Yoga Bootcamp

Last week, I woke up at 4:15am from Tuesday to Sunday. I brushed my teeth, got dressed, packed my things for the day, and arrived at the yoga studio at 5am. I handed in my journal, which included everything I ate the day before, how much water I drank, and how much sleep I got the night before, to my teacher who closely scrutinized the data. After our journals were appraised, we all sat down on our mats for a brief discussion. The instructor asked how we were doing with the diet (no refined sugar or flour, at least one salad a day, vegetarian) and asked us to share with the whole group things she had read in our journal. We would discuss our assignment for the present day and then get down to about an hour of asana practice (yoga poses and flow). Except for Wednesday morning, when we practiced deep and sustained stretches or yin yoga, we worked on a warming vinyasa flow sequence; we practiced the same flow sequence several times in one class and the same flow each class so that we could build strength and stability in the poses in the sequence.

Anyone that knows me, knows that I am absolutely not a morning person. I truly require 8 hours of sleep to be functional and I value sleep above most other things. I love to nap, and I take long naps on weekends and short naps on weekdays. When I am tired, I am grouchy, impatient, and sometimes mean. So, why would I subject myself to something that I knew would make me miserable? Well, I didn't reaaally choose to participate. The weeklong workshop was offered to me as a gift wrapped up in a compliment. Nishtha, the owner of the studio where I teach yoga, called me and asked me to participate as a gift, citing that she had really enjoyed my company at a recent event at the studio and would like to have me participate. I had been meaning to wake up 30 minutes earlier to practice asana before work for weeks, but consistently press snooze until the very latest I can get away with. I really believe that yoga in the morning would relieve some of the low back and hip pain that I feel while farming all day, and thought that the bootcamp might be the perfect way to kickstart my morning yoga practice. So, I said yes to Nishtha's offer, quite enthusiastically in fact.

Honestly, I can barely remember last week. My alarm went off at 4:15 am and I popped out of bed, terrified of oversleeping. My dozing puppy would open one eye, look at me, and roll over in the other direction, continuing to sleep without the bathroom light interrupting his slumber. I grabbed my lunch and breakfast, made tea, and headed out the 24hour gate because the gate closest to my house was not even open that early. While practicing at the studio, my vritti (internal dialog) was all over the place and very negative. I thought mean things about myself, my practice, my teacher, and my classmates. I left in a hurry, uninterested in speaking to the other participants, and eager to get to the parking lot at the farm so that I could sleep in my backseat for 20 minutes before the work-day started. When I woke again at 6:56am, all I could think about was the next time I could nap. I stayed focused on staying awake until lunch, ate in a hurry, and slept for 30 more minutes in the backseat; I even brought a pillow with me. Tuesday and Wednesday evening I taught yoga, Thursday night I had some girlfriends over for dinner, and Friday night I went to a power vinyasa class at Grassroots Yoga before eating dinner with another girlfriend. Saturday's bootcamp was the most difficult of the week. I actually fell asleep in several poses, including standing poses, I swear! I left class at 7:10 am (2hr classes on the weekend), went home, and slept for 4 hours. After my nap, I felt much better; I went shopping and made veggie and quinoa patties for a potluck birthday party that evening and potluck breakfast after the last day of bootcamp the following morning. As I was falling asleep Saturday night, I was planning how I could skip the breakfast and sleep before I taught yoga at 10am.

On Sunday morning, I was still thinking about how I could get out of attending the breakfast pot-luck as I got dressed and headed to the last class. During class, I felt better than I expected, and after class I was hungry! I walked to breakfast with Nishtha and the event was surprisingly pleasant. Having some sleep, and completing something quite hard for me with a group of other people struggling in their own way, made reminiscing on the experience and talking about other yoga and life topics very fun and enjoyable. The coffee might have helped, too. I left the breakfast early to teach Sunday morning yoga and taught one of the best classes I have ever taught. Was it the hard work, self discipline, and abundance of yoga in my life that week, or was it just a good class? I don't know, but with boot camp having come to a close, I felt accomplished and happy and looking forward to future yoga challenges.

