Tag Archives: Havi Brooks

In Case You Missed It Edition! Volume 34 {back to school, expectations and enough}

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{via}

I’ve found some links to posts that made me laugh, cry, think or at least raise an eyebrow. Please click the links and check out the posts. You may find something that rocks your world too.

Leave me some feedback in the form of comments below on what you liked, what you hated and what you’d like to see more of. I’m here to help you find the best of what is online.

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So you may have heard, it’s already back to school for a lot of teachers. Many are already setting up classrooms, making new lesson plans and dreaming of how this year will be the best yet. Every August for the last eight years, I’ve  returned to work with big plans to help my students succeed and this year instead I’m turning my house into a home for a baby.

A lot of the same feelings are coming up: excitement, anticipation, anxiety, perfectionism.

In other words, I’ve had lots of opportunities to practice self kindness, managing realistic expectations and the concept of enough.

My Best Of…

….But no one ever bothered to tell the boss that her expectations were so completely unreasonable as to be inhuman….

Havi at the Fluent Self is talking bad bosses, expectations and teams of magic makers. Deadline? Oh Really?  spoke to my inner mean boss who simultaneously wants me to stay completely chill while making my house Martha-worthy. Or if I was in the classroom, making sure every.single.thing was perfect before the first day of school.

No pressure or anything. Ugh.

Let’s all try to keep expectations at least some what realistic, shall we?  

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10 Ways You Can Have Enough Money and Stuff from Be More with Less. Unexpectedly taking a year unpaid from work has my inner ‘enough’ alarm bells sounding on a pretty regular basis these days. This post helped me find some perspective.

How do you define enough?

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Back to School Jitters: Theirs and Yours Some tips for managing the return of school from Jen at Classic Play.

Any other tips to add?

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Socializing with Students: To Brunch or Not to Brunch?  Madeleine brings up the pros, the cons and the dirt on who can get hurt. So useful for teachers of all kinds.

Do you socialize with your students?

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Because I love you:

FREE yoga with my lovely teacher/friend Michelle.

Confessions of a Recovering Flowtard – yet another book I want to read {BOOK CLUB?} – Yoga Bitch: One Woman’s Quest to Conquer Skepticism, Cynicism, and Cigarettes On the Path To Enlightenment.

Do you think this Suzanne is my new BFF? 

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That is the In Case You Missed It Edition, folks.

Remember to click the links and leave some comments. This is a conversation, you know.

In Case You Missed Edition Archives -click it to see them all.


MadYoga Goes Online! Part 2 – Madeleine Lohman Interview

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Teachers.

Don’t you just love them?

I know I do.

There are those that inspire me and those that make me laugh. Some help me solve problems in my classroom and others that help me solve problems in my life.

I’d like to introduce you to some of my favorite teachers here.

Teachers in studios, classrooms and in the world at large. These are the folks you will see featured in my new series of interviews here at Teacher Goes Back to School.

I hope you enjoy these teachers as much as I do!

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Have you met Madeleine Lohman yet? Click here for Part 1.

When did you start blogging? Why?

I started blogging really recently, and I did it because you told me to.

This is only a slight exaggeration.

I have lots of these smart friends who write consistently amazing and inspiring blogs and I have been incredibly reluctant to get on board.

Even though I have a lot of extrovert skills, I am at heart an introvert, and had a complex network of reasons why blogging would Not Be A Good Idea. But, through the gentle, persistent reassurance of people like you who insisted they would like to hear what I had to say, I got it over with, and I now love it.

In fact, I’ve signed on for #reverb10, pledging to write every day in December based on prompts regarding the year past and the year to come. Baptism with fire.

What is your blog about?

I call it the yoga of the day-to-day. Making a habit of taking the lessons from your mat and bringing them regularly into your daily life. And not just into the quiet moments of your life, but the hard and loud and uncomfortable ones. What Pema Chodron refers to as the “squeeze” – when you’re least likely to think of yoga, that’s when you need it.

Didn’t you recently guest post over at Bows and Sparrows?

I did.

Here’s the link to the Holiday Gift Guide for the Yogi.

What blogs do you read?

Well, besides yours, duh…

Kim at www.yogaquest.wordpress.com – yoga!

Havi at www.thefluentself.com – mindful biggification!

