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Pictured, “Everyday Inspirations Vol 3″
All images original from Vermont, each an original verse.
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“the intent of this blog is to incrementally build a body of thought that works toward integrating various topics, yoga, fitness, and the arts – it’s a process…”
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texas to vermont – have yoga, will travel (new beginning)
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Article Outline
Subtitle
Intro
New Stuff
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Videos
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Zumba®
- Line Dance
- Sequence Classes
- Vermont
- Art Hop
Video from Lake Champlain Vermont
New Future Plans
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Ebooks
- Online Studies
- Website
- Meanwhile
Final Thoughts
- My Integration of Yoga, Fitness, and the Arts is a Great Unknown
- Biggest Surprise – Continuity in Vermont
- Yoga 2.0 – “threads of yoga : a remix”
- Yoga Provides Me Continuity
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Subtitle
How We Escaped the Texas Heat Wave of 2011, We Moved 
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Intro
after experiencing both an earthquake and a hurricane this past week here in new england, i figured this would be as good a time as any to declare a new beginning, in this, my third of my series of texas to vermont posts
unlike my preparations and transition articles, where i saw where i was and how things were changing in mine and sheila’s life, the material of our new beginning is only now beginning to show itself more fully
i’d expected that the new beginning would simply be a setting up of new classes, and start again -
but it’s been much much more…
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New Stuff
Videos
Sheila & Adan in "Pause" video 1
oh boy, never would i have imagined that i’d make a solo music-dance video, and that sheila and i would then follow that with one of us together -
much less to submit to a zumba contest
the learning curve, just for these basic creations, was fairly steep for me, but in time, these’ll get easier, and more fun stuff should begin to show up, gradually
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Zumba®
sheila and i are in process of learning, creating, and practicing enough routines to eventually offer a zumba gold express class
we are also looking fwd to a future specialty zumba is preparing, currently being called “sentao”
sentao means seated in spanish, and a fully functional chair class is something our main target group (seniors, de-conditioned adults, folks coming back from illness or injury or inactivity) needs very much
i’ve mentioned in various posts how chair work is good in so many ways, even very fit individuals -
it’s great as a recovery routine -
and as something to learn to share with someone one cares for but, needs “company” to feel comfortable doing an exercise
the awareness and body-mind connection engendered by yoga, i’ve found, helps tremendously in learning new ways to move, and being more expressive – so we see a nice synergy here
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Line Dance
the same type of synergy and continuity of motion and awareness exists in enjoying doing line dance
the (usually) repetitive, more melodic moving and breathing patterns in line dance are, i’ve felt, even more quickly enhanced by yogic breathing exercises and poses
because of the smaller amount of choreography involved, and the smaller range of motion (rom) usually involved, more seniors seem to bridge the pose work of yoga to movement to music
for the same reasons involving choreography, sheila and i feel line dance will probably be our first aerobic-dance class we’ll feature to go with our yoga classes, and will be an extension of the sequence of classes we currently offer at the fitness center downtown in burlington
the line dance class, like our projected zumba gold class, is being planned as an express class, approx 30 minutes
we’ll of course post an article (and more) when that comes about
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Sequence Classes
we’ve been fortunate to develop a series of classes that offer a progressive sequence of activity and awareness, from very basic gentle longer held yoga poses, to chair based functional fitness work, to aerobic dance basics
all the classes begin with three yogic breath exercises, to promote a fuller calming breath and a stronger core
both our zumba express and line dance classes will also include one or two short yogic breathing exercises, plus a warmup and cooldown
all these components, breath work, warmups, and cooldowns, are too important and too beneficial not to include -
as i expressed in “teaching limitations is teaching awareness (a beginner’s view)” -
“from the start of my yoga-adan blog, i began my earliest posts with the intent to present and demonstrate the disarmingly simple idea that :
- each person is unique, yet similar to other people”
that idea has only strengthened over time…
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Vermont
being in burlington, and vermont in general, has so far been a real treat, a very new treat, for me
even sheila, born and raised here, a graduate of the university of vermont, feels “almost” new here – she has spent the last 30+ years in texas
the terrain and the climate are an incredible new experience (beyond visiting for a week or so)
coming from the texas gulf coastal plain and even from the hill country of central texas, this is much more varied in terrain, and unbelievably cooler!
