Happy Thanksgiving with the Missionaries of Charity

Once again, thanksgiving is celebrated with my favorite nuns of the Missionaries of Charity. This is a group of amazing nuns whose order was started by Mother Teresa. This was Mother Teresa's 100th anniversary. Every year, the nuns provide a venue for a wonderful meal, a great show by some talented dancers and singers, and the homeless people who come to the shelter usually put on a Thanksgiving play too. It really is something beautiful to behold. Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to get involved in giving back to the community and helping people who are less fortunate than us. Thanksgiving is also a busy time of year, and sometimes understandably hard to get away from other obligations. Last year, I announced it at Bamboomoves and Hank joined me. This year Hank was back again with wife Maria, and 8 other Bamboomoves members came along too! WOW! So thankful to be part of this amazing family/yoga studio at Bamboomoves in the Bronx. Thank you to Armando & Denise, Jody, Michelle, Hank & Maria, Stefanie & Matt, Mary and BF, YOU ALL ROCK! We arrived there at 8:30 and did the jobs that the sisters assigned either preparing the meals, carrying the meals to the hall, peeling potatoes, preparing cutlery, setting the tables, sweeping, and most of us were in the massive traditional chain of people that puts the food on the table. It is a lot of fun every year! Upon leaving a small group of us ran into a familiar Sister I knew from the Mission, and she was so happy to see the group of new faces I recruited. We stood for a quick picture. If you or someone you know are interested in volunteering with the Missionaries of Charity, they also have daily meals every day, except for Fridays in their Bronx location. Hope everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving! Thank you to all who participated, and thank you to the Sisters who dedicate their lives tirelessly to help the poor.

Healthy Treats- HOT VEGAN/JUICE Spots NYC

With the Holiday Season approaching food is on many peoples minds. While I think Thanksgiving is a great time to give thanks, and also give back, in Western culture we celebrate food. Food is a wonderful part of our lives. It brings nourishment, health, vibrance, and brings a sense of family/community! Sometimes when people are on the go, it may be hard to maintain the healthy food habits unless they know of some great FOOD HOT SPOTS. One of my favorite things is fresh vegetable or fruit juice. There are a number of places throughout the city that sell fresh juice which give more vitamins, minerals, vibrance, and overall health benefits than stopping in the highly acidic/sugar filled coffee shops. Recently, I was taken to the East Village to explore a wonderful place called "Liquiteria". It is an amazing place that sells Delicious Vegan snacks, meals and FRESH JUICES!!! Some other places I love to stop at, where you may want to get some fresh juice/smoothies/health foods in the city include:

• Juice Generation
• Bonobos
• Terri
• Holy Nuts (UWS)
  
• Jamba Juice
• The V Spot (BK)
  
• Zen Vegetarin House (BK)
  
• Blossom
• Liquiteria
  

Harmony By Karate- How Karate Saved my Life

Years ago, when I taught the PreK class in the Reebok Sports Club, one of my friends/co-workers (Sensei Joseph) introduced me to Sensei John. Sensei John and the team of Black Belt Instructors at the Karate school always displayed a genuine kindness that always stood out to me. Fast forward to 2010, I was invited to participate in a lovely meditation at the dojo led by my friend Sensei Joseph. The meditation was in honor of the 9/11 tragedy, and was meant to bring unity within diversity, and celebrate humanity despite tragedy. The meditation was beautiful. It was there that Sensei John asked me if I knew anyone who could help the kids classes, in exchange learn Karate. Though my schedule has been pretty busy, I volunteered myself because I was reminded of the outstanding energy I always experienced with the family of workers at Harmony by Karate.

Twice a week I have the great privilege to join the brilliant team of Sensei's at Harmony By Karate, located in the Reebok Sports Club, to teach the Kids Karate Class. I bring the Yoga stretching to the kids and witness a beautiful way to teach kids discipline through Karate. These kids learn traditional forms, drills, and exercises while the Sensei always ties in inspiring words and things to think about.

Initially, I was reluctant to do the Karate for myself. The work outs are no joke, and force me to use my muscles in different ways than I do in yoga. While I know that martial arts was inspired by yoga, by nature, I am not aggressive, confrontational, or anything like that, so I was intimidated to be in this black belt Karate class. Unlike in yoga, there is no "childs pose" in Karate. In the class I have been doing katas, kicks, punches, chops, rolls, drops, kart wheels, hand stands, push ups, one arm push ups, and much more!!! One night we worked on yelling "STOP!!" to our partner and pushing them. This was hard for me, as my partner was my friend, Sensei Joseph. Each time I looked at his face I found myself smiling and giggling. He forced me to dig deep, and I did it.

This simple exercise nearly saved my life the following weekend. When I was on the subway, traveling early to Manhattan to teach Yoga, a man sat next to me, placed his arm around my shoulder and kissed my cheek within one second (literally when I blinked). I was so startled, I yelled "Ewww Gross, Please get away from me!" and pushed myself free. The man was startled and moved, I walked to another train car. While it may seem funny that I used the word "please" when I yelled, a year ago, when I was faced with a similar scary incident on the subway, I just froze in fear. This time, thanks to my experience at Karate, I diverted a potentially life threatening situation! Thank you to Sensei John, Sensei Joseph, Sensei Adam, Sempai Ferriha, Sempai David, and Sempai Leonard for welcoming me to your team and providing me with tools that I will cherish forever.

Many women have the limiting belief that it is not in their nature to be aggressive. The necessary confidence and skills can be taught with a wonderful self defense class or Martial Arts.