So now it is Tuesday, two days after the completion of yoga bootcamp. Have I continued to wake up at 4:15am and shun refined sugar and flour? Not really. I did several sun salutations before work on Monday, but I had non-dairy soy ice cream Monday night. Today, I stayed away from the frozen desert, but I didn't wake up to do any practice this morning (with the excuse that I was teaching a class this evening). Has bootcamp changed my life? Probably not. But, I do think that I will be more aware of my food choices in the next couple weeks and maybe beyond. And, I will keep working on building a morning yoga practice a little bit at a time.

The Atlantic Ocean, My Love

I grew up on the eastern end of Long Island and have spent most of the summer days of the first 25 years of my life enjoying the Atlantic Ocean. I have memories that date back to kindergarten of my mother bringing me to the ocean and trying to keep me from adventuring too deep into the unforgiving waves. She implemented the "belly-button rule," which implored me to stay shallower than my belly-button unless she was accompanying me deeper. I would spend the day trying to sneak deeper without her noticing me and screaming "Meg! You are going to have a time-out" at the top of her lungs, alternating with begging her to take me deeper. When we went in together, we would dive under the breaking waves and then tread water floating up and down with the incoming waves. Occasionally, I would accidentally catch one and get tumbled and scraped against the sandy bottom before emerging from the water gasping for air. Secretly, I loved when this happened, even if it was terrifying.

As I got older, I was allowed to swim by myself and I learned to catch the waves on purpose. When a wave would suck me up and drop me over its falls swirling me in the white water, I now knew to let my body relax and to let the water move me at its will, trusting that eventually I would be able to steal a breath and then the wave would release me from its grip. I absolutely loved this sensation and throughout middle school and the beginning of high school, my mom would drive me and my siblings and friends to Cupsogue, the county beach in Westhampton, almost everyday. This beach was about 30 minutes from our house and at the end of Dune Road, the only road that travels the barrier island that protects the shores of Eastern Long Island. The speed limits are tight and well enforced on this road, but it is not possible to drive quickly, anyways; the road is lined with impressive mansions of all shapes and styles with shiny cars that I never saw in my own neighborhood, and most people driving this road were looking intently at the houses and cars trying to imagine the fabulous people that lived inside and what their lives could possibly be like. Everyone in my family had a favorite house and it felt like we had some special ownership over those houses; as we drove, my mom would call out "there is Meg's house! There is Pat's!" This part of the day was fun in its own way, but I always felt impatient and excited about arriving at the beach. On holidays it was particularly painful as the road would be backed up all the way to the bridge and it could take hours to get to the beach! When we finally arrived, I would spend the days body-surfing and walking down the beach admiring the backsides of the ostentatious houses I had observed on the way there.

When I was finally able to drive myself to the beach, I stopped going to the county beach in Westhampton and started going to Ponquogue in Hampton Bays. This beach was across the street from the bridge to the barrier island, so it was much easier to access as it did not require a drive down a long stretch of Dune Road. I would buy a non-residents season pass for $200, because I lived in the next town over, and make sure that I got my money's worth. Going to the beach became a social adventure, with my classmates hanging out at a cluster of towels near the volleyball net. It was important to be present as often as possible to be established as part of the beach crew, but I really just loved the ocean, even as a shallow and superficial teenager. 

In college, I learned to surf while studying abroad in Ecuador. The trip was during J-term and I arrived back home to a frosty New York. I absolutely could not wait for the spring to spring so I could get in the ocean and start surfing at home. As soon as the trees started to bud and the days became a bit warmer, I went to the surf shop and bought my first surfboard and wet suit. As a beginner, there were not many days that the Atlantic ocean allowed me to practice. Many days the waves were big, daunting, and downright terrifying and others the water was perfectly flat, but there were a couple here and there when I was able to get in with my board and practice surfing. Playing in the waves with a large fiberglass board attached to your ankle is much scarier than diving and swimming freely. When I would fall and get tumbled by a wave, the board would drag behind me and pull me backwards, keeping me underwater longer and making it more difficult to steal some air from the surface. Sometimes the board would come over the wave and hit me on the head or the fins would scratch some part of my body. But, when I caught a wave, stood up, and rode it all the way to the shore, all the abuse and anxiety were forgotten and I was so elated it is barely possible to explain in words. Here, a whole new way to love the ocean. 

