Jan 1, 2016 | Sedona Yoga, Sedona Yoga Festival Teacher Feature, Sedona Yoga Retreat, Yoga Conference, Yoga Festival, Yoga Festival Experience, Yoga Interviews
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Meet Mimi Solaire, yoga educator…
We recently chatted with Mimi, just to see how things are taking flight…
SOCIAL MEDIA:
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
Occupation: yoga educator
Hometown: Phoenix, Arizona
Current Town: Phoenix, Arizona
Where has yoga taken you?
On the physical level I have presented at workshops and conferences throughout the US. I have also led retreats in Southeast Asia- Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia. I have traveled to India to experience yoga from the Motherland.
The inner journey has been far more interesting. I rely on my inner GPS to guide me and often “redirect” me when I get off course. Although I ‘m still not sure where I’m headed I am enjoying the ride and the adventure.
What are the 4 most pivotal occasions in your career both in and outside of Yoga?
- Ending my graphic design business to teach yoga full time
- My dvd “Back in Shape” got a good review in Yoga Journal
- Teaching at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health
- Every day is a pivotal occasion living yoga.
What do you never leave the house without?
My cell phone and lipstick.
Where are your favorite places to experience?
I love to explore different cultures. My curiosity has led me to live with and photograph the Choco Indians in the jungle of Panama for two weeks. Also I traveled to Mexico, Southeast Asia, Pakistan, India, Australia and Europe.
What are the first three words that come to your mind when someone says: “grounded” or “connected?”
Balanced, focused, peaceful
We want to know what your typical morning looks like! What does your daily practice look like?
I teach most mornings before 8 after walking my dogs. My schedule changes every day but I usually continue to teach or practice until 2. Then I begin the evening classes at 4 or 5.
My daily practice varies. I do hot yoga 2/3 times a week, lead aerial yoga classes 3 times a week and then practice aerials- silks, trapeze and ropes twice a week with my instructor. During my break in the afternoon I meditate and stretch.
What is one mantra that is like a remedy for your soul?
Be Truthful, Gentle and Fearless
How do you channel your inner 5 year old?
My aerials practice is a result of climbing trees as a kid and hanging upside down on the swing set in my back yard.
Tell us one fun fact about yourself.
I’m a Steelers fan.
What is your favorite pose to teach in your classes? And why?
I don’t teach poses. Although I begin with alignment, the focus is on the internal experience of the breath and how it awakens emotions, thoughts and underlying sensations in the moment. My favorite pose is awareness on or off the mat.
If you’re not on a yoga mat, where can we find you?
Dancing, enjoying live music with friends, walking my two dogs.
Dec 7, 2015 | Sedona Yoga, Sedona Yoga Festival Teacher Feature, Sedona Yoga Retreat, Yoga Conference, Yoga Festival, Yoga Festival Experience, Yoga Interviews
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Meet Anton Holmes Mackey
We recently chatted with Anton… he’s been in some cool publications lately! Congrats, Brother…
EMAIL:
Occupation: yogi
Hometown: Albuquerque, NM
Current Town: Scottsdale, Arizona
Where has yoga taken you?
Yoga has taken me on a journey to get to know my soul. It has taken me around the country and the world. It has been the best guide in my life.
What are the 4 most pivotal occasions in your career both in and outside of Yoga?
- My very first yoga class August, 14 2008
- Getting my very first yoga class on the At One Yoga Schedule
- Teaching at Wanderlust
- Teaching at every Sedona Yoga Festival
What do you never leave the house without?
Never leave home without CONFIDENCE My lava rock Mala with protective crystal
Where are your favorite places to experience?
Favorite place to experience is Havasupai Falls.
What are the first three words that come to your mind when someone says: “grounded” or “connected?”
Calm
Peaceful
Direct
We want to know what your typical morning looks like! What does your daily practice look like?
Wake up and lie in bed and think of 5 things I’m grateful, then get up and meditate for a minimum of 7 minutes, then walk my dogs, then off to teach.
What is one mantra that is like a remedy for your soul?
Everything that is happening to me is coming from me. And TRUST
How do you channel your inner 5 year old?
Anything Star Wars channels my inner 5 year old!
Tell us one fun fact about yourself.
I’m partially def in one ear. Huh!?!?!
What is your favorite pose to teach in your classes? And why?
Favorite pose to teach GODDESS! Every class, every time. It channels the strength and softness in all of us.
If you’re not on a yoga mat, where can we find you?
If I’m not on my mat I want to be Traveling.
Nov 13, 2015 | Sedona Yoga, Sedona Yoga Festival Teacher Feature, Yoga Conference, Yoga Festival, Yoga Festival Experience, Yoga Interviews
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Meet Kriya Yogini Camella (Swami Nibhrtananda)
We recently chatted with Camella… Her Aqua Kriya Yoga Certification is super cool!
Occupation: Yoga educator, Swami, Ayurvedic Health Educator, Home Funeral Doula, Author.
Hometown: Bedford England
Current Town: San Jose, CA
Where has yoga taken you?
