It is my son’s 12th birthday today and I am so proud of who he is! Matteo is one of the coolest people I know…I would like to say that it has something to do with me and his dad, but I know that we only play a very small role. He came in with his Buddha nature intact and we have just had to guide him along..My tteacher , Pattabhi Jois, told me many moons ago that the two highest and most difficult forms of Yoga were;1- to be in a relationship, and 2. to have children. He was so very right! Raising children is the 7th series of Life. As difficult as it can be at times, there is nothing more rewarding that I have ever done in this life and I thank my kids forever and always.
I know I was going to write the suutras and I do still plan on it. Time just got away from me this fall…Our training rocked and my personal life fell apart..no just kidding! But I did have a very rough few months there, some serious vrittis..I cant tell you how thrilled I am to be done with 2012 and to be in 2013!!! It’s going to be a great year for all of us! Time to go and make the birthday cake to bring to Teo’s school today for a celebration…Namaste to you all xxoo

I know I need to write about the sutras because that is the practice that I’ve committed to and I am definitely going to get to it in a moment. But first I have to talk about the election on Tuesday that I was pretty sure would drag on for hours, days, even weeks longer than it did. I was shocked to find out at around 7pm Hawaii time that night that they were calling the election for Obama already. Definitely had visions of the Bush/Gore debacle from the 2000’s. I am certainly not saying that things are all glorious and rosy now that he will be back in office, but I do think he may have a chance to actually finish some of the things he started. Seems to me that the presidential term itself is too short. It’s four years, three of which are basically devoted to getting reelected, and that just seems too short to get anything done in congress. OK, enough ranting..now how does this tie into the sutras?… Sutra 6 from Book 1 “Pramana Viparyaya Vikalpa Nidra Smrittayaha” These are the five seemingly non painful vrittis. Direct perception, confused Knowledge, Imagination, Sleep, and Memory. Sounds like the recipe for a presidential election to me!!! More to come..off to class now..week two of the teacher training has begun..what a great group of people…thank you Patanjali!!!

We started our 200 hour Teacher training course this morning and I feel very excited about this session. This is exactly what I need to channel all of the vrittis I have been experiencing in the hopes of transcending them! Being in the yoga room and sharing what I love makes me very happy and I feel fulfilled. Patanjali gets right into it by the fourth sutra when he states,” Vritti sarupyam itarahatra”. This is him being real with us as students. He already said that when we are in a true state of Yoga, we get to see who we really are and that is God. This is reassuring and soothing to our psyche. If only we had the ability to stay in that place! Unfortunately, most of our time is spent identifying with aspects of our consciousness known as the vrittis. “Vritt” literally means “to whirl” or spin out of control, and they are the agitations and fluctuations of our mind. All the stuff that’s flying around in our heads and bothering us, making us angry, jealous, insecure, and competitive with each other, are known as the vrittis. My friend Bhavani calls them the shitty vrittis. I can totally relate to that! There is hope for us. By cultivating a spiritual practice, like yoga, we can find our way home to inner peace and joy. However, when we are not in that state of yoga and are unable to see ourselves clearly, it is our tendency as human beings to identify with the vrittis and start to believe what we think. Without the discipline of a practice to teach us about personal responsibility for our own thoughts, words, and actions, we usually project those vrittis onto everyone and everything around us; especially the people we love the most. This type of behavior will always bring us pain and suffering. It is a vicious cycle to be in; one where we are constantly blaming others for our inability to feel happiness and joy. The irony of the human condition is that we are the only ones who can make ourselves happy, and consequently, unhappy. All the sacred texts and highest teachers tell us that we are already enlightened beings; we just need to realize it! How simple and how tragically difficult that it. I don’t know where I would be without yoga…
The fifth sutra says that the vrittis are fivefold, and can be either seemingly non painful or absolutely and unequivocally painful. “Vrittayaha Panchatayaha Klishta Aklishtaha”. the Buddha did say that the first noble truth is that in Life there is Suffering. Man, was he right! And also that all things must pass. It is quite a ride this life we live and I am grateful for all of it, no matter how difficult it is at times.
Happy All Saints Day, Peace, Nicki

