1, 2 nic, 3...I'm Ready

 overcast Hudson River, Nyack, New York

Last Sunday my family and I stayed with my in laws on the Jersey side. Conveniently I'm a born and bred Bergen County, NJ girl so I know most of the ins and outs of where to go yogini style. One of my favorite high energy vortex spots is Nyack, New York. It is just a short drive north up the Palisades Parkway. Nyack is a granola chic riverside town with a mountain view, breathtaking hiking trails, great veg option places to eat, yoga classes to take at http://www.birchwoodcenter.com/ and trendy shops galore including vintage boutiques. The yoga fairy within me always feels a nice jolt of fresh anti city energy after spending some time in Nyack.

The artist Edward Hopper's 1st home

You can enjoy Edward Hopper's little art museum just off Main Street.



me looking remarkably happy & wearing navy tights http://www.oldnavy.com/


Do I walk like this? With a spring to my step? The way my mind works most of the time I was shocked to see such a shot of me almost skipping on the side walk. For this reason I had to include this picture to remind myself that our mind and body has a consciousness that can experience glimpses of pure joy. The only problem is as quick as it comes in, it disappears. How do we make a glimpse fatter and longer? I've been told by my beloved heart guru Geshe Michael Roach "More yoga."

shades & tank http://www.forever21.com/

We took an early yoga class therefore I had to be a speedy style setter with the extra mini dilemma of having a limited wardrobe in New Jersey. The good news is, May's mild temperature allows us to go outside coat less most of the days. I call it tunic time. Well, anyone who's watched my dressing knows I wear tunics all year round. However now I don't have to layer them with turtlenecks and scarfs. Simply throw on a tunic over my yoga tank and tights... and I'm ready

tencel denim tunic, vintage boutique? Paris

Tunics are a glamorous yoganista's staple item. Like dock siders for a sailor and a hard hat for a construction worker. Why tunics? Because they are loose, cover our tush, appropriately conceal cleavage, move with us pre, sometimes during yoga practice, except during any type of inversion like downward facing dog, standing forward bend, and postures like headstand. While practicing yoga tunics are great for wearing when we're grounding in the beginning of class and to throw on again to stay warm in savasana/final relaxation and meditation. Post yoga class a tunic's coverage can take a yogini everywhere in style. It is all about accessorizing your tunic the right way for the occasion.

beads, New York City street vendor

When I experienced the New Age guru Adyashanthi speak weeks ago in NYC he told a story about his personal mala beads, which he never took off, and how the universe intervened his bead wearing for good by having his bead's string catch onto a door's edge, rip apart and each bead separated from one another and bounced onto the floor before him. This sort of thing has happened to me plenty of times too but I'm not giving up on bead wearing. I just wear cheap stuff so when it breaks or gets lost I don't have an attachment fit. He said "It is common for faith systems to have some sort of bead work. The Buddhists and Hindus have malas, the Catholics have rosary beads." Nyack to me has an American Indian slash Bostonian colonial vibe. I don't know why I say so but it is just a feeling. Here I'm sporting the American Indianesque beads over blue denim.

earrings http://www.lailarowe.com/

I almost didn't put on these earrings. I thought, too beady. Since I was initially drawn to the extra pop of color, I stuck with it and I wore them without adding bangles to my wrists.

beaded thongs http://www.accessorize.com/ & burlap tote, flea market


One last fashion bit...in May I pull out a few more blue denim pieces from storage and keep them in the front of my closet. During June all blue pieces are out and accessible including white denim. I believe blue denim is a spring and late summer style. Why? To celebrate many warm weather trips towards blue water and skies ahead. After Halloween, Oct. 31st, it is about wearing midnight blue denim plus grey and black denim styling until the following spring.

a crop photo of a poster advertising Ed Hopper's work

The Hopper House is a small town quaint museum which has tight security. They would not let me take pictures of his paintings inside. So here you have a photo of a poster advertising Hopper's work which I found outside in the front garden. Above we are looking at a cropped version of Night Hawks, a famous painting of Ed's. I've seen Las Vegasesque renditions copying this masterpiece with an image of Marilyn Monroe and James Dean sitting at the counter.

Edward Hopper like me was born in a small town across the Hudson River from New York City. We have in common that we've made our adult life's home downtown NYC. He left his body in 1967. Between his early life in Nyack and later life in New York City he had the great fortune to be recognized for his artistic talent. He traveled throughout Europe where he painted, exhibited his work and studied with master painters. The loose painterly brush stroke styling his influences presented him did not sink in. He kept true to his illustrative realist style and being a master of precise lines and depicting deep contemplative thought. As I write this I'm realizing we could have been good friends. I feel like I'm the yoga student/teacher version of this.

Ed loved painting city scenes like gas stations, stores and restaurants. Mostly presenting women seated alone in deep contemplation. He had a wife named Jo, perhaps his muse, who vacationed with him on the Massachusetts Cape where he painted mother nature's summer scenes.

The thinker or the observer? Both?

Most of what I read about Ed is that his representations of life is cold, stark, lonely and detached. I see his paintings as snap shots of any given moment in time. Here this lady is being quiet, still and drawing her energy in where in the above photo I'm sashaying on the cobblestone walkway. The reality is I feel like I spend more time looking like her these days.

Whether you know something or nothing about art, it is a good mindfulness practice to visit a museum once in a while and see which piece of art reflects your consciousness at the moment your viewing it. I can assure you that it will change as fast as the weather.