Exoterically to India, across America and Mexico. More importantly though, esoterically to a higher plane, transcendent of time and space. Yoga is not the only path to enlightenment, but it is a safe and sure route. You don’t need a suitcase or passport either.
What are the 4 most pivotal occasions in your career both in and outside of Yoga?
- Becoming ordained as a Swami in an unbroken line of teachers. Several years before Goswami Kriyananda died, he instructed the women of the sanga to reach out and help other women. I hope that I am making some headway in this field as it is much needed in our society today, with women being so busy and stressed.
- Teaching amongst a lineup of well-known yoga professionals at the Bermuda Conference. It was a bit intimidating at first until I realized that they are just doing a job they love, and still have a personality of their own. A bit like the rest of us.
- Officiating at a friend’s mother’s funeral, which lead to me getting trained in Home Funerals. I am really focusing on the final klesha of ‘clinging to the physical body’ at this stage of my career as I think it is sadly lacking in the yoga world.
- Getting my books published and training programs established. Such an incredible amount of work and sacrifice, but I feel proud that they are perhaps what the male forbearers’ in my lineage would have taught if they were women.
What do you never leave the house without?
I feel lost without a bag with ‘stuff in it’. I don’t know how men do it. It is super though when you dig in there and find something useful in the moment for me, the kids or someone else.
Where are your favorite places to experience?
Anywhere near water, or in Nature generally. Looking out of the window of an aircraft, special days like Christmas, womens’ circle events, Celebrations around the Solstice’s. Yoga retreats.
What are the first three words that come to your mind when someone says: “grounded” or “connected?”
Earth – Saturn – Capricorn
We want to know what your typical morning looks like! What does your daily practice look like?
If I am not teaching, a walk by the Baylands and meditation is a great start to my day. If not, then a shower and cup of tea before setting off to teach yoga. My practice is my life these days rather than a formal personal asana practice that I used to do for years. I am far less of an evangelical yogi and I think that’s a good thing.
What is one mantra that is like a remedy for your soul?
Om Nama Shivaya seems to crop up again and again when least expected even though I love the Gayatri.
How do you channel your inner 5 year old?
I try not to be too serious. Being childlike is great as long as it’s not childish. A huge difference in terms of self-awareness.
Tell us one fun fact about yourself.
I have a house rabbit called Fonz that I adore.
What is your favorite pose to teach in your classes? And why?
Tadasana or mountain pose because it really is the reference asana for a balanced life. Swamaji used to tell us that the greatest asana is “learning how to stand on your own two feet.” There really are lots of people who like to blame other people for their lot in life and are stuck in fear, greed and anger.
If you’re not on a yoga mat, where can we find you?
Swimming, taking a walk, in the Korean spa (not often enough) or of course in the pool teaching Aqua yoga.
Nov 12, 2015 | Sedona Yoga, Sedona Yoga Festival Teacher Feature, Yoga Conference, Yoga Festival, Yoga Festival Experience, Yoga Interviews
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Meet Albert Flynn DeSilver… Writer, speaker, retreat and workshop instructor.
We recently chatted with writer/speaker Albert Flynn DeSilver to get the inside scoop.
Occupation: Writer, Mindfulness Teacher
Hometown: Norwalk, CT
Current Town: Woodacre, CA
Where has yoga taken you?
Deep within to inspiration, divine creativity, practical realization, kindness, generosity and the heart of love.
What are the 4 most pivotal occasions in your career both in and outside of Yoga?
- Getting sober (long story).
- My first silent meditation retreat at Spirit Rock Meditation Center with the Thai master Ajahn Jumnian
- Reading Poetry in Paris with the great American poet Alice Notley
- Leading a mindfulness and writing retreat in Maui, Hawaii with Cheryl Strayed.
What do you never leave the house without?
a good book and a pen
Where are your favorite places to experience?
Freedom and flow on a mountain bike in Lake Tahoe in late July, lying in an Aspen grove above 10,000 feet in the Colorado Rockies in early October. Walking the streets of Paris in the rain.
What are the first three words that come to your mind when someone says: “grounded” or “connected?”
Mountain, being, love.
We want to know what your typical morning looks like! What does your daily practice look like?
Wake and drink tea, read 30 mins, write 30 mins to 4 hours, sit in meditation 30-60 minz, stretch (yoga), hike with Audrey-the-dog, get to work, eat, work some more, go for a mountain bike ride, eat, read, sleep, rinse repeat.
What is one mantra that is like a remedy for your soul?
“To see that I am nothing, that is wisdom. To see that I am everything, that is love. Between the two, my life flows.”
OR
Simply “I am”
How do you channel your inner 5 year old?
Breathe, go for a hike in the hills.
Tell us one fun fact about yourself.
I failed my year end review in graduate art school as a photographer, so I switched departments and eventually graduated with a Masters of Fine Arts degree in “New Genres,” which meant I could go out in the world and create anything. . .photographs, paintings, sculptures, videos, installations, even words. After graduation and flailing around from gallery to gallery, I switched again and became a poet and writer.
What is your favorite pose to teach in your classes? And why?