Last weekend, I flew to Florida to spend time with Jamie while he is training there. The hotel where he is living looks directly over the Atlantic Ocean. When I woke up the first morning, I looked over the balcony at the familiar waves crashing on the unfamiliar beach and felt all the love I have always known for the ocean, but later when I was laying on the beach reading my novel, I had an odd mix of emotions. Reading novels at the beach once made up a very large proportion of my existence, and here I was feeling like a tourist, out of place, at the ocean. That afternoon the sky was overcast and it was quite windy; I was chilled and the ocean was windblown, choppy, and less than inviting, so I stayed dry on the beach. The feeling of visitor, non-native, even intruder, lingered until the following day when the wind died down a bit, the water smoothed out, and I went swimming in the ocean. All the familiar feelings of elation, excitement, fear, and joy that I feel when diving through and catching waves, tumbling towards the beach came rushing back and I felt like I was home. Sometimes I wonder at how a natural formation like a body of water can make me so very happy, but seeing that the Atlantic has been one of the most constant, reliable and long-term sources of joy in my life, it shouldn't be much of an enigma. Now, I am back in Albuquerque, enjoying the crisp, dry desert air and the beautiful views of the impressive mountains, but still thinking about the next time I can visit the sweet, lovely Atlantic Ocean. 

Dog Shaming

My new internet addiction is dog-shaming.com. Dog owners take pictures of their pups after they perform some misdeed, write a confession for the dog, and post it on this site to "shame" them. Here is an example:



Obviously, Gnasher deserves a spot on this website, but it is hard to decide what to shame him for...
Some potential shame for Gnasher:
"I ate the straps of mom's Patagonia messenger bag"
"I ate mom's $40 smartwool compression socks the same day she bought them"
"I have consumed at least one sock out of every pair of smartwool socks mom owns as well as any fancy running socks she buys"
"I ate the straps of mom's havaianas flip flops the same day they arrived in the mail from Zappos"
"I tried to eat a shark jaw mom uses for teaching, but it hurt my mouth and I was only able to half destroy it"
"I pull books off the bookshelf and eat them"
"I pulled dads rainbow flip-flops under the closet door and ate 1/4 of each shoe. Dad still wears them"
"I pull plants in the back yard, bring them inside and shred them, making 'salad' for my parents"
"I shred paper that is left within my reach"
"I eat stuffed animals and then my poop is multi-colored fabric"
"I jumped up on the table and knocked a full bowl of cereal onto the carpet"
"I peed in my parents bed when dad asked me if I wanted to go out to pee"
"I eat holes in the fleece blanket on my parents bed"
"I ate a $5 bill"

Sky Ninja!

Yesterday, I jumped out of an airplane by myself for the very first time. Years ago, I did two tandem jumps with an experienced skydiver strapped to my back, but this was a completely different experience. This weekend, I went to a four hour course on Friday night and then had 3 more hours of instruction on Sunday morning before exiting the airplane alone and flying my canopy to the ground. I did have some help, however. This first solo jump was what is called an IAD or instructor assisted deployment. My instructor pulled out my pilot shoot before I jumped so it was trailing behind me and pulling out my main canopy as soon as I exited the aircraft. This ensured that the rip cord would be pulled even in all the excitement and adrenaline of my very first solo jump. In addition, another instructor was on radio and started helping me complete my landing pattern as soon as he saw I had control of my canopy. He instructed me to turn left and right and to "flare" or break when it was time. Obviously, I survived the experience since I am writing about it now, but I don't think surviving adequately describes how it felt. When I reached the ground I was smiling and shaking and so happy that I could barely gather up my chute and carry it to the van to return to the airport and debrief my jump.

