Old School

 Jam on it.
If you don't admit you remember this song you are WEAK and a LIAR.
Three words to the whack, step yourself back
Just gettin' down, and you then you're givin' no slack
Like a Burger King with a sack of Big Macs
We're throwin' down with the radical sacks
On time, in your mind you see
You gotta boogie to your best ability
You gotta funk it up until it knocks you down
And when you're funkin' up, be sure to pass it around
Come on, let's go to work
We got what'll make your body jerk
Make you throw your hands up in the air
Shake your booty and scream, "Oh, yeah"
?Cause we are the Jam On Crew
And jammin' on it is how we do the do
We'll funk you up until you boogie down
So come people check out the sound
Check out the sound, check out the sound, check out the sound, check out the sound
Check out the sound, check out the sound, check out the sound, check out the sound
Check out the sound

Newcleus

This is not my Yoga Teacher Training class, but it could be. 
WE ARE ALL OLD SCHOOL. 

We are old and WE  HAVE HOMEWORK.

Like the student I used to be I started right away.

Only this time I'm not distracted by $5.00 pitchers of watery stale beer at JM's.  I actually want to do it.

Our YTT homework includes 5 minutes of mandatory meditating.  That's right.  Sitting still, visualizing, breathing and thinking about NOTHING.  It's much harder than it seems.  With the meditating comes chanting and I haven't brought myself to do it out loud yet since I get up early for this little solo party (no, not THAT kind). My family just may wonder even more deeply what up wit her?  Plus if they interrupted my flow I'd just say...

Wikki-wikki-wikki-wikki

(Shut up)
Wikki-wikki-wikki-wikki

And they'd KNOW I was old school. 

Come on.  You know you SO remember this song even if you've grown up be the head of six corporations, a doctor, a lawyer, a priest, a teacher, a writer, a mother, lover, a friend, a social worker, a soul mate or a rapper.  You all have newcleus and you'll all be yogis and yoginis when I get done with you.  Word.

i say hip hop
 hippy to the hippity hip hip hop,
You don't stop rockin
to the bang, bang, boogie
say upchuck the boogie
to the rhythm, to the boogie the beat
say we are the jam on crew and jammin it on is the best we do.

 That was my chant in the early 80's.  What did you chant then?

Pull me, stretch me, heal me

So I can do the same to you.  As of Friday, I am a Yoga teacher in the making.  I started a YTT program through Yogaworks at a studio in Carytown.  Yogaworks blends Iyengar, Ashtanga, and Vingyasa styles of Hatha Yoga.  There's a strong meditative component to the curriculum too.  I am excited, overwhelmed, happy, filled, teary, nervous, vulnerable, thrilled over this journey.   I have 19 new friends and I think I love them all.  Doctors, cancer survivors, nurses, moms, grandmoms, dads, belly dancers comprise the group.  The process promises to be transformative. 

Alas, as indispensable as I think I am - my family survived just fine without me all weekend.  My 7 year-old daughter attended a wedding in the Outer Banks of North Carolina thanks to the kindness of our dear friends, Larry and Megan.

Mary Anne Kennelly Tysinger with Bibby, Maggie, and (my) Jane

Kathleen spent the weekend with my sister and her family and when I picked her up she didn't want to leave.  Love it!  Nicholas went hunting with Mike and watched college football (go JMU).  So you see, all that bending over backwards for them is not critical to any one's survival.  Except mine.   I'm up to 16 a day.

Finally, my hamstring is healed.  My Yoga teacher trainer, Jeanmarie Paolillo plugged my hip into it's socket with wild abandon and I have been pain-free ever since.  She is a saint and inspiring and beautiful and talented and funny and cool and so very good at what she does.  She is of service to her students.  I promise you, I will be too.  Let the healing begin!

What did you do this weekend?

Alicia Keys

Septemer 11, 2010
 I am not eloquent enough to bring us to a moment of remembrance on this day. I have been crying a lot lately though.  Time of year.  Time of the month.  Or it could be this.

Alicia Keys and Jay-Z

Empire State of Mind

Yankess vs. Phillies

Go to itunes and listen to Alicia Keys' solo version of this song.  It made me so sad for New York, you know - the person.  We all know The City never sleeps, has character, is vibrant and scary and overpopulated and nine years ago it got a heartbeat.  I want to wrap my arms around her and hold on.  I've been to Ground Zero where the sidewalks and streets are rich with the life lost, life present, and life to come.  I didn't know anyone personally who died in or around the Twin Towers or The Pentagon or the field in Pennsylvania.  With six degress of separation, we all knew someone.  I am sad for everyone's someone. 

 In Virginia, like in many places there was at moment of silence at 9:39 the minute the plane crashed into the target in our state.  My older two children were too young to remember it and my third wasn't on the planet yet.  I said they should just sit still and think about their freedom.  I thought I might pray specifically in words since I am never at a loss for them.  Instead, only Todd Beemer came to mind.  Everytime I say "Let's Roll" let it be a tribute to my friends New York, Virgnia and Pennsylvannia. 

Listen to Alicia Keys, she might make you cry too.  Today's the day for it. 

Donate to your local foodbank!