The nominees for the Helpy Helperton Award for Best Bailout to a Self-Supporting Yoga Teacher are:

John Computer I imagine he has a surname, but this is how he appears in my Motorola presently
John is a martial artist, sound engineer and computer wizard who, after years of being the techie savior to his family and friends, and friends of his family and friends, started up a little thing called Tech Help At Home.  This dude will COME TO YOUR HOUSE and take care of business for some very reasonable dough. Upon examination of my woes, he admitted that my situation was bleak, and hooked me up completely for $100.  The best part is that I have a number to call if, say, I can not figure out how to rotate a photograph, which I sometimes can not.  Anyway, I am online and happy because of JC.  He is expert, trustworthy, prompt, friendly, about 1/4 the cost of the Geek Squad, and can talk civilian to right-brainers.  I urge you, should you find yourself in a compu-trauma, leave your friend's roommate's brother-in-law alone and send this helper some bizne$$!

MaRiza Baker She goes by Riza, and can be found on the sidebar under "Dial-A-Shaman"
Riza is new to the team of helpers, and I like her.  Allison Bradley, the original Dial-A-Shaman, introduced us.  We talk on the phone every couple of weeks, to check in and support my inner stuff.  They are both a part of The Blue Fire Project, which is itself too amazing to try and blurb on right now, but basically, as far as i can tell at this point in the process, they are teaching people how to remove obstacles lodged in the path of spiritual guidance.  Let's say, if I am me and my guide, or teacher, or God, is my great grandmother is trying to call me on the phone (EUREKA! maybe God is my great-grandmother trying to call me on the phone!), these folks are the AT&T tech support line, minus the on-hold advertisements.  They can plug right in to the cosmic switchboard, but more importantly, they teach folks how to plug themselves in.  "Give a man a fish, you have fed him for a day.  Teach him to fish, and you will no longer have to listen to him whine." Author unknown.

MaryJane Neumann She also answers to "MJ" from some, and "Mommy!" from a couple shorties
MaryJane is the best, most caring and competent practitioner of TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) that I know.  I say, "I'm so hormonal I'm psycho crying all day!" She follows, "Are your bowel movements kinda piece-y?" and tells me to stick out my tongue.  I visited her private practice, Gingko Acupuncture, this week, and was delighted.  The studio is beautiful, with a big giant stone Buddha, a whole line of Dragon Herbs, magical healing treats and nice smelling stuff.  The address is Oak Park, but I spent less time getting there than I do to Lincoln Park.  She is one block away from the Blue Line Austin stop.  It took 15 minutes from downtown.  For real.  MaryJane and I used to do a collaborative healing event called Healing Lounge, where I played singing bowls and she gave the Four Gates treatment (tiny needles in the hands and feet) to about a dozen people at a time.  We're thinking of starting that up again, so get ready.

Linda Ginzel I met her as "Linda," hope to know her as "Professor," will likely remember her as "Guruji"
A while back I wrote a little something about Linda's heroic mission, Kids In Danger.  As a result, this week I had the fortune of lunching with her.  I forgot about how it feels to meet an ace.  There is a sense of amazement, surrender and humility - the kind of thing I imagine a cat feels when lifted by its scruff: powerless, yet in perfect peace.  Linda, a U of C psychology professor, is a master of the mechanics and subtleties of human interaction, meaning, she could probably take over the world if she were a bit more ruthless.  It is a great mercy to humankind that these skills were gifted to such a generous, grounded spirit.  And KID is remarkable work.  You might not think, as I didn't, that it has anything to do with you - ensuring the safety of children's products - but as with all acts of courage and selflessness, there is an ethics here which any of us would be foolish to ignore.  It is not a paranoid exaggeration to say that without regulation, the least negligence could end the life of any person who buys food, relies on traffic lights, or sleeps indoors.  Is that you?  Yes, I believe so.  This needs action.  Give a shit. 

the Valentine's Day class! Aint no love like twenty hearts-a-healing
I had such a nice workshop last Saturday at Yoga Now, and lots of you were there with me!  We did an extended, 2-hour compassion meditation coupled with restorative yoga and me on the singing bowls.  My favorite part was the compassionate blessings we wrote and exchanged secret-santa-style at the end.  The one that came to me read: May You Share Your Bright Light With The Whole World - to which I say, Thank you, I will do my best, starting with a new Restorative Singing Bowl workshop every month!  I will let you know the date for March as soon as we're confirmed. In the meantime, please accept my gratitude on Sundays at 7pm, where we do a mini version every week.

Angel of Yoga Who is this Angel? Known as "Durga" on the blog, the Angel's identity has not yet been revealed.
I thank the Angel not just for writing such lovely things about my class on The Angel of Yoga blog, and publishing our interview a while ago, but for the steady stream of inspiration and encouragement that the Angel hoists upon me.  The Angel of Yoga is one of the rare and wonderful people who does not need pushing to make things happen, people who say YES! to change, and YES! to challenge.  I (sigh) do not always feel like one of these people.  My ideas come tangled with criticisms, my dreams come mixed with fear, my guiding forces sometimes don't get through the neurosis with enough clarity to propel me forward.  When we met last Fall, I was a few dimes away from giving up, and the Angel said, "Come on, kid!  You've got a great thing going - let's make it even better!"  And we began to plant some pretty hearty seeds.  Were it not for the Angel of Yoga, there would be no Yoga for the Moment, no Restorative Yoga Workshops, no singing bowl savasanas.   I share this for two reasons.  Firstly, so you will feel grateful for the Angel of Yoga, as I am!  But more importantly, so you will think of that person in your life that needs cheering on, dust off your pompoms and do what comes naturally.  Gimme an A, eh?

Anna, Molly & Cassie ...and Ryan and Lindsay and Andy and Janelle and Brenda and Megan and Poppy...
On Fridays at approximately 6:07pm, Happy Hour Yoga cranks up at Walt Whitman in Wicker Park.  You should come.  Because it is donation-style (broke folk welcome), and because it is right on the Blue Line, and because it is huge fun.  The thing is, friends, that what is going on at this class right now is as true an experience of family as I have known, and when I am very old and wearing purple, I will remember these days, back in Chicago, when life was so icy and wild, and I'll think of how beautiful we were, feeling so serious and intense about passion and responsibility and purpose (read: romance, rent and work), and how we'd meet for yoga Fridays, to try and chill the $%&! out, and we'd laugh so much, which made everything seem worth it, for an hour or so.  Am I getting sentimental about my neighborhood yoga class?  Um, yes. 

Live, Breathe Yoga One good blog deserves another
Thanks to the folks at Yoga Now who are writing this super blog!  For all those interested in reading even more about me (ugh, it's kindof a lot now, I know), check out this week's Teacher Feature!



And the winner is...
well, John Computer!  I have to say.  I wouldn't even be in contact with the other nominees without my email machine.  Thanks, John.


"All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated...As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come: so this bell calls us all: but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness....

No man is an island, entire of itself...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." 

-John Donne (1572-1631), a Christian, and inadvertent Buddhist if you ask me. From his book, Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions. (great title, eh?)