One of the instructors recorded me exiting the airplane, for which I am so thankful because I can barely remember the seconds after letting go of the plane. To make the exit, I put my feet out on a step over the wheels of the plane. At this point the strength of the wind outside the plane became a little intimidating and I was not sure if I would be able to climb out the rest of the way, but I put my hands on the strut that connects the wing of the small plane to its body and slid my hands out further towards the wing. As my hands slid towards the wing, I stepped off the little step and was hanging from the strut flying with the airplane. My instructor said "go," and I said "should I let go?" He responded "yes" and I asked again, "Should I yet go now?" He said "yes," again, and I took a deep breath and let go. I remembered to keep looking up at the plane and I arched instinctively, but I did not count as I had practiced, "Arch one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand, four one-thousand, check canopy." I was falling, slipping away from the plane and then my canopy opened. As soon as I heard it start opening I watched it unfolding and inflating and took note that it was "there and square." I completed my controllability check by turning left, then right, and then braking. As soon as this was complete, Rudi, my instructor, began talking to me on my radio and giving me commands. At this point, I was so completely ecstatic; I kept looking around with a huge grin on my face telling myself, "this is really my life right now, I am really experiencing this." I looked all around and picked out the Sandias in the distance and found the landing area below. Soon, too soon, it was time to think about my landing. I tried to read the windsocks and determine the proper landing pattern, but Rudi beat me to it and I just followed his instructions. I landed off mark, but safely and softly. Once I was on the ground, I was shaking like a leaf and so happy and proud that I had not backed down and that I was able to allow myself to experience something so special. About 10 minutes later, when I had collected my chute and made it to the van, all I could think about was when I could jump next.

I will do a jump just like this one more time, and then I will jump from double the height with two instructors by my side and perform a true free fall before deploying my parachute. Eventually, hopefully, I will be able to jump completely alone and do fancy tricks like backflips!

Gnasher wishes he could jump, too.

Reflections on a long weekend

It has been a couple days since the long labor day weekend has come to a close and I am still feeling a little sad that the weekend is gone and past. Jamie's parents flew to Albuquerque from Washington D.C. on Friday evening and they visited our house for the first time. They brought gifts from Jamie's grandfather: a handmade table made of cherrywood that Jamie's grandfather cut on his land in upstate New York. The table is beautiful and it really reminded me how much beauty and utility humans are able to produce if they just make the effort. Then we were off to the casita we rented in Santa Fe. Despite living in Albuquerque for a little over a year, I really haven't spent much time in Santa Fe; most of the time I have spent in the area were Salam Academy field trips! So, together as a family, we set out to discover Santa Fe as tourists.

On Saturday morning we slept in a little bit and then walked to the Santa Fe farmer's market and craft fair. The farmers market was huge! I could not believe how many small organic farms were in attendance. I was particularly interested in a Montessori school that had adapted farming and selling produce and other products into their curriculum. The students learn to grow plants and do all the labor involved in producing food. They harvest the food and bring it to market and use the money they make to buy seeds, plants, and materials for the next year. The students learn biology, botany, horticulture, finance, budgeting, carpentry, mathematics, and the value of hard work while living healthy and spending time outside. It is a model for schools that is growing in popularity and I think could really improve the educational system as it currently exists. Learning about this school made me miss teaching and look forward to my next teaching opportunity!

On Sunday, Jamie, his dad, and I went with a guide to the Pecos River to learn how to fly fish. The guide used thin colored string and wound it around very small hooks in such a way that they perfectly resembled different species of flies and their larvae. There is one fly that floats and one that sinks at the end of each fishing line. The line is cast out about 20 ft and the floating "fly" floats by with the current of the river. The caster carefully watches the floating fly and if it jerks and is pulled underwater, the fisher pulls the rod up and back to "hook" the fish. At first, I could not jerk the rod back quick enough and while Jamie was catching lots of fish, I was not. But, eventually, with lots of coaching, I was able to catch many fish. We caught rainbow trout and brown trout. The brown trout are usually smaller and are a brownish gold color with pink spots. The rainbow trout are an iridescent pink and green. The fish are truly beautiful and are smarter than you would expect. They watch the flies go by and often observe the fly and choose not to eat it. When they do eat it, they instantly spit it out when they taste the metal, which is why it is so important to pull the rod quickly, or you will lose the fish. We released all the fish that we caught and there were not any fatalities, just a fun day trying to take advantage of evolution and use our faculties to trick another species while enjoying the great outdoors. And, great are the outdoors near Santa Fe. It was beyond lovely to be up to my knees in cool rushing river water. I often found myself neglecting the fishing and simply observing the fish and the water, the trees and the rocks. The air is cooler and crisper there and I couldn't help but sit and smile in the warm sunshine.

