commitment...

i was chatting the other day with a fellow yogin i met in pai when he mentioned the big 'c' word. he told me about this men's group that he has belonged to for a few years now and how they make these outspoken commitments to each other, usually dealing with issues or ways to improve their lives. they can be about anything from commiting to 30 minutes of meditation a day, to practicing their music, to not smoking any pot for the week. the way govinda-the-yogi explained it was that by speaking out the intention thus made it accountable to the members of the group. if a member was not following through on his intentions, the group would call him on it and demand an explanation. govinda felt that by having to answer to the group gave him the motivation to achieve the goals he set out and to be impeccable with his word.
after pondering over this conversation for a few days, i mentioned it to nasra, a friend and co-worker from kwandong. it seems as though everyday she's expressing the desire to improve her health by eating better and doing some excercise so i suggested we make some commitments to each others. she told me she would hold me accountable but she already foresaw failure on her part and wasn't willing to make any declarations so i've decided to take it on myself and you, the reader, whom ever you are. here are my commitments for the week;

15 minutes of meditation and breath work (pranayama) - 6x/week
60 minutes on the yoga mat - 5x/week
SWEAT!!!! for at least 30 minutes - 4x/week
post on the blog - 2x/week
eat a dose of veggies and fruit - EVERYDAY

i actually started writing this post last monday but didn't take the time to finish it until now. its been especilly challenging sticking to the comitments, espcially with greg visiting for two weeks and distracting me with his blue eyes but i'm putting it out there to hold myself to it. anybody else want to join?

professor van der park

.....a.k.a jennifer park, jenna teacher and my favourite, j vd park. these are all the variations of my name that have come up in my short career as a visiting university professor. this past week has been my first experience with actual teaching of the uni kids and its been challenging. i found it intimidating to walk up to the front of a classroom of 25+ students whose ages range from 22 to 27. as i would speak, there wouldn't be a spec of recognition passing over the student's faces and i would get nervous. did anyone understand what i was saying? to make matters worse, when i get nervous, i tend to speak fast and a lot. i also get silly, make faces and jokes with weird voices, the same way i do when i teach children. i seemed to get a laugh out of most of the students and a fair share of eye-rolling. most of my lessons this week were about introductions so i started my classes off by telling them to ask me any 10 questions they wanted to know about me. they asked me everything from the typical (how old are you? where are you from? are you married?) to the unusual (whats you blood type? whats your shoe size?) to the brow-raising (whats your monthly salary? whats your body size? is you hair color you?). a particulary remorse class is my sports leisure group on wednesday at 9 am. this is a class of 24 jocks and one lone girl who looks terrified. trying to get 10 questions out of them took almost 20 minutes but i wasn't letting them get away without trying to make something up. finally, after quite a few minutes of silence with me looking expectantly at them, a athletic-looking guy decked out in full puma stood up and exclaimed 'you...are...beautiful!'. the guy next him scowled and said 'thats not question, thats true'. brown-nosers....

action!

as mentioned in the previous post, i picked up a webcam in japan last week which i've just installed....all by myself....in japanese. this is gonna be fun :)
i also just checked out greg's site and he put up some photos of when we in new zealand together and wanted to share. who knew wine and yoga CAN mix.

connections...

aha! i have finally become accessible in the world again. as of a few minutes ago, my internet was turned on in my new apartment and after getting my alien card sorted out this afternoon, i went straight to buy a cell phone ( 82-10-2203-0521 for international or 010-2203-0521 for local). life has been chaotic, and somewhat lonely, these past weeks with not having a phone or easy access to internet. i find it funny that i didn't mind not having any of those things while i was travelling but now that i'm back in korea i'm craving connection.
speaking of connection, while i was in japan last week on a visa run with lb, we made frequent trips to a gynormous electronics store to check out new toys and cop some free internet. to appease my guilt for doing so much email there, i picked up a headset and webcam for $25. those accessories will go very well with my new favourite chatting site 'skype' so for those of you that use skype also, send me your contact details or add me (jennavanderpark). see you online.

planes, trains and the toastermobile....

....well, here it goes. i've been thinking what i'll write the next time i get online (which is infrequently these days) but keep putting it off as i don't know where to start. if i'm honest, i've realized i've been sulking a bit about my lost camera and memory card, telling myself that the blog isn't any interesting without the pics. so much has happened since i last posted. in fact i've changed countries 4 times since then until i landed where i am now; in a korean smokey internet cafe filled with university students loudly trying to shoot the animatd enemies.
after finishing the last post, i jumped into a van with 8 other yoga students for a 3-hour drive up pai where we would meet with jonas for a week-long retreat. i was feeling tired and withdrawn, not sure if i was up to meeting and connecting with a whole other group of yogi's. when the following morning arrived, i felt refreshed and placed my mat down on the concrete floor to try to warm up my aching hamstrings before jonas arrived. with my eyes closed, i felt the stirring of another mat being placed down beside me. when i peeked out from under my lashes, a familiar smile greeted me; it was masaou, my yoga teacher from taiwan. we embraced each other warmly and marveled how we both came to be studying with jonas in thailand at the same time. it was then that the joy began to flow.
to explain some of my yoga background, masaou was the first teacher i ever studied with about 4 years ago. although i've been practicing yoga for 6 or 7 years now, i could count on two hands how many classes i've attended. the majority of my yoga has been self-practice, books, videos/dvds, and downloaded podcasts. i first met masaou online when i was looking to order david swenson's ashtanga video and mentioned to him that i was looking for some teacher training. he offered me a one-to-one program during the 8-days of my xmas holiday in his hometown of kaoshiung, taiwan. this was an exhausting but strengthening week and masaou was very pleased with my quick progress. the next time i was to see masaou was in july of last summer when i was once again seeking some teacher training guidance. on my way to the airport, i glanced through the latest yoga journal and noticed an article containing pics of a woman with a look of sheer bliss on her face as she demonstrated poses. as i read further, i noticed it was an anusara yoga article and made a mental note to look into what anusara was all about when i had a chance. i had upped my ashtanga practice before going to see masaou and was anxious to show off my progress in the first series when we met again, but he informed me within our first few minutes in his studio that he was no longer practicing ashtanga, a style he practiced for 10+ years. what??? 'anusara, jennifer', he said. 'have you ever heard it?'. i had to smile. big. it was then that he told me about jonas and sara, how he had studied with them in thailand, had brought them over to taiwan and how anusara had completely changed his practice. he also told me they were having a teacher training in november and gave their contact details.
so that is how it came to be that i practiced next my first yoga teacher with joy and deep honour at his presence beside me. several times throughout the retreat, jonas had us partner up in poses to give hands-on and verbal assists. how grateful i felt every time masaou looked to me to be his partner, that i had the opportunity to give back to him, and every compliment he paid me for my improvements, i bowed my head in humility and graciousness to one of my teachers.