Jodi's Journal

Spring is definitely here - not only has the weather been steadily GORGEOUS here in Southern California, but my garden has been GROWING! I have been dining on yummy delicious, organic, me-grown Romaine, Arugula, Kale, Sugar Snap Peas and lots of fresh herbs like: parsley, cilantro, oregano. Making killer salad dressing, and juice.

I also am surrounded by re-birth, new life, moves, transitions, transformations...specifically, I have 3 friends who are moving to Cardiff, Encinitas, Leucadia area. Lucky me, to be surrounded with loving community. With so much joy, there is always the duality...my closest friends that i made since moving to the area, they are moving to Florida...for their new life there. Ah yes, it is the circle of life.

Chantsy is healing too, loving Spring, the weather and sun bathing.

Also super stoked about the conception of a Next Generation Yoga kids video.

I have never seen Chants act this way, I know him - and he is not himself. It started on Saturday, he sat next to me at the kids yoga teacher training I was leading and tears were dropping from his mouth, a different kind of salivation than he does when begging for food.

Yesterday he was limping, like he couldn't hold his own body weight up when he walked. All he wanted to do is lay down and sleep.

I took him to the Vet hospital on Sunday.

They took xrays of his spine & belly, NOTHING! A lil arthritis, so they gave him anti-inflammatories & Cosequin. Hellooooo???

He has his appetite, which is good - though I cant imagine him ever not! No fever and his heart sounds good.

This morning he was perk-ier, after a short walk he got tired and limped.

He is sleeping a lot today, which clearly he needs. But what is wrong with Chantsy Pants?

Please send him healing light.

That's what my life is here in Encinitas, and I am very well content with my life! Contentment is Santosha in Sanskrit. Such a beautiful word and such a liberating, existence. I truly have the feeling of excitement when I think about my life.

The herb garden is complete, I am growing 2 kinds of rosemary, 3 kinds of basil, fennel, green onion, cilantro, parsley, cutting celery and oregano - yahoo!!! I also planted a 6-pack of arugula YUM!

Yesterday while surfing at Cardiff Reef a seal popped up out through a wave, his lil bald head looked so cute! So cool to be with dolphins, seals & surfers, oh my!

NGY is soaring, to South America! I am excited to share that I am licensing "NGY" to Carolina Ortiz & Borka Bozovich where they will open a Next Generation Yoga studio in Lima, Peru. C & B are loving, talented, courageous women, mothers & school teachers who are committed to educating children with health and yoga at the forefront. You can imagine, I am thrilled - can you say Machu Picchu NGY Yoga Retreat!!

Don't think I have had Strep Throat since I was 9 years old, and boy do I wish I was still a kid to be taken care of by my mom, to miss school (not work!), soup, Gatorade, anything I needed right there for me. Instead...I have Chants the dog nurse - he has been laying with me for over 24 hours, his face on my chest - so sweet. I'm taking care of myself, that's what I get when I move 3000 miles from home, well actually that's what a 33 yr. old soon to be 34 yr. old should be doing. And I do have some loving friends who have brought me goodies to help me get better fast. Thank you angels who too have been sending light & healing my way.

According to the Astrological cycles, Pluto has moved in and rocked the world, tearing things apart and rebuilding them in a very different way - turning everything upside down. Do you feel it too? I have heard from parents that kids are experiencing challenges, tantrums, unusual outbursts.

What can we do?

Embrace it all, I say. All we have is right now, this moment, as I type this word NOW. Gone, to the next moment. So why not embrace these moments, most likely we'll never see them again. I guess that's our good news though. Be conscious to the "off-ness", be aware of the strange-ness, and always remember what my mom taught me: This too shall pass!

I had such a blast with my niece & nephew back in NYC last week, but it feels goooooood to be back in Cali now. I'm taking deep inhalations of coastal air, not polluted city air. I do not miss NY, I do miss my family & community.

The weather was so frigid in NY, my shoulders were up to my ears. The past two days have been 75 degrees here, yes I choose Southern California weather over east coast winters. I wasnt the only one either, everyone's shoulders are up to their ears. It cant be good!

Since I returned from the concrete jungle...I surfed Swami's - my 1st time since I started surfing; no wonder it's a favorite, that break is sweet, consistent, felt pristine to me. I also planted more herbs in my garden: parsley, cutting celery & rosemary. I loved coming back and seeing how much the garden exploded! The sugar snap peas grew at least 8 inches! Sunflowers that I planted before I left, too popped out of the earth.

With a visit back east, it's easy for me to recognize the peace in my every day life here in Encinitas. I am thrilled. Though with all the traveling, lack of sleep, being with the kids and flying, my immune system is down, and so I too am sick. Please do send health & light, aim it right at my throat chakra, that's where I need it most!