REDEFINING BALANCE PR 2014 ~ getting trashy in paradise

“look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better” ­ - Albert Einstein

REDEFINING BALANCE PUERTO RICO ~ adventure retreats in paradise filled with surfing, yoga, rock climbing, slacklining, AcroYoga, Thai Massage and... trash collection?! Yup, we got a little trashy this year...and it felt darn good!

Every year these retreats seem to rise above and beyond with regards to the incredibly talented, outgoing cast of characters who travel from countries around the world and join some of the locals from Rincon to create such an amazing weeklong experience.

The idea had crossed my mind about emphasizing the importance of environmental awareness as one of the principles behind Redefining Balance as a concept to integrate people back into the outdoors. Teaching in an environment where the water is so clear and the rock quality is so pristine allows us to provide amazing experiences with incredible photographs for students to remember. The hope is that these experiences will also help to create appreciation for these parts of the world and inspire small individual acts of conservation and mindfulness to live a more eco conscious and sustainable life when students return to their hometowns.

Our past retreats have always included beach clean ups and emphasized the importance of carrying reusable bags, a personal water bottle & to­-go ware to help reduce single use plastic consumption. This year we took personal sustainability efforts to a whole new level and actually made it a “challenge” complete with awesome prizes donated from eco­conscious sponsors.

Based on a “trash tour” that I did 5 years ago to fundraise for children living in trash dumps in Cambodia, the Redefining Balance eco challenge was a one week elective “choice” that the students could take on in which they would be responsible for holding on to all of their personal trash from the week that was plastic or styrofoam (basically anything that would float in the ocean). A big part of the reason for focusing on this particular type of “floating trash” was to raise awareness about the North Pacific Trash Convergence, a large land mass of trash floating in the middle of the ocean. Students who chose to take on the eco challenge strived to keep all of their trash for the week to under the size of a small or gallon sized Zip lock bag.

Many accepted the challenge and in the end 19 students (of the original 35 on the first retreat) had bags to show for the final awards ceremony. We celebrated the last day of the retreat and the closing of the eco challenge with an outdoor party catered by our friend’s Chilling & Grilling taco truck and Brooklyn Cleanse juice bar...both of whom brought reusable plates and glasses for all of the food & drinks! And to top it off, thanks to goal zero we were able to power a turntable and mixer off of solar panels, a battery pack and portable speakers so as to throw in some live music from one of Rincon’s favorite locals, DJ Don.

All in all it was an amazing way to wrap of the first retreat and the first ever group eco challenge which then had many students from the second retreat also requesting that they get to do the eco challenge as well. It was kinda awesome...people were actually requesting the ability to carry their own trash for the week!

Our second retreat, called Redefining the Inner Balance, has all of the same activities as the original Redefining Balance but with a group half the size and a focus on daily meditations based on the 5 elements of earth, water, fire, air and ether. Kadri leads the group through amazing meditation techniques to help you to tune in to these principles and then we apply connection to the elements when we are out climbing (earth), slacklining (air), surfing (water), acro & yoga (fire) and practicing thai massage (ether) to release all those sore muscles!

For Redefining the Inner Balance the eco challenge was renamed the “eco meditation” and rather than competing for prizes students were encouraged to just observe their actions and see what came up with regards to trash and consumerism. It was really cool to have the group get together for the closing group circles at sunset and talk about their experiences with trash and what was challenging, especially in a town where so much of the food is still served on styrofoam plates with plastic utensils. 

All in all the eco awareness spread throughout town with local businesses actually changing the way they served food simply because so many students complained about the disposable single use straws, plates, glasses & utensils. Rincon is slowly catching up and working towards a plastic bag banaswell. And on behalf of all the students who helped make the Redefining Balance PuertoRico 2014 season possible we are donating 5% of our proceeds from the retreats to the Surfrider Foundation & the Access Fund two amazing organizations that fund initiatives to preserve surf breaks and climbing areas around the world.

Special thanks to prAna, goal zero, coco hydro / big tree farms, Joshua Tree Organics, Ocean State of Mind, the uncharted studio and Raw Revolution for sponsoring the 2014 eco challenge and for all of their amazing prizes & support.

And congrats to CHELSEY GREENE for winning the eco challenge with just one plastic straw to show for a week’s worth of trash!!!

