July Featured Teacher: Sommer Thome

Yoga Blend, Burbank

Hometown: Vancouver in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. What brought you to Los Angeles? My husband was splitting his time between Vancouver and Los Angeles and we finally decided that it make the most sense for us to make the big move to L.A. I remember as I was packing up boxes and going through stuff that I came across a journal from when I was about 16 years old.  Leafing through the pages I came across multiple entries about how much I wanted to move to California.  So, even though it may have been Rich’s career that brought us here, Read the full article…

Mindfulness in the Present

Yoga Blend, Burbank, Christy Marsden

Happy July!  Can you believe we are already halfway through the year? My mom always told me that time moves faster as you get older and I totally agree.  A day goes by and I often think, did I miss anything today? It is so easy to get caught up in all there is to do and the roles we play in life that we can miss the moment that is before us. I will often do something and then realize as I am doing it, that I am thinking of something else.  This is the opposite of mindfulness. Mindfulness Read the full article…

July Featured Teacher: Darby Orr

Yoga Blend, Burbank

Hometown: Dallas, Texas. What brought you to Los Angeles? I came to Los Angeles as a staff Songwriter/Producer for Sony Music. Geez, back in 1993, I think. My favorite thing about LA is… that for such a large city, there’s a healthy dose of nature to be found nearby. The Beach, mountains and desert are quick and easy destinations. My least favorite thing about LA… would be the lack of rain and big thunderstorms. Perpetual summer does get monotonous. I like dynamic weather. I’m really looking forward to… a quiet year ahead to concentrate on writing new music. And yes, it Read the full article…

Energetic Anatomy: The Chakras

Yoga Blend, Burbank

Have you heard of the chakras, and are curious about what they are, what they do, and how they might affect our minds & bodies? Join Christy Marsden for 2-day workshop that explores these energetic centers! Sat, July 19th: 1pm to 6pm Sun, July 29th: 12pm to 8pm $185 for both days if you sign up by July 16th ($200 after) The word Chakra means ‘wheel’ in Sanskrit. Energetically speaking, there are hundreds of these spinning wheels of light in our body. Our focus for this weekend will be the 7 main Chakras corresponding to our glandular system that are Read the full article…

Cancer New Moon: Loving Unconditionally

I want to start out by expressing my amazement that this new moon marks six years since I started writing these letters, since our New Moon Women’s Gathering was first created. It is humbling and inspiring to think about how my life has changed these last six years, so much so because I started following and sharing the lunar and seasonal cycles. When this all started, I did not intentionally choose the Cancer new moon. It was the next one after I decided to try this out but even then, newbie as I was to this work, it seemed synchronistic Read the full article…

The Motherpeace Tarot

Yoga Blend, Burbank

Renowned feminist scholar, author, and healer Vicki Noble will be at Yoga Blend next month to introduce and explore the Motherpeace Tarot cards. Bekah Turner, General Manager & Teacher at Yoga Blend, who has studied with Vicki Noble, and shares her personal experience about the Motherpeace Tarot: I grew up with the Motherpeace tarot cards. My mother had them and for birthdays, broken hearts, bad days or just giggly nights, she would pull them out and give us a reading. As an adult, I have seen many other tarot decks, and they all have their merit, but for me, the Motherpeace Read the full article…

Union in Diversity

Yoga Blend, Burbank, Christy Marsden

I hope you are having a wonderful month!  We just returned from Bonnarroo which is a 4 day music festival on a farm in Manchester, TN.  This is our 3rd year going and one of the many things I love about it is the coming together of over 80,000 people from all over the world to listen to and celebrate great music of all genres from country, to rap, to electronic, to hip-hop, to folk, to rock, to bluegrass and everything in between. We are all so very different.  Not only on the outside, where we are indeed vastly different, Read the full article…

Summer Time…

… and the living is easy… or so I hope. We are still in the glow of Sagittarius full moon as the sun is waxing towards summer solstice (June 21st). The Cancer new moon, which to me, marks the cycle of jumping fish and high cotton, begins on June 27th, with the Capricorn full moon following on July 12th. This season is one of celebration, abundance, beauty, family and community. It is important to fill ourselves up with these things and all that you love and that nourish you. Solstice signals the longest day of the year in our hemisphere Read the full article…