A standing meditation/skeleton scan because it guides you into experiencing your body in a primal, elemental way that breaks down perceived separation between self and earth, self and air, self and fire, self and water. You are left with just self as self, that which makes self possible!
If you’re not on a yoga mat, where can we find you?
Reading or writing under a Madrone Tree working on my next book. On a mountain bike cruising singletrack trails, perhaps on a SUP paddling along in Tomales Bay, or hiking the hills of West Marin with my scrappy little angelic rescue dog Audrey.
Nov 11, 2015 | Sedona Yoga, Sedona Yoga Festival Teacher Feature, Yoga Festival, Yoga Interviews
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Meet Isabella Greene, Ze Happinator. Remote Spiritual Healer, Happiness Coach, Mystic and Teacher
We recently chatted with Remote Spiritual Healer, Isabella Greene. Recent expansions and up-leveling have been keeping her happily… busy. She is constantly asking the Universe for more.
Occupation: Life & Happiness Coach, Energy Healer, Remote Spiritual Soul Healer, Mystic, Teacher
Hometown: St. Petersburg, Russia; New York, NY
Current Town: Sedona, AZ
Where has yoga taken you?
Yoga has opened the door into my journey back to self. It was during yoga practice that I first started experiencing the depth of meditation and most profound visions. Yoga helped me calm my mind and find balance between my body and my soul. It helped me build a strong connection between my body and my mind, something that was missing for me throughout my entire pre-yoga life. It also showed me peacefulness that I was unable to find anywhere else and it led me to finding my life’s passion. It also helped me calm my “edges”. When I first started doing yoga in 2006 I was in a very aggressive Karate training, but shortly thereafter I was no longer able to enjoy it. I no longer had the drive to spar and to fight people: the anger and the edge that originally brought me to taking Karate was no longer there. I dropped Karate and stayed with yoga.
What are the 4 most pivotal occasions in your career both in and outside of Yoga?
- I worked in Financial Services Industry for over 10 years. I didn’t enjoy it much, but I didn’t have the guts to leave: it was comfortable and I didn’t know what else I could do with myself. One day in 2009 they laid me off with a year of “free” pay: that was the best thing that happened to me. In that year I had time to really look at my life and make better, more coherent choices.
- One day coming from yoga practice I had a strong feeling to walk home instead of taking a New York City subway. The practice that day was outstanding for me, I was quite “in the zone” on my long walk. Suddenly I had a feeling to stop at a place I barely knew, but the “inner voice” was so strong I followed. As I walked in, there was only one other person there, someone who turned out to be the kind of person I’ve never met before: spiritual healer. The conversation that resulted had me on the plain to Life Coaching School less than a week later and two month after that I took a call from my very first client. This is how my coaching and healing practice started. And I am forever grateful to yoga for that.
My visit to Sedona came together “quite unexpectedly” in 2012. Three days there and I knew I was moving. After I moved to Sedona I focused on my spiritual practice and mediations with all my might and two months into it remembered that I had remote viewing ability since I was a teen. Excited, I started playing with it, it was so much fun! Then the crisis hit: my Mother was very ill and I wanted to help her, but she was all the way across the world! I went to “remote view” her in the hospital and something incredible happened: something I had no explanation for at that time. I had the most profound vision during which my Mom suddenly recovered! This is how I learned to do what I do now. Helping my Mom was my very first remote healing session.- My meditation practice is really intense; it led me into Kundalini and pineal gland activation. This resulted in my being guided to and “teaching myself” how to do really advanced remote Soul Healing work and also in person sessions. Due to this new knowing, my practice has expanded dramatically; I now have clients all over the world, doing my work for the Planet one person at a time. And I am forever grateful to that life changing walk after yoga
What do you never leave the house without?
My purse. It’s a girl thing. Also water, I always have water with me.
Where are your favorite places to experience?
Nature. Middle of nowhere – the more remote the better. This is relatively new for me as I was very much a big city girl and traveler before Sedona. But now all I want to do it camp in the wilderness.
What are the first three words that come to your mind when someone says: “grounded” or “connected?”
Balance, peace, harmony
We want to know what your typical morning looks like! What does your daily practice look like?
I do my 1,5 hr long meditations at 3:30AM, then take a couple of hours of lucid dreaming, then up around 7:30 or 8 and right into remote healing sessions. Clearing practice after that, then coaching clients and in person sessions in the afternoon. I don’t have breakfast till about 11AM usually.
What is one mantra that is like a remedy for your soul?
“All in Divine Order” and also “Following the invisible into the unknown”
How do you channel your inner 5 year old?
I AM a 5 year old! Just ask my boyfriend!
Tell us one fun fact about yourself.
I loooove motorcycles! Nothing like a nice solid loud Harley ride, especially on an empty road with magnificent nature views!
What is your favorite pose to teach in your classes? And why?
I do not teach yoga, but my favorite pose is reclining hero. I can stay in it forever! Took me a long time to get there and I just love how it feels on my knees!
If you’re not on a yoga mat, where can we find you?
In my Sacred space, most likely, which is my house and garden: writing, reading, doing research, listening to workshops on line, dancing, blissing out, doing nothing.
EMAIL: email Mimi.
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