Michelle at www.blogasana.wordpress.com – although I hear this is changing…

Who and what inspires you?

People who handle adversity with grace.

My incredible students.

The change of the seasons.

My dog when he realizes we are, in fact, going for a walk.

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If you’d like to learn more about Madeleine check out her new website and blog!

Please leave any questions or comment love below – we’d love to hear from you.

INTERVIEW ARCHIVES:

November 2010: Alicia Herrera – 4th grade teacher/Textile Artist – Spirit House Designs.

October 2010: Ryan Fong – Teaching Assistant/PhD Candidate in English at UC Davis.

September 2010: Michelle Marlahan– Proprietress/Fairy Queen of It’s All Yoga in Sacramento, California.

In Case You Missed It Edition! Volume 9

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{via}

Each week I’ll give you links to posts that made me laugh, cry, think or at least raise an eyebrow. Please click the links and check out the posts. You may find something that rocks your world too.

Leave me some feedback in the form of comments below on what you liked, what you hated and what you’d like to see more of. I’m here to help you find the best of what is online.

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My Best Of…

Why wait for Teacher Appreciation Day to feel some love?

Mrs. Ripp is at it again. Last week she asked if teaching is a lonely profession and this week she is asking for teachers to notice what is going well with other teachers in their classrooms.

I’ll admit it, sometimes I find teaching to be a pretty thankless profession. I think the simple act of noticing others would help set the intention of gratitude and good will. I’m intrigued by the practice of noticing the positive and acknowledging someone else’s good work.

What do you think?

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This time of year brings up a lot of sadness for lots of people (including me). Between the darkness, gloomy weather, and holiday expectations people struggle. The theme of letting go what no longer works is one many of my favorite bloggers are talking about this week.

Hollee’s hip release and subsequent surrender to the unknown is inspiring.

Do you ever want to let go of what isn’t working (or decluttering your life), but get overwhelmed by the thought?

Havi has simplified and taken the scary and overwhelm out of decluttering with 10 Things Gone.

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Looking for your Christmas shopping dollars to go toward something meaningful?

TODAY ONLY you can!

Check out these oh-so-cute one-of-a-kind Sophie and Lili dolls up for auction. All proceeds go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

It’s a win/win – a special girl in your life gets a friend for life and a sick kid gets a wish of a lifetime.

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What do you get when you cross Gwen Bell + social media + yoga? A must read!

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That is the In Case You Missed It Edition for this week, folks.

Remember to click the links and leave some comments. This is a conversation, you know.

In Case You Missed Edition Archives: Volume 8, Volume 7,  Volume 6,  Volume 5,  Volume 4,  Volume 3,  Volume 2,  Volume 1

A Peek Behind the Computer Screen

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Lucky me got to spend Friday evening with Just A Titch and Blogasana – two of my favorite Sacramento bloggers.

After teaching YogaNap at It’s All Yoga and then falling into a post-teaching-blissed-out-Yin-state facilitated by the lovely Michelle, we hopped into my trusty blue Prius and made our way over to Amy’s newish Sacramento digs {it really is that cute}.

We drank wine from Michelle’s Wine of the Month Club {who knew?}, ate tasty snacks and the laughing began.

First up, reminiscing about Double Rainbows and their ah-maz-ing-ness.

Then we talked about our favorite blogs:

Havi Brooks – Fluent Self

My favorite post from the week – Let’s Try Something Different Today

Gwen Bell – Big Love In A Small World

Kyla Roma – Daydreams from a Handmade Prairie Life

Danielle LaPorte White Hot Truth

Gretchen Rubin – Happiness Project

 

I borrowed this book from Amy and tried not to peek at it while we were talking.

Dear readers, please know you’ll never have to read about what I ate for lunch. Unless of course, it’s sharing a recipe.

We discovered our mutual love for the images on We Heart It and joked about how I could get my readers to click the links in my posts.

Look forward to an upcoming photo of a gun pointed to a lovely 20-something half-dressed woman’s head. Please note she will have an exposed breast and bloody nose, holding a lit cigarette.

At least it will if we find it on We Heart It.

I kid, of course.

But FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PLEASE CLICK THE LINKS ALREADY PEOPLE!

{thank you in advance}.