Community Spotlight: Jessica Cordero

Yoga Blend, Burbank

Yoga Blend turned 9 this year and we held a design contest to make our 9th anniversary t-shirt. Jessica Cordero submitted the gorgeous winning entry, which will soon be on t-shirts, tank tops, and tote bags! I’m a freelance graphic designer, and I live in Toluca Lake with my dog Penny – a red labrador with the kindest soul. I design mostly cosmetics packaging, and in my own time I love creating things that matter to me, which is why I was so excited for the chance to design a shirt for Yoga Blend. I searched far and wide for Read the full article…

June Featured Teacher: Vicki Howie

Yoga Blend, Burbank

Throughout the year, we feature the amazing individuals that make up the core of Yoga Blend: our teachers! This month we get to know Vicki Howie: My hometown is: Chicago, IL/Seattle, WA What brought you to Los Angeles? I came to the area to open a comedy club in Santa Barbara in 1993, back when I was doing professional stand up comedy, and a couple years later headed south to Los Angeles. Cat person, or dog person?: Dogs. Hands down. Favorite season:  Summer. Dream vacation destination: I’d love to do a tour of the most sacred sites in the world. Read the full article…

June Featured Teacher: Tracy Sosa

Throughout the year, we feature the amazing individuals that make up the core of Yoga Blend: our teachers! This month we get to know Tracy Sosa:    What brought you to Los Angeles? I came to LA in 1988 to pursue a career in modeling and to live with my mom.  I was not cut out for modeling, but loved being here and so I stayed! How did you find yoga? I found yoga when I thought my head was going to explode.  I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to accomplish a lot of things, and after my Read the full article…

Sagittarius Full Moon: Opening to Spirit

I just got home from a week with my family and oldest friends. It was a very sweet week, perfect for the Gemini season, even with Mercury now in retrograde. Mercury rx can sometimes make travel a little weird, but it is the perfect time to check in with the past and do anything that starts with the letters “re.” I spent a lot of time these last seven days reflecting, rethinking, reimagining and reliving with my nearest and dearest. My intention for this Gemini cycle is to change my mind, to let go of negative patterns and thoughts and Read the full article…

Eco Tips: June

Simple tools to connect yogis to the earth!   Did you know that California is having its driest year in 164 years? Governor Jerry Brown has declared a drought emergency. “We can’t make it rain, but we can be much better prepared… and I’m calling all Californians to conserve water in every way possible,” Brown said. As yogis and Californians, we all want to do our part to support our beautiful home. Here are 3 things you can do to conserve water today! 1. Use one glass for drinking per day or fill a water bottle. 2. When the kids Read the full article…

That which we resist, persists

Yoga Blend, Burbank, Christy Marsden

Happy June! As I was considering what to write this month, I kept getting the same message over and over. That which we resist, persists. I have heard this over and over again from my own teachers and also teach it myself. However, as simple as it may sound as a concept, it is not something that comes easily to most of us. We are taught early in life to separate things into good and bad. Then, as life unfolds, we are encouraged by examples from others to complain about and resist the things that we deem as bad and Read the full article…

Every moment is a choice

Yoga Blend, Burbank, Christy Marsden

Happy middle of the month! I am typing at 30,000 feet on my way to Nashville. People often ask how we are doing all the traveling back and forth and exclaim how hard it must be. I usually tend to agree but lately, I have been stopping myself and saying instead, ‘it is going great because this is what we are choosing.’ As I reflect on this further, I acknowledge that yes, it may be hard sometimes, but it is what we have chosen for ourselves and we did it consciously. Anytime we are aware of and dedicated to our Read the full article…

The courage to change

Yoga Blend, Burbank, Christy Marsden

Happy May! I just got back from Costa Rica and am feeling incredibly inspired by so many things, particularly the work that other people in the world are doing to make a difference by restoring and preserving our natural resources while at the same time creating a sustainable future through permaculture practices. It was such a profound experience and I left feeling a little overwhelmed and wondering where to start in my own life in order to make a difference. A teacher I admire once said, “No one else is coming.” In other words, it is up to me, to Read the full article…