For more pics & info on Redefining Balance please visit facebook.com/redefiningbalance or follow us on Instagram at instagram.com/redefiningbalance

As for the rest of the retreat adventures...we’ll let the pictures tell the stories Enjoy!
~ adi

photos courtesy of: Brian Mosbaugh // slacklinemedia.com, Ryan Martin // of­rion.com, Kadri Kurgun // kadrikurgun.com, Danielle Robidoux // daniellerobidoux.com, Tamar Melen and Richard Baimbridge

 

Redefining Rest

It is interesting to look back, especially as the new year approaches.  
The past three days, the weather up here in Bend, Oregon has been nasty.  And after a solid week of training it seemed like a good time for a rest day.  But instead, for some reason each day we resisted the temptation, and ventured into the outdoors to train.  We almost made it through Wednesday, but ended up at the gym for an 90 minute lifting session as a "warm-up" for an evening yoga class.  Thursday was bitter cold, with unseasonal downpours, and high winds.  Certainly we would have been justified in hunkering down next to the fire with a good book, but someone got the idea that the conditions were just about as close to what we'd experience in the upcoming Patagonian Expedition Race, and the idea stuck.  A cold, wet (but somehow still fun) 3 hour training ride on our Ellsworth mountain bikes ensued - complete with fartlek pushup sprints at the end.


Friday, however we were all determined NOT to train.  Our bodies had certainly been sending "rest" messages for days, and finally we listened.  But by mid afternoon we were going pretty stir crazy, with random guttural screams and spontaneous wrestling matches erupting around the house.  The rest day seemed to stretch on forever.  


Is I tried in vain to go to sleep, I wondered if why I(we) were like this.  If it had always been this way.  I certainly feel lazy much of the time, and enjoy sitting around with my morning coffee till it is late in the day. But something seems to always push me out of that place of physical contentment before too long.


An hour later, still unable to sleep, I was sorting through old computer files, and stories I'd written.  I came across a movie I'd made over two years ago...and it seemed all to familiar...
(the text below the movie is what I wrote that day....)





The day after we finished our monster AcroYoga teaching weekend, we were in desperate need of a rest. And we tried, but YogaSlacker Dan had flown all the way from Minnesota to Arizona for the Acro workshop, and we couldn't let him go back to the cold north bitterness without showing him exactly what sort of things he'd be missing....so we kept the climbing to 5.10 and 5.11, and since Chelsey was teaching yoga classes all day - there were just three of us so we all got a bit of rest while the others climbed. The routes were all long (35m) and really really disgustingly sustained. As someone in the video says - "we are gonna need another rest day after this rest day..."




May you all have at least some relaxing moments on this last day of the year....


Jason

For Money or Mangoes…the slacker life

mangoes fresh from the tree ~ nature's currency

For Money or Mangoes…

After a phenomenal summer of road trips, teacher trainings, festivals, surfing, climbing, biking, and recently returning from big walls in Yosemite and a YogaSlackers reunion in Estes Park, I can honestly say this has been one of the best seasons of my life.

El Cap Tower, Yosemite CA

The journey began in May with a cross-country road trip from NYC to California for the YogaSlackers first-ever teacher training. A bit of panic set in when I checked my bank account and saw that the balance was just under $300, hardly enough to cover gas even one way cross-country.

road trippin' ~ trust in the process that you will always arrive where you need to be (especially when lost)

But how, exactly, did it come to this? Well, if you’d like to wipe out your savings teaching yoga and have a phenomenal time in the process here’s the recipe:

First - go to the most expensive city in the world and teach, teach, teach.

The 2010 winter season took me to Tokyo, Japan for 3 months where I taught yoga, AcroYoga, and slacklining to many amazing students. I worked harder teaching than ever before and teaching in Tokyo proved to be one of the most transitional times in my life, introducing me to so many phenomenal people, devoted students and life long friends. Spending 3 months working in Japan I earned a decent living as teachers in Japan are regarded with great respect and professionalism and you are paid quite well for your trade. Only catch is that you get taxed on this income as if you earned it in the USA, something that I forgot in April 2011 when I, reluctantly, paid taxes for 2010.

first YogaSlackers slackline workshop in Japan (Gibbon approved)

Now ordinarily my bank account could come relatively close to accommodating the additional funds owed for taxes however I had spent the winter of 2011 living in Rincon, Puerto Rico surfing and teaching yoga for very little money and in many cases forms of food (like mangos) or services donated by students who were tight on funds.

This financial dilemma seems to be a scenario that many yoga teachers ultimately face- teach (a lot) for money and be able to pay your bills or teach to give back, live simply and see what manifests? Hopefully one day there will be a happy medium but in the meantime I constantly wonder: how necessary is money? In reality, it is just paper… and while there are many benefits to having it, is money a true necessity?

Because none of us made much money working in Rincon we all had a system of trading with each other for what we needed. From bodywork & yoga classes to food, clothes, surf board repairs and rides to the airport this community found a way to get by spending very little. In a way it was a simple practice of karma where whatever is given out is then returned in a new shape and form.

