imbalances. Click that link to read a little background on the what and the why...and read on for the how (in roughly descending order of importance) on replenishing electrolytes:

NYC National Yoga Competition: I'm so glad I did it. It was a fantastic experience. I'm excited for next year!

So if you don't have time to read this absurdly long post (and watch the various videos I've sprinkled throughout) I can sum my NYC nationals experience up in a few sentences: "I'm so glad I did it. It was a fantastic experience. I'm excited for next year." Sounds good, right? You'll notice that I don't add "and I did AWESOME!" BUT...I'm so glad I went. It was a fantastic experience. I'm excited for next year...

Have you seen this bizarrely adorable video of Kristin Bell describing her first real-life encounter with a sloth? It is BIZARRELY adorable, I love it. I'll wait while you watch.