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what hasn’t been as new, is the type of people here in vermont -
they are as close to what i consider texans as any place i’ve been -
very independent, proud of their history, and yet collective in spirit
during the recent impact from hurricane irene, the local and state news sources provided the kind of care and newscasting any community could hope for
without the following consistent twitter contributions, following the state’s impact and response to the storm would have been nearly impossible
@keithmontpVT - @Seven_Days - @vermontweather
my deep and sincere thanks to all three…
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there’s a growth in the integration of my interests in yoga, fitness, and the arts, that i believe directly benefits from the energy of the land and the people of vermont
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Art Hop
My Art Hop Px Pic 1
art hop!
though i didn’t have new art (vermont art) to bring art hop last week, the venue is new, very new, to me
hugely spread out over the south end of burlington
it feels, when sheila & i attended it last year when we visited her brother, like a combination of the ruckus-ness of the westheimer arts festival of the 80′s in houston, melded to any two days of sxsw in austin nowadays -
that’s saying a lot of good things ’bout art hop
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Video from Lake Champlain Vermont
sheila and i quickly caught sight of several 1/2 price and 2 for 1 offering companies here (as in texas), jumpon-it and livingsocial
when $7 tickets for a northern lights 1 1/2 hr sightseeing tour on lake champlain came up, we grabbed them, and i was able to shoot a bit of what we saw
the video is very experimental / learning-curve for me
so my apologies for the lack of polish
no original audio – ‘cept for a chuckle at the end of a surprise cameo by sheila
but did put in some soundtrack from some selections that imovie provided
i also played with various styles and types and durations of captions
so kinda a hodge podge finger painting like mud paddy cakes kind of video fun!
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i’ve created a clickable link on the video image, but just in case, below the image, is the link for copy / paste
did i mention i’m still sliding ’round the learning curve?
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Please Click Image for Video
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one of the sights on the video, is of rock point, of which i did a painting back in the 80′s
sheila’s dad had requested it, and had it for many years before he passed away
today we have it hanging in a great spot in our dining room
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[ the image of "rock point, vermont" will be included in an in-progress ebook of one year of images from this site ]
Rock Point, Vermont - Original Painting by Adan Lerma 1986
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the tour above provided commentary and information about the lake and surrounding landmarks -
evidently, the forestry around rock point is original to the time of first settlement, and has been kept from being harvested
the land is owned by the episcopalian diocese of vermont, and provides free passes for entry to the park there – “though donations are greatly appreciated fair enough!
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New Future Plans
Ebooks
ahhh, another new technology i’m looking into
my first ebooks planned, at this point, will be of my original poetry
i’ll still post poems online, though, with commentary, and with nearly 1000 poems between sheila & myself, i could post one a week for 20 years, and still not be fully online!
what this means is, waiting for a subject collection, rather than the ebook, will be a hopefully pleasant process, but also a long one – something i kinda like myself anyways
so the ebook will provide a subject collection right away
but this is going to take time
the format to successfully upload onto platforms, like the kindle, requires a shift in how to create page breaks, an index, etc
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the ebooks planned will have the poems presented by subject matter, and i will have more info in future posts regarding which subjects will be first, how many titles will be included, and what sub-topic-headings might be included
additionally, one or more features would be included not available or appropriate for the blog, and better presented via the ebook
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some sites i’ve been getting what appears to be useful info about this are :
one spoon at a time, tristan higbee, and threepress consulting
all are new to me, but again, seem very useful so far
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Online Studies
this is more vague in my mind than the ebooks project, but something that keeps coming to mind when i’m in a held pose, or moving in a particularly enjoyable aerobic dance step
my son has suggested several instructional ideas that have promise
but i know less about how to develop this than the idea before or that follows, so currently i feel this is further down the learning curve, and thus the time-curve, than some of the other projects
time, though, as usual, will tell – this seed need more time yet in the ground
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Website
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first and most importantly, no changes in current content or availability would or will change
second, i have no ads, visible or hidden, affiliate or prepaid, anywhere on my site [1]
“if” and when that changes, i will be letting everyone know, ahead of time…
and still, as per my first point, no content would change
i would not and will not charge for articles
or poems i choose to post
or images of art work
or photos
nor my fabulous yak yak commentaries
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plus, if i decided to have some affiliate ads, i would never email them to anyone
the ads would only be on a site page, and be fully appropriate for the topic
an example would be ad to amazon for topic related books etc
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both roseanne at it’s all yoga baby, and nancy at flying yogini, have written about this, moving to or having a blog format/host that allows and enables more creative freedom, including the ability to have appropriate ads and/or affiliate links
integrity is number one with both the folk above on their sites, giving me positive examples of generating income on their sites
also my previous art site had google ads, and i didn’t have any problem with the ad types
so a site with even more control over which type ads, and for what type product or person or company, would be a fairly natural, even welcome, extension for me
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as nancy has blogged about, she experienced transition pains in moving from an ad free dot com address, to that of a more creative-allowing dot org home
that awareness is, for now, keeping me from adding video and other features to my current dot com site; new video, as it comes out (beginning with my very beginner feature on our boat trip on lake champlain above) i’ll probably post on youtube
audio would be interesting to play with too
so one day…
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Meanwhile
my attention must remain on continuing to learn, continuing to present as best of material i can understand and present that integrates having fun and staying healthy via yoga, fitness, and the arts
that, after all, is what my life is about
it’s what i think i model…
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Final Thoughts
My Integration of Yoga, Fitness, and the Arts is a Great Unknown
my integration-effort to understand and experience the underlying oneness i’ve always sensed in yoga, fitness activities, and the arts, began simply and easily enough
i’d write about yoga, and it’d easily remind me of something similar in aerobic dance movement, or painting, or poetry, or writing, or music – you get the idea
obviously i’m leading up to saying it’s no longer as easy a process as i once believed -
not because it’s harder to see or feel or sense the connections…
but because the connections have become so dense!