Pictured: Sensei Adam, Ambria, Sensei Joseph, Sempai David

Kids Yoga fun at Bamboomoves

The Kids yoga class at Bamboomoves has had tons of fun this year. With learning new poses, yoga games, Halloween yoga, and even a special veggie tasting day, these kids have come a long way. One of our favorite games is the butterfly game, where kids flap their wings and use their memories to recite names, names of healthy foods or colors without repeating one that was said before. It's a great game to help improve their memories, and also stretch out tight muscles in the thighs/groin. For Halloween some kids came to class in their costumes, and we did Halloween inspired games and poses (Downward Wolf, Spooky Tree and much more). Yoga is an amazing way to teach kids about the Mind, Body, Spirit connection. With Childhood obesity rates growing, childhood diabetes and various other sicknesses related to lack of good nutrition and fitness, yoga is a great way to introduce children to a healthy lifestyle.

Halloween pic: (Tragedy Anne, Major Flirt, Black Cat. Lady Bug, and Elmo!)

Yoga For Dudes is Back

Once again we (Bamboomoves) will be having the amazing "Yoga For Dudes Workshop"! Sunday November 21st at 4pm, after the FREE Meditation Workshop which will be at 2pm. The first workshop for men only was a wonderful experience. This exclusive workshop allows men to embrace the practice fully. The workshop itself was built around the theme of balance. The questions raised and discovered in the last workshop were:

• Imagine your life if you had everything you needed
• What if you had everything you needed but didn't realize it?
• How do you find balance between wants and needs?
• How do you find balance with who you are?

Yoga answers these questions and many more. While some may focus on the physical benefits of strength, flexibility, rehabilitation from injury, it is also the most amazing way to bring balance to the mind, body and spirit.

In many ways men have fallen victim to the limiting beliefs placed on society through various forms of media, creating a role and identity of a man should be. Men should ask themselves, what role do you want to play? Do you want to be in control of your senses? Do you want to be in touch with the core essence of who you are? Do you want a life that is limitless? If so, yoga is for you!

Although many don't realize that Yoga was originally intended for the Elite Warriors of India because somehow in the Western World it is being embraced by Women, the practice itself is very much like special ops, designing a mans mind, body and spirit to overcome obstacles and conquer everything with a calm mind first. It is time for men to reclaim their heritage and take back the yoga practice! No more letting limiting beliefs run your life guys, join us at Bamboomoves for an amazing experience!

Some people who have embraced the yoga practice and are a shinning example of the Mind, Body, Spirit connection include: The entire LAKERS TEAM, Sting, Evander Holyfield, Russell Simmons, Madonna, and NOW YOU!!!!

If you know a guy, are dating a guy, are married to a guy, related to a guy, and most importantly if you are a guy, Come join us at Bamboomoves BX, Sunday November 21st at 4pm for our Yoga for Dudes workshop. Check the Bamboomoves Website for more details.

Also feel free to check out our amazing & hilarious Commercial for Yoga for Dudes, starring some of our outstanding yoga students/participants, yoga instructors and shot by our Rockin' Studio Owner, Michael Baez.

Meet Our Outstanding Kickbox teacher Leon

A year ago when I taught the 6:30 am yoga classes at Bamboomoves, one of my students came in looking sore and stiff. When I asked what happened, he said "Leon's Kickboxing class". Then and there, I made the mental note to avoid that class. Fresh off of the Tony Robbins UPW event, I have been doing extra greens than I usually do, have outstanding energy, so after I taught 4 classes (including a high intensity Zogalaties class), I took Leon's class. For people who don't know, Leon has a cult following, the people who do kickbox at Bamboomoves are hooked to this mans class. The fact that he is a sexy dude with a charming personality works to his advantage, but he also gives an outstanding class!!! Despite the fact that I have heart palpitations from an irregular heart beat, and knew that I had to wake up to teach a full day the next day, plus Karate class the next evening, I did have a blast in the kickbox class!!! Some of the students who take the Zogalaties class had joined me in Leon's kickboxing class. All in all, cardio is a great way to get the heart rate up, release endorphines, and HAVE FUN!!! Leon is an amazing instructor and I would recommend the class to anyone who wants to lose weight, strengthen their heart, and most importantly, HAVE FUN!!!! He also is a brilliant actor, and personal trainer. Thanks Leon for an outstanding class! Just another note, people wonder how I have the energy to teach 25 classes a week, and even take classes on top of that, well it's from a highly alkalized diet, lots of greens folks! ~ Namaste

Pictured: Leon & Ambria

Stop Bullying - Ahimsa

Ask yourself, have you every been the victim of bullying? Have you ever been a bully? Sadly, many people would say yes to one or both, and if you didn't, you lie about other things too! Bully's are people who do repeated acts over time in order to enforce power on the other person. Is this power or cowardly? Bullying consists of three basic forms: emotional, verbal, and physical done to create coercion or manipulation. Sadly, it is found in families, schools, workplaces, churches, neighborhoods, cyber bullying, military, college hazing, social groups and social classes. From a historical perspective, nations have bullied other nations for power. Most bullies are aggressive, narcissistic, and driven by envy, resentment, insecurity, and a serious inferiority complex. Bullies satisfy their need for significance at the expense of the feelings and lives of others, and this has to STOP!

The recent trend of teen suicide in the gay community is so sad. Is this the world we live in? Can we learn from history? The amount of Russians, Jews, and various other Europeans that were murdered due to bullying in the Holocaust! The amount of Indians that were murdered when the British invaded India. The amount of African Americans that were bullied during the slave trade. The amount of women that were bullied during the women's liberation movement. When does it end people? The sad part is, bullies come in on their target, and instill limiting beliefs in that person or group, all for power. We win when we stop believing in these limiting beliefs that other bullies attempt to impose, but it is not always easy. The Yogic principal of Ahimsa is Non Harming to all living things, to do no harm in actions, words, deeds and thoughts. If only we could all live by this standard. Many celebrities have come forward to support the stop bullying campaign.