In Japan a similar financial exchange occurred as we all worked really hard, earned lots of money and then spent lots of money on the sheer act of living in Japan. Only trouble was that working all the time could get pretty exhausting and it was hard to find time to do the things you really wanted to do. While there was some work to be done in Rincon, it earned only enough money to get by in many circumstances and rather then working more to earn a couple extra bucks it made sense to just help each other out since we had plenty of free time, especially when there were no waves.

Because many of our friends in Rincon were tight on money, the “mango discount” was instated for my Sunday classes and workshops where locals could pay by donation or just bring a mango from one of the nearby trees in exchange for class. Of course all forms of food were included in this and as a result the class turned into a potluck afterwards with students bringing amazing food and even clothes to share and swap with each other after class.

Aloha Yoga post class clothing swap potlucks

The community of our little outdoor yoga studio grew and we started hanging out after class, surfing and cooking together in our spare time. It was a strong reminder that happiness remains in the simple stuff- the journey, the experience and the people we share it with. What’s truly valuable is very rarely justified by it’s worth in dollars (or yen) and sometimes the best form of payment is eating a whole bunch of mangoes with good friends… and thankfully, we don’t have to pay taxes on that.

Rincon, Puerto Rico ~ where sunset surf sessions are truly priceless

photo by Ben Fullerton / www.fullertonimages.com

And if you are wondering about that cross country road trip and how we covered gas costs… my friend Ryan (who was driving with me and also owns a design & silk screening studio in Rincon) and I designed a t-shirt to sell on our road trip at workshops and events where I was teaching. The YogaSlackers one love // one planet limited edition t-shirt sold enough to cover the cost of our gas cross-country and then we put extra funds into an account for the new 2011 YogaSlackers teacher trainees to help cover their gas money to go out and teach slackline workshops – keep an eye out for them, they are some of the most talented slackers we’ve ever seen!

one love // one planet shirt and some of our first supporters at the Surf Bar, Brooklyn NYC.

thanks to all who supported the cause

Hope you enjoy the journey and keeping slacking for mangoes and whatever else makes you happy...

-Adi

+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+

Not to suggest that you should completely ward off a source of financial income but if you want to teach for mangos and try the YogaSlacker’s guide to living on a budget here are some tips (Thanks to the YogaSlackers teacher training grads for their input):

* try to go a day without spending any money on food (advanced slackers - try a week or month). Use up food in your fridge / pantry and plan a potluck with friends for variety. If you live in a climate where you can grow your own food, compose a dish made entirely from local ingredients.

* go outside when you are looking to do something with your free time. Practice yoga in a park, go for a run or bike ride, slackline, surf, climb a tree (or rock face). Not only are most activities outdoors free of cost they are also usually beneficial to your health allowing you to be active, breathe fresh air and receive exposure to sunlight that helps combat depression and improve sleep.

· plan a clothing / gear swap with friends to clean out your closet of what you don’t need. This is always a great idea just to minimize the stuff you are holding on to as it will literally make you feel lighter to get rid of what you’re not using. These swaps yield unusual treasures that will hopefully also remind you of the person who gave them to you.

· *try to use human-powered transport as much as possible walk/run/bike/climbing up mountains to ski down for travel and avoid gas using cars (again outdoors/health theme)

· *get comfortable camping or build network of friends with couches when traveling…there are many tips on how to find great places to sleep for free on public lands, NFS, BLM, etc.

· *learn how to fix / repair things, sewing, bike, car repair/ maintenance, when many things break or wear out it is a particular part that needs replacing calling the manufacturer has led to me getting replacement parts sent to me for free.

First Ever YogaSlackers Teacher Training: 23 New Jedi Ninja Warriors Ready to Unleash the Force…

Some thought it could never be done. Others questioned what we would teach and why? But despite the non-believers, YogaSlackers went forth and delivered the first ever official teacher training, probably one of the most vigorous and diversified out there, with great success. This marked the first time that all of the original YogaSlackers from across the country were in attendance to share their stories, skills and craziness in the same place and same time and witness the transformation of the next generation of slackers into jedi ninja warriors of balance, acro and adventure skills. And get ready… as the next generation of YS teachers are fierce, super fierce!