Monday was the end of our little vacation and upon waking we needed to pack up the car and move out of our casita. But first, Jamie and I walked to the N.Y. Deli and they actually had bagels that brought back the sweet taste of home. Bagels and coffee were a great way to start the day, but the day only got better from there. We drove with a very full car, lots of bags, 4 people, Gnasher, and his crate, to the Santa Fe ski basin and hiked a trail named Aspen Vista. It was a lot cooler at that altitude and the ecosystem was completely different. Grasses, low shrubs, and Aspen trees dominated. Aspens are all interconnected by their root systems and some people believe that large Aspen groves are actually the largest living organism. The trail was a bit steep and Jamie's parents were not used to the altitude so we took t nice and slow. Gnasher does not take things slow and he found another dog to spring up and down the mountain with. He exhausted himself and slept like a baby while we drove from Santa Fe up the back of the Sandias on the Turquoise Trail. We hiked to the spot Jamie and I got married last year and had some snacks and watched the sunset to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary.

Tuesday brought me back to the farm fields, but I did teach yoga on Tuesday night at Nishtha Yoga where I earned my teacher certification. I am now teaching at the studio every Tuesday evening! It is challenging and rewarding at the same time. At the beginning of class, I am always nervous and excited at the same time and at the end I know I am one class better at teaching. Every class is an adventure!

How was your long weekend? What have you learned this week?

Science Fair Workshop

I hope you have all been thinking about your science fair projects all summer and have a project picked out by now! All the Salam Academy students did a fabulous job at the fair last year, and I hope you are planning to work just as hard this year and hopefully even more will go to states! 

The UNM STEM program hosts an annual Student Research Workshop for middle school students at the ASK Academy in Rio Rancho. The workshop will help you develop a winning project, provide ideas, tips, and materials, and there will be fun activities and lunch and snacks. It is a fabulous resource for you if you are interested in winning at regionals and states. Seats at the workshop are limited, so register as soon as possible. 

The link to register for the workshop and read more about what it will provide is here: STEM Student Research Workshop

Also, I am available for private tutoring and science project advising. If anyone is interested, please email me: maggi.mars@gmail.com

Happy Back to School!

Hey kids! 

I hope that you are having a fantastic first week of school! I visited school last week and hung out with Mrs. Kasparian and your new Social Studies teacher, and I know they have been working very hard getting ready for you and preparing a fabulous school year! I wish more than anything that I was starting school with you this week, but that is not the case. Regardless, I will be around occasionally and will try to help out when I can. I thought you might be interested in hearing more about my summer adventure, because it truly was an adventure!

I posted when I was at "the Pad" before my students arrived, but I haven't posted since then. I was incredibly busy working and living with students 24 hours a day. There was lots of grading to do, lots of lectures to give, lots of diving, hiking, exploring, and meeting local people. We worked with the St. Barth's marine park, St. Eustatius National Parks (STENAPA), and Saba Conservation Foundation, to help leave the islands even more beautiful than we found them and to collect valuable data about the health of the coral reefs so that the parks will know whether all their hard work is paying off or not. On top of community service, students participated in guest lectures, took a midterm and a final, wrote a final paper, gave a presentation, became advanced open water divers, earned 3 PADI specialty certifications, and learned the basics of yachting. Overall, it was a very successful summer and the students and I both learned a lot!