Good evening, it’s tuesday October 30th. It’s Mars day and I have been feeling it all day until recently. It’s also Hanuman’s day and I sure wish I’d been able to channel more of hanuman than mars today but I wasn’t able to at all. I knew 2012 was going to be a rough year; i just had no idea how rough. It has been rattling me to the core, most specifically for the last 4 months and counting. If only I could remember Patanjali’s third Yoga Sutra every waking moment! “Tada Drashtuhu Svarupe Avastanam”- When we are truly in that state that is defined as yoga where we can see ourselves clearly without any pretense. It is then and only then that we can recognize that we are God. I use the word or name, “God”, but there are any myriad of choices really. You could say spirit, higher power, the witness, goddess, any name that you feel comfortable with really. What patanjali is telling us specifically is that until we can see ourselves as we truly are, and not who we think are, we will never realize that there is no separation between god and ourselves. We are in fact one and the same. Again, it’s those little drops of Amrita( the nectar of immortality) that give us that blissed out, high feeling. It is so important to find a spiritual practice that works for you, no matter what it is. if it’s yoga, great! If it’s something else, great! All spiritual roads lead to the same destination as long as your aim is true and your effort is sincere. Signing off for now…tomorrow is Halloween and we are all going trick or treating!! How ’bout you? Peace,Nicki

Today is Saturday, October 27 and it is the Nite of Delite at my kid’s school; the Haleakala Waldorf School. That basically means that it’s a Halloween party with nothing scary. It’s mainly for the little kids and it is actually very very sweet. It was my kid’s first exposure to Halloween and I took them every year and was able to avoid trick or treating until they got into the grades and realized that there was more to this holiday than I had shared. Waldorf is that way. We keep them in fairy land as long as we can until one day they discover that there is a whole other world out there. Now, my son is 11 and too old for the event and my daughter, who is 14, is working at the event! Time definitely does fly….So, it’s now time for the second yoga sutra, Book 1. Number 2. “Yogas Chitta Vritti Nirodaha” is paraphrased as follows. The Art and Science that is Yoga, for surely it is both, is simply the intentional quieting and calming of all the self limiting, self defeating, self judging tendencies of the “chitta”, which is our individuated field of consciousness. It is the process of removing the veil and seeing ourselves as we truly are,as opposed to who we think we are. This sutra is essentially all 196 sutras condensed into one. It defines what yoga is and why we should practice it. We then must go through the process of the full four chapters to figure out why and how to achieve that. It sounds so simple when stated, and yet, it is something that we would we lucky to find in our lifetime. While we can understand the concept rationally and intellectually; to actually live and breathe the sentiment is a whole other story. All of the sacred texts and all of the evolved teachers and masters tell us the same thing; that we are already liberated and realized beings. Just wake up and see yourself! And yet, we are trapped in our own perceptions of who we think we are and we cannot see ourselves clearly. When I first began to study Yoga, I had no idea that there was any connection between the poses that I did with my body, and my mind; none what so ever! It was only on my first trip to Mysore to study with my guruji, Pattabhi Jois, that I finally realized there was something more going on. I took to the yoga asanas ( the poses) quite easily on a physical level. They were not that difficult and in fact, they were fun! I loved how they made my body feel and for the first year that’s all I was aware of. For me, that was a blessing in disguise. If I had known how difficult it was mentally and emotionally, i may never have keep practicing. It’s kind of like having a child for a woman. If I had known how incredibly hard it was to give birth , not so sure I would’ve done that either! Now, of course, being on the other side of both, I am eternally grateful that the universe works as it does. When I arrived in Mysore and Guruji saw how supple and strong I was (22 years young!), he moved me so quickly through the practice that I was allowed to do the entire First series on the first day and two weeks in, he began adding second series postures. After being with him for two months, I finally began to feel all kinds of emotional suffering from the practice that I had never before experienced. I actually thought I was going crazy! Thank god there were more experienced yogis in Mysore (my husband Eddie included,although he was not my husband at the time! ) who told me not to be alarmed and that I was finally starting to really get into my practice. They recommended many books and explained to me that I was a Whole being: Body, Mind, and Soul. Yoga would not allow me to compartmentalize these parts of myself and the practice was actually bringing those three aspects more together in Union. Yoga is about yoking and joining all aspects of our being together so that we can function as harmonious human beings. It was also on that trip shortly thereafter, that I had my first glimpse into how powerful and fulfilling yoga could be. I was in the middle of the practice and suddenly felt completely connected to everyone on the room and even beyond. I didn’t understand it, but I loved it! I now call those moments little drops of Amrita, which is the Sanskrit word for the nectar of immortality. That feeling was enough to keep me practicing until the next one. I never know when it’s coming and it always surprises and delights me. Honestly, that is why I have stayed on this path that is so sweet and so hard all these years. I know that there is more to me than meets the eye and i have seen it for myself, however fleetingly. It will keep me going until the ed of this life without a doubt….
Now, it’s time to head up the hill to Kula for night of delight!!! Happy Saturday to you all…. Peace, Nicki