The 10 day training offered students a vigorous schedule of yoga, slacklining, daily conditioning (Harder, Faster, Stronger anyone?), advanced acrobatics drills and partner work. With our friend Stacey holding it down in the kitchen and offering super nutritious meals and snacks we were all able to go strong through the 15 hr days of training, conditioning and practice teaching, oh yeah, and doing a 7 hour adventure race including mountain biking, trekking and rappelling through a really fun course taking us to Mexico and back. The adventure race experience was offered about half way through (when most trainings probably would have offered a rest day) and everyone rocked it- perhaps in part due to the 40 minutes of hardcore YogaSlackers unique conditioning circuits every day indoors and on the slacklines.

One of the greatest parts of the location at Liberty Advance (a super awesome and creative retreat center located in the desert just an hour outside of San Diego) was the freedom to build and develop the ultimate slackline experience.

We set up over 15 locations for daily practice slacklining and practice teaching as well as a rodeo line - a super slack slackline that dips down in the middle creating a ton of swing back and forth, a 60 ft long line, 170 ft super long line and probably everyone’s favorite- the water line set up across the Liberty Advance pool (see video below).

Through daily practice on these various lines the YogaSlackers teachers developed some of the most well rounded slackline skills and abilities of anyone we know. With advanced acrobatic conditioning drills, calibrations and flows in the afternoon the teachers worked with each other to push their abilities in basing, flying and communication as they developed muscles unique to balance and co-ordination so as to also parallel the work done on the line.

There was also an arts & crafts portion of the training composed of making outfits out of a slackline keeping in mind the YogaSlackers motto "it's not a thong" as a key element to the design process.

Thankfully the hot tub (with optional late night sing alongs) eased tired muscles, as did the spontaneous dance parties, late night movie sessions with “slacker stack” cuddling as everyone piled on the floor and couches under whatever yoga props we could find. Some of us displayed true slacker form and continued to sleep on the floor all through the night until the next morning and it’s good to know that the essential slacker skill of floor crashing resonates well with the group.

As I look back on the training it is definitely with a bit of sadness that it is all over. Watching these students transform into super strong ambassadors of slack I realize how privileged YogaSlackers is to have these 23 rock stars going back into the “real” world to share the practice along side us. We started teaching yoga on the slackline simply because we found it super fun (and super addictive)…I don’t think any of us imagined it would come to this and this teacher training surpassed our wildest dreams. The experience of meeting and working with everyone is worth more than words and the memories will stay strong for generations to come. We wish them all well and look forward to spreading the slackage to new heights in the upcoming months and years.

May you go forth and prosper in the name of slack!

-Adi & and the YS crew: Jason, Sam, Chelsey, Dan, Paige, Paul

And BIG THANKS to our amazing sponsors for supplying product (especially caffeinated and high energy product!) to keep the students and teachers going through the 10 days…big ups to:

Raw Revolution, Steaz, Sambazon, Power to Go, U Hydration & nuun, Java Juice, coco hydro, tarma, hydroflask, Ellsworth bikes (for bringing out super sick mountain bikes for students to demo on the adventure race course) and prAna- a company that believed in YogaSlackers from the very start and supported the journey even when it was just a dream…thanks for helping us to make it an ever changing awesome reality!

YogaSlackers - slacking for a better world

Photo credits: Sam Salwei / YogaSlackers, Ryan Martin, Ariel Mihic, Laura Miles, Ron Avitzur

Slacker Rockstars for a day

Despite the sirens from the approaching emergency vehicles, the big rental truck in my blind spot was determined not to let us in his lane as we entered the merge to get off the exit and sit in even more traffic trying to get to Cape Cod MA on a Saturday (a drive that should take about an hour any other day and took us 4 hrs due to beach traffic). Having had my turn signal on for several minutes and the emergency vehicle bearing down on us, the scary truck driver sped up ever time there was an inch of space so as to prevent our very packed car of five people from making any headway.

"I think we should speed up" Sam said as the truck persisted in denying us access.

"Hey!" the truck driver shouted at us, "Do you have something to say to me?"

"Ummmm?" I responded to the rest of the car

"I flipped him the bird" Sam commented casually.

"Sam!" we all shouted (while also laughing) realizing that a guy in a rental truck had nothing to lose by hitting our car and he was now even more agitated.

"Hey! you gotta problem man?!" The driver shouted again at Sam.

"Yeah. You should be nicer" Sam hung out the window and screamed out as I looked for another way to escape from the scary truck, quickly merging in the other direction and zipping around to put several cars between us.

Truth was we were all a bit agitated after being in a car for 3 hours already trying to get to the Naukabout Music Festival where our friend's Barefoot Truth

were performing and we were to make our musical debut on stage with them slacklining and doing Acro during a song. To add to the fatigue factor, Sam, Jason and Chelsey had arrived that morning from Salt Lake on the red eye and despite sleeping a bit in the car, they were still quite zombie like bringing a bit of Adventure Race no sleep style to the music festival scene.