On St. Barth's we met with the marine park ranger and he taught us all about the park and the problems it is facing. He had a rehabilitated seabird with him and we all got to hold it; it only pooped on one person. We collected data using ReefCheck and REEF survey techniques and we monitored water quality. On Statia (short for St. Eustatius) we weeded and cleaned up the old botanical gardens (a tourist attraction) for the Statia Bureau of Tourism. We went with STENAPA to the turtle nesting beach and picked up tons of garbage so that it will be easier for turtles to nest there. We also walked the entire beach looking for seaturtle tracks so that the rangers can protect their nests. We found the tracks of a hawksbill turtle, which was exciting because the organization had been finding tracks very rarely. We covered the tracks so that other people and animals would not go looking for the nest. In Saba, we cleaned up a beach and participated in the Ocean Conservancies International Coastal Clean-up (ICC). This collects data about what kind of garbage is found on beaches world wide and uses the data to lobby congress to better regulate that type of garbage. Can you guess what types of garbage we found? That's right! Plastic! And, lots of it! We found over 1,000 plastic bottle caps, the kind you find on plastic water and soda bottles. We also did a coastal clean-up in the harbor using snorkel and SCUBA gear as well as people on kayaks to get garbage off the bottom. We found a bunch of garbage there, but some of the garbage had little organisms making a home for themselves in it! We found several little octopuses living in plastic containers.  

Here are some pics from my summer adventure!

If you would like to read more about my summer adventures, you can check out the blogs the students kept during the trip!

Session 1 Trip Updates

Session 2 Trip Updates

If you would like to learn more about Broadreach and maybe find a trip you would like to go on next year (there are middle school and HS trips) check out the website. There is also scholarship money available for trips.

GoBroadreach.com

So, now that I am back in ABQ, what am I doing? I am working on an organic farm in the South Valley helping to bring fresh local organic food to the people of Albuquerque. The farm provides 1,000 ABQ families with weekly CSA (community supported agriculture) boxes. So, I am spending my days in the sunshine harvesting pepper and tomatoes, planting winter crops like chard and kale, taking care of seedlings, and helping pack up boxes of food for families to enjoy. As an employee, I get my CSA box for free. This week I received baby spinach, onions, avocados, giant green tomatoes, red tomatoes, eggplants, roasted green chili, and pears! On Monday night, Jamie and I made a stir-fry with carrots, onions, garlic, green tomatoes, tempeh, and spinach served over quinoa. Last night we made a green tomato, eggplant, and onion casserole, which was delicious. It is so rewarding eating fresh, local food and it is even more rewarding knowing that I was a part of growing and harvesting it. Maybe the school can take a field trip to the farm to help out and take home some samples!

If you think you might be interested in getting your own weekly CSA box, check out the farm website! 

skarsgardfarms.com

CSA boxes are available in 3 different sizes and you can customize the boxes to make sure that you like everything that is included. The boxes are affordable and support a pretty awesome organization! 

I Miss you all greatly, and I hope this school year is amazingly successful for you! Keep in touch and I will too! I will be writing on the blog occasionally about life and science. I will post about cool new things that I learn and share interesting resources that I stumble upon. Hope to see you soon! 

<3 Mrs. Maggi Brisbin 

P.S.

As always, Gnasher remains the cutest little monster out there. 

Greetings from the Caribbean!

Hello everyone! I have been in the Caribbean for a little over a week now. I have been working hard brushing up on my sailing skills, preparing equipment, and exploring a lot of the places that I will be taking my students during the rest of the summer. Right now I am on an island called Saba. The picture is of the plane getting ready to land. The island is the tip of a volcano rising out of the sea and is very steep. The local people built a runway on the only bit of flat land they could find and it is the shortest commercial runway in the entire world! My first group of students arrives the day after tomorrow, and although I am very excited to meet them, having new students will make me miss all of you. I hope you are all having fabulous summer adventures and spending lots of time outside exploring!!!

Public Service Announcements, Pt. 1

I think these videos are pretty awesome. Everyone did a really good job with this project! Let me know if you think they should be public (on youtube)!

Isa's Oxygen Lamp

Check this out!!! It looks like magic!!! Everyone ask Isa to explain how it works to you!!!