Ok, I am formally and officially incredibly embarrassed that my last post was 10 months ago! And i went through this whole appeal to you all that I would be more on it and write more regularly and I totally dropped the ball. so this is going to be a whole new practice for me to commit to writing. Eddie and I have finally started writing our book on Maya Yoga and it’s been a long time coming. We are absolutely blessed with an incredible writer to help us. She’s been a student in CA and I am so grateful for her interest in our work and her dedication to preserving it. I will be honest in saying that it was Eddie who really got her on board with us and for that I will always be grateful. We have given ourselves a deadline of next summer to finish the first draft so any and all support and encouragement will be greatly appreciated! I have been thinking about how I can find a thread to keep this blog going and I have come up with something pretty obvious(to all but myself of course!); the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. I will begin at the beginning with Book 1, #1. I plan to find some way to relate each sutra to everyday life, kind of like the book/movie, “Julie and Julia”. If you haven’t seen that, the author chose to plow through Julia Child’s masterpiece cookbook on French cuisine and prepare every single recipe on the book. A year ago I got an incredible cookbook myself on Japanese Vegetarian cooking and thought that I would prepare every recipe in that book and blog about it. Of course, I failed miserably at that especially since my last blog was 4 days after I received the book for Christmas…last year. I don’t know what I was thinking since I am not a chef; although I do enjoy cooking. It has finally become apparent to me that the yoga sutras are what I know and that they can be my road map(thank you Bhavani!!) as I travel this highway called Life. So, here goes: Book One, Number One I.1. Atha Yoga Nushasanam- “At last the moment we have been waiting for our entire lives has arrived. And it is in this very moment, that all the other moments have brought us to, that we are choosing, with the core of our being, to follow the teachings of Yoga, in its entirety.” This is a perfect sutra to restart my blog with. Today is the first day of the rest of my life so what better sentiment than this to choose to start all of this with. As yogis, we have the opportunity to reshape and restructure our reality in every moment. This is not an easy thing to do and we are governed and pulled by the patterns of our past. But we do have a choice in every moment. In this moment, I choose Peace. 2012 is proving to be a very intense year, as I knew it would be. What have any of us got to lose? Really, if you think about it, in all honestly, we all have nothing to lose and everything to gain by stepping onto this Path called Yoga. I am excited and nervous as well to get rolling, but I also feel finally ready to do it.
Thank you, Good Night, and Namaste to you all…until tomorrow….xxoo Nicki

It’s late at night and I am still awake. Every once in a while I do get in a late night mode and find it hard to wind down. I am in the middle of a family vacation out in Utah and it is proving to be more of a yoga practice than I imagined. It’s all perfect and much needed air clearing on many of our parts but still work. As Rumi says, “How can you get the pay if you haven’t done the work?” Life is like a continuos gyroscope. As soon as you feel balanced, something tips you another direction and you are forced to regain balance. At least that’s the way I see it. Not everyone does and a family is the perfect place to watch all these differing views interact. Tolerance, tolerance, and more tolerance. Oh, and let’s add some communication, Love, compassion, and more tolerance! It is quite pointed as well being on the edge of 2012..hovering just days away from what I am praying will be a most transformative year. Check the prophecies from around the world..Look around now as it all unfurls. I wish I could say that was my quote, but it’s not. It belongs to Adam Yauch, most known for his band The Beastie Boys. It’s from a piece called the Bodhisattva Vow. Amazing lyrics..some of my favorite, really. My teacher, Pattabhi Jois, used to say that two of the highest forms of yoga practice were being in a committed relationship and having children. I would like to add being in a family. It’s a constant kiki; crisis/opportunity. So, wherever you are tonight and every night, may you always remember that you are deeply deserving of love, and since you are, that means that everyone is. So, please practice tolerance, love, and patience with everyone and everything. It is not easy, but as the Buddha said, ” If it were not possible, I would not ask you to do it. If it were not skillful, I would not ask you to do it. Since it is both possible and skillful, I will ask you to do it.” Happy new Year 2012 and may our paths cross in the coming year…Peace and Love, Nicki xo