the pathways of discovery are everywhere
they lead me down shortcuts
across new main roads
deeper into openings
of surprise sunlight
i no longer know where i’ll end up
or, more accurately, think i know where the road curves
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what is fiddling with video splicing into my ideas ?
how does that affect teaching poses in class ?
when are brush strokes and touch adjustments alike ?
why does the sound of words on paper feel like breath on hands upon the keyboard ?
am i listening to the murmurs of caring i am hearing?
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my mind and heart together know the map
but life is new everyday
new places, new roads, new rivers, will be explored
some updates will map instantly
others, not so quickly
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Biggest Surprise – Continuity in Vermont
i expected a lot of unexpected surprises in moving to vermont
i’d visited a bit, here and there, for a week or two, throughout the years since i met sheila
intellectually, i knew the air would be drier (most the time)
and cooler
that the land would rise and fall more continually, at times abruptly
hills would be small mountains back in my part of texas
and i knew experiencing this would still be…new
rumpled land tossed across yards and streets like morning blankets left unmade til evening
the big trees would hold the wind and shake themselves with it in a yogic-fire breath of release
i haven’t even made it out of summer yet!
what will my first full autumn colors bring to my heart’s eyes ?
winters ice and sand-dunes of snow ?
i expect all that -
my surprise, is how texan the people of vermont are
and how vermonty my texanness is
staunch in freedom
free in fairness
valuing
wealth in people
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there’s a continuity with my kind of people -
i should’ve known, with a wife from vermont
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Yoga 2.0 – “Threads of Yoga : a Remix”
special thanks to carol horton for her shared link on facebook
threads of yoga, a remix, from the folk at yoga 2.0, Matthew Remski and Scott Petrie, is the kind of contemporary re-look at enduring ancient thought that greatly appeals to me
i, literally, don’t know if i agree with all these guys have come up with – i say literally ’cause i’m not completely familiar with their line of thought -
a remix, as per the authors’ words, differs from a translation :
“The purpose of a remix is equal parts homage, adventure, reclamation, and pleasure. It collects the raw beats and hooks of the past and brands them, transparently, with the pulse of the present…
“In the yoga 2.0 idiom, this pulse says a few key things:
- relationship is more important than private bliss,
- metaphysics distracts from presence,
- consciousness is evolving new questions, and –
- yoga is always changing, because its practitioners are”
the quality of their continuity of effort will probably keep me returning to their line of thought
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Yoga Provides Me Continuity
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Gratitude, Sheila, Finding - Original Photography Adan Lerma
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renewed continuity
enhanced continuity
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i’ve always been aware of, and been good, with connections
seeing continuities, similarities, attachments
yoga has helped me refine this
sometimes with my own brain-smile humor
heart-bone is connected to the mind-bone is connected to the ankle-balance-bone is connected to the core-bone is connected to my art-bone is connected to my word-bone
yes, it was time for a new beginning
namaste – con dios – god be with you
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eBook Updates
Texas to Vermont – Have Yoga, Will Travel (Transition)
Texas to Vermont – Have Yoga, Will Travel (Preparations)
footnotes
[1] i believe wordpress does reserve the right to post occasional content appropriate ads on my site, and the few i’ve seen haven’t bothered me, nor has anyone written to me to complain
an interesting history about the lighthouses is available from lighthousefriends.com
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