It takes courage to change

Yoga Blend, Burbank, Christy Marsden

Happy May! I just got back from Costa Rica and am feeling incredibly inspired by so many things, particularly the work that other people in the world are doing to make a difference by restoring and preserving our natural resources while at the same time creating a sustainable future through permaculture practices. It was such a profound experience and I left feeling a little overwhelmed and wondering where to start in my own life in order to make a difference. A teacher I admire once said, “No one else is coming.” In other words, it is up to me, to Read the full article…

Just keep practicing

Yoga Blend, Burbank, Christy Marsden

Happy middle of month! I hope you are living well and enjoying the coming of Spring and all the energy that comes along with it. I love this time of year and I also find it extremely challenging. When all the energy from the seed is bursting forth into creation, I have a hard time slowing down and keeping my energy in check. You know the little snippets of inspiration we have at Yoga Blend? I have drawn the same one 5 times in the past 2 weeks. “Don’t just do something. Sit there.” When I read it, every part Read the full article…

Growth Takes Time

Yoga Blend, Burbank, Christy Marsden

Happy April! I hope your month is off to a great start. With Spring off and running, it is a great time to start taking action towards the seeds we planted during the winter but it is equally important that we be patient with what we are personally growing and not expect it to move faster just because we want it to. We have to believe in what we have planted and give it time to grow. We live in a world that craves instant gratification. It is easy to go full speed ahead and want things now because the Read the full article…

Remember the Light within you

Yoga Blend, Burbank, Christy Marsden

Happy Spring Equinox and International Day of Happiness! With the budding of Spring and the longer days resulting in more external light, it can be a nice complement to explore the light within us as well. One of the definitions of yoga is to unite. I have been thinking about this a lot lately. Union. To join together to form a complete unit. This has always been the intent of yoga and now science is hopping on board by stressing the importance of mind-body connection. We experience disharmony when what we think, what we do and what we feel are Read the full article…

Trust that you are enough

Yoga Blend, Burbank, Christy Marsden

Happy March and Happy 9th Birthday to Yoga Blend! I have just arrived in Lenox, Massachusetts for the graduation of a year long training in Positive Psychology and I am very much looking forward to finally having some time to integrate and organize all that I have learned so I can bring the science of what makes us happier to Yoga Blend! If it weren’t for this very significant and required part of my training, I would definitely be at Yoga Blend this week to celebrate the anniversary of the place so many of us call our yoga home. I Read the full article…

Balancing the duality of life

Yoga Blend, Burbank, Christy Marsden

Happy middle of the month! I’ll be honest, I have been struggling about what to write for this newsletter so I decided to just start with being okay with being uninspired. As we all know very well, life is wonderful, beautiful and sweet in so many ways and completely challenging, sad and frustrating in many others. Sometimes we feel great and other times we feel awful. Sometimes ‘good’ things happen and sometimes ‘bad’ things happen. Sometimes we’re in the mood to dance and other times we just want to lie on the couch. Sometimes we have something to share and Read the full article…

Practice with enthusiasm

Yoga Blend, Burbank, Christy Marsden

Happy February and Mid Winter! We are a month into the new year which is a good time to check our pace and see how we are doing with what it is we want to create for the year. How’s it going for you? For many years, I would set a goal for the New Year and if I ‘failed’ the first month, I would just give up. I would feel I wasn’t good enough or truly committed enough. My self esteem would plummet and I would wallow in how hard it is to make change and stay there feeling Read the full article…

Sraddha: Trust

Yoga Blend, Burbank, Christy Marsden

I hope you are having a great start to your year! It is easy for me to get caught up in worrying about the future, so this year, I decided to come up with an underlying one word theme for myself. I chose sraddha (pronounced shrod-ha). Sraddha is a Sanskrit word meaning something similar to faith, confidence or trust. The context in which I discovered this word is in one of the Yoga Sutras (which is the manual for the Philosophy of Yoga). In Sutra 1.20, sraddha is a quality that comes from a deeply unique and personal understanding of Read the full article…

Create an incredible 2014

Yoga Blend, Burbank, Christy Marsden

Happy New Year!  I hope you have had a wonderful Holiday being surrounded by family and friends.  I am sitting in a hotel room in Chicago as I type.  My husband and I are here for a 4 day New Year’s Event where the theme is ‘Incredible’ and the question is ‘What would make this event an incredible one for you and what are you willing to do to make it so?’  It’s really had Jason and I thinking and that line of thinking has lead me beyond this week and into the upcoming year.  What am I willing to Read the full article…