Twitter talk ensued.

I confessed to learning about Twitter from Rhett Miller.

They both laughed at my superfandom.

We talked about how we love Twitter because we like to know what people are actually doing during their day, how there is a fine line between witty and too witty, and all the people we love to follow {personal faves: @naomidunford, @yisforyogini, @sophieandlili, @bowsandsparrows, @4thgrdteach and of course @rhettmiller }

Did I mention the laughing?

And there it is… a peek behind the computer screen.

Downtime Is Not Optional

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The way I felt at the end of last weekend’s endless fun-fest prompted me to add another entry to my Book of Me: Downtime is Not Optional.

 downtime

Don’t get me wrong, I love having fun as much as the next person.

As it turns out, I need some unscheduled hangout-and-do-nothing-time in order to recharge my batteries. I need some built-in recovery time or my body rebels and makes me sick. And you all know how I feel about that.

 

Many folks are rolling their eyes right now, thinking well I’m just too busy, I’ve got commitments and/or kids and I just can’t afford any down time.

 

My monsters say those things too.

Here are some more gems from the monster gallery:

  1. Really? 7-9 hours of sleep isn’t enough?
  2. You mean you need to do that EVERY night in order to feel truly rested?
  3. These days, who is really rested?
  4. Can’t you sleep when you’re dead?
  5. Gawd, you really are lazy.
  6. Other people don’t need to rest this much.
  7. Other people get up on Monday morning and never stop running – even on the weekend.
  8. They run their kids all over town and clean house and go to endless sporting events and birthday parties and the never even complain about it.
  9. Other people have kids and commitments and jobs and…. and they are fine. Damnit.
  10.  How are you going to survive when your kid arrives?
  11. I’ve heard kids rob you of all your sleep and you are a constant sleep-deprived zombie.

 Do you see how much my Monsters care about me?

The good news is that my Book of Me, isn’t a book for my monsters.

Or of you.

Just some reminders about what works for ME.

To quote Havi – That’s why it’s the Book of You and not the Book of Humanity In General That Is Also Known As The Book of All Things For All People At All Time.
So in order to honor my research and study of me, I am scheduling a much-needed day of quiet for tomorrow.

 

PAJAMA DAY to the rescue!

Are your monsters responding to my Pajama Day idea? Are they yelling about how lazy that makes me? Want to join me? All you need to do is STOP for one day and stay in. I’d love some company. I’ll be hanging out on Twitter and Facebook and hulu and Netflix.

What are some things I would find in your book of YOU? What kind of self-care do you do to stay sane?

Image source.In the park on hot day–“played … by The Library of Congress on Flickr

The In Case You Missed It Edition! Volume 3

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I’ve recently discovered the wonderful world of blogs, Twitter and the idea of creating community online. I am aware I am late to the party, however it’s better to be late than never arrive.

Who knew the Internet was full of such wonderful, caring, compassionate people?

Occasionally, I’ll post my favorite posts from other people here.

The In Case You Missed It Edition!

The Book of You – on The Fluent Self. I think everyone should start writing theirs.

Jennifer Louden, author of  The Women’s Comfort Book and others, also writes a blog. Here’s a can’t miss post – Choose Your Life Mondays – the It Isn’t A Big Ding Dang Do Edition where she talks about minimum requirements for self-care (MRSC).

“MRSC’s are the basic things you need to stay in touch with yourself, to have a strong foundation to meet the rather constant challenges of life, and to ease the noise in your head.”

Michelle asks, “What One Thing?” – as in what is YOUR special talent?

Homemaking – Amanda explores what it means to be a SAHM. Really hit a chord with me.

If you have a favorite blog that you’d want everyone to read if you were in charge of the universe, please let me know about it here. Leave me a comment about your favorites and maybe I’ll start reading them too.

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Yoga+Music(notquite)365 (day104)

Today’s yoga brought to you by the kitchen home practice.

Today’s music is Elephant by The White Stripes.

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Yoga Teaching Update:

Free class for School Teachers in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week – May 1st. Yoga Nap+Milk and Cookies.

FREE Fridays at 4:30 with the new It’s All Yoga teachers (21st and X in Sacramento) – you’ve got to sign up online www.itsallyoga.com. 

I’m teaching with Donna – May 14th!