At this point it was 3pm and we were still 20 miles away with a stream of red lights in front of us. Barefoot Truth was scheduled to go on stage at 4pm. The outcome did not look good for the YogaSlackers, especially with a surly rental truck driver behind us determined to set Sam straight on what "nice" means on the East Coast.

Our fearless navigator and Boston YogaSlacker Reg, navigated us through traffic while also feeding us amazing food that he packed (bonus points for any navigator that ever brings food for us on a road trip- you will automatically become a YogaSlackers team member, no questions asked). Reg has a strong resemblance to Harry Potter in appearance and in magical powers and we think he must of cast some secret spells to actually get us there in time and navigate google maps on the iPhone and after another hour of traffic it was 3:57pm and we were finally making our way off the highway with just 3 miles left to the fair grounds.

"Where you at now?" Garret, our friend (and the very talented harmonica player in the band) kept checking in each minute trying to figure out how to get us back stage when he was supposed to be on stage with the band.

"Just 3 more miles...stall the band!" we begged, hoping we would have time to still rig the set up before they played.

"We have to go on at 4 but we'll make the first song really long and I'm not playing in it so try to get here in the next 7 minutes so I can get you in." Garret remained confident that we could pull it off.

We skidded around a turn and sped up the back entrance to the fair grounds as Garret was waving us forward towards the stage. We parked the car as he tossed us wristbands and then bolted to get on stage with the band for the next song- in a matter of seconds we could hear his harmonica blaring from the stage about 30 ft away. We had actually made it....now to figure out how to slackline across the stage.

Sam and Jason ran to the stage to check it out. Sure enough there were two posts on stage right and left, allowing us to set up a line across the front of the stage surrounded on either side by speakers, microphones, musical instruments and a 5 foot drop if we fell off towards the crowd. It could work- we just couldn't fall.

After they set up the line really high making sure it would clear all of the (rather costly) obstacles, we gathered on the side of the stage and worked on a strategy. Garret informed us that they wanted us to perform to "All Good Reasons" one of our favorite songs, and we got super psyched and formed a plan for our onstage debut.

Garret introduced us as we took our positions on the sides of the stage. As the song started Jason slacklined onto the stage from stage left doing a warrior one pose on the line as the crowd went crazy.

Chelsey followed, walking in on the line from stage right taking hand to big toe pose welcomed with more cheering and applause as she set up for an Acro performance in front of the line with Jason.

Sam walked in on the line from the left taking his famous mayurasana (peacock pose) in the center of the line facing the crowd as they roared with excitement and applauded.

Pressing from mayurasana back up to standing on the line, Sam walked off and tagged me in as I took a backbend over the line facing the crowd, realizing just how many people were out there (they looked even cooler upside down) and then spinning around and coming up to sit on the line- trying to find balance while overcoming the fear of knocking over expensive stereo equipment. Standing up from sitting, the line felt especially wobbly and I felt the energy from the crowd supporting me as I walked out into the center of the stage in front of easily one of the largest audiences I have ever slacklined in front of (Jason estimates that the crowd was 20,000...Sam, Chels and I estimate that it was more like 1,000 people).

Any nervousness left my body as I felt the support from the band on one side and the amazing applause and cheering from the crowd on the other. Lowering down to pigeon, I heard Garrett rocking out on the harmonica behind me as I flipped into a shoulder stand on the line seeing Chelsey flipping through the air on Jason's feet in front of me- it all felt a bit dreamlike- like a really amazing dream to really great music.

As the song sadly came to an end we all gathered on the stage with the band and gave a wave to the excited crowd. We made our way off the stage and then set up slacklines in the crowd by the vendors allowing people to give it a try while Barefoot Truth kept playing in the background followed by a bunch of other great sets including Bela Fleck. Hanging out with Garret, Will, Jay, Andy and Wayno, we enjoyed catching up with the band and helping them work on forearm stands in the grass along with some AcroYoga poses while making plans to manifest a future tour together including collaborative projects at places like Wanderlust, Bonnaroo and Coachella all while touring in a tour bus with a hot tub of course.

All in all, what started with 4 hours of gridlock New England traffic with scary aggressive drivers ended with an amazing music festival with great friends and people, including our favorite band who we know will be super big one day and we will reminisce about the time we arrived just in time to slackline across the stage with them.

We love what we do, especially when it involves our amazing friends. Big thanks to Barefoot Truth, especially Garrett for lining everything up and Reg for getting us there! check out their latest album Threads here: www.barefoottruth.com

with love for music and slacklining,

-adi

Team YogaSlackers

slackling (to music) for a better world