Last night I got the opportunity to practice with another exciting yoga teacher. This time my local studio – Guruv Yoga brought Rachel Brathen in for a one night workshop entitled “Inversion Flow”. As I’ve said before I love the Guruv Yoga studio (see other posts for more info:http://fitandfabyogi.com/?p=307) and always enjoy the energy and positive spirit of the teachers and students there. And I love getting to meet new-to-me teachers as well – especially when they come highly recommend and ready to teach me something new and challenging. Rachel Brathen is the Retreat Director at Manchebo Beach Resort in Aruba (www.manchebo.com) a Vinyasa Flow Yoga Teacher and SUP (stand-up paddleboard) yoga pioneer. Her website and Facebook page are wildly popular (www.rachelbrathen.com) and mainly known for her handstand and inversion photos.

Let me tell you – that girl can stand on her hands like nobody’s business. It was impressive. The workshop started promptly at 5:30 and ended at 7:15 pm. Rachel moved us though a challenging sequence that was peppered along the way with lots of handstand options and preparatory work. The room was full and, unfortunately, I did not procure a space by the wall. This made it difficult for me to try many of the handstand variations she instructed as I needed the wall for “back-up”. There was another yogi in the room that I know from various workshops and she graciously let me try some things out using her mat and wall space so that was very helpful. But I do think I could have gotten more out of the practice if I had been near a wall. Otherwise – the evening was great. Its always fun to experiment with new or more advanced poses especially when they are taught with safety and fun in mind. Rachel had a great energy and spirit about her and seemed to make everyone feel at ease. If you are into yoga at all I encourage you to check her out on Facebook. The photos alone are very inspiring.

A couple of other items I wanted to note:

Recently we got a new couch for our family room. Its a BIG sectional that I thought I would never buy – but I (we) love it ♥. It’s super comfy and we all love to lounge around on it – the three of us fit comfy cozy and the dog can join us too. The only drawback is that it’s so big there is nowhere to place a drink/remote/cell phone when your sitting on it. The sectional is so long that you seem to always be far away from an end table. And if you have the legs out (reclined) you cant really reach far enough in front of you to conveniently place an item (or retrieve it) from the coffee table in front. Does that make sense? Anyway – the contractor we are using for our renovation (posted about here:http://fitandfabyogi.com/?p=277) helped me make the BEST little table for the couch. We designed it together and his superstar finish carpenter – Scott made it to perfection. Its a lifesaver and it looks great. I am very happy with it. If you have a sectional or very large/long couch you would love this! Email me and I will put you in touch with the carpenters.

And lastly – College Football Season is coming up ya’ll! I’ve been poking around on Etsy to locate some cute and unique gameday attire and accessories and I made a great find. I purchased these adorable garnet and gold beaded rings from Denise at The Beaded Sister. The are really cute and well-made. I ordered three – one for me and two gifts. When they arrived Denise had them packed up so neat and she even included a FREE FSU bracelet for me. How nice is that!?! Check our her shop on Etsy or look her up Facebook

Check out this website as there were many other adorable items in various team colors.

Go Noles! I bought three of these rings and they are so cute!

Question for you guys: Who else is a big college football fan? What team do you follow?