I am sitting here in the International Red Carpet Club at the San Francisco airport about to head north to Vancouver!! I am so excited for this trip..not only do I get to teach at a great studio up there, Semperviva, but I get a few days to explore the city. Funny, I teach in so many places in Canada and have yet to teach in Vancouver. This must be a sign…according to many prophecies, this coming month is a major time in our planetary evolution. In fact, a friend just sent me something that this coming weekend, Oct 16 to be exact is a transformational day according to the Mayan calendar. Supposedly all this talk of 2012 being the big explosion is not quite accurate. Things will be happening sooner than that…Look around now and see how it is all unfurling…Natural and man made disasters, the Wall Street revolution, and so many people having monumental changes in their own lives..It is an amazing time to be alive!! So I am teaching the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali on Sunday Oct 16 in Vancouver. What could be better?? An opportunity to align ourselves with a higher power and spirit..we all know it’s out there and yet there is a lot of fear surrounding this…Wake up people!!! It is time to fully Live and Love! I am going to see my best friend who lives in Van and she has been a support in my life since I was 19 years old..Aside from the relationship I have with myself and my family, she is the oldest one…Love that!! So, enough rambling for now…Oh, wait, I forgot to mention that I saw Michael Franti and Spearhead play at the greek Theatre in Berkeley on Saturday night. I felt so proud of Michael rocking that amazing venue..he has come so far in the last ten years…and the most amazing part of the show were these outrageous video montages running the whole time on jumbo screens. They were done by Brett Mazurek, who by the way, just got all my maya yoga dvds on youtube in little clips. At the end of the show, they played the lyrics to John Lennon’s song, “Imagine” and everyone was singing along..It was a beautiful moment of people connecting with each other..basically it was Yoga in action!! I love you all and hope you will reciprocate that love to all those around you!!! Until next time..Peace out, Nicki xxoo

12 more hours until my first regular class starts up again at my studio here on maui. If you think about it, that means that I am sitting at home in my office writing on my computer instead of being out on the town with my girlfriends tonight! I figured it would be a good idea to get a good night’s sleep tonight so that I can get up early and prepare for class. Honestly the hardest part for me is going to be keeping class at an honest 2 hours..time management is definitely not my strong point. Everything is in order for tomorrow, the room has been deep cleaned, the waivers printed, the blankets folded, bolsters stacked, and I even cut the grass yesterday..Evan taught me how to use the rider mower so now that’s one of my jobs at home. I quite like doing it. I put on my ipod and my silencing headphones and away I go! I have actually gotten pretty good at it, if I do say so myself..So, now all I am waiting to see is if Susie got the flowers for the porch..I am now feeling like maybe I wasn’t clear about who should buy them, her or me..We’ll see tomorrow morning..good reminder to always be specific with the details! Huge mushy waves today at Ho’okipa but man was it beautiful…caught the late afternoon and watched my son surf for a few hours. He is so happy to be back on maui..and I can hear the ocean through the window crashing down in the bay below our house..time to head upstairs and do some yoga nidra…A hui ho and namaste

It’s September and therefore time to go back to school! I just started teaching a teacher training in sebastopol with eddie..today was day 3 and I had a great day in there and was enjoying myself immensely. I like the fact that almost everyone in there has done a previous training with us. So, what else is going on with me these days? Well, I moved or should I say I relocated back to maui. We have such a beautiful place it feels warm there and to look at the ocean all day is a kind of magic..Well, now i have to go and plan tomorrow’s class..review of the yoga sutras and the 8 limbs..until we meet..