Feed What You Love

I love The Tandoor Grill (Indian restaurant) because they were my neighbors, they are my dear friends, and the food is amazing.

I love the Hatch Family Chocolates because they are local, friendly, and an integral part of my Thursday morning ritual: treat myself to a saxophone lesson, then treat myself to chocolate at Hatch just down the street. (Click here to read something I wrote: Alive on Jazz and Chocolate).

I tote my yoga mat in a beautiful bag made by my good friend and master seamstress Kiri Manookin. It was made just for me and made for me with love.

When my car needs repair or service, I take it to John Peake because he's a solid, honest friend and because he's the best mechanic I've ever known.

I love the Band of Annuals because they are a tight, original band first and because they are local second.

When my good friend said that her daughter was selling Girl Scout cookies, I told her that I'd buy 1 box of each kind because they make great gifts and it supports a special little person. Besides, those Samosas are better than crack.

When Karen Baynard came up with her line of gorgeous natural, healthy, delicious ice cream, I jumped for the opportunity to buy, for her first and for the ice cream second.

In a world of chain restaurants and big box stores, it's nice to know that you can choose to spend your money and energy on products and people that have soul and support those you care about.

This follows an important yogic principle of Samtosha or contentment(rhymes with Samosa). Perhaps better said, Samtosha is the spiritual practice of choosing to be happy with what you have and choosing to love those things around you. It's about refining your taste for what's around. And like in the famous book The Little Prince, what we choose to cultivate in our world becomes sacred to us.

One of my teachers told me once, "You have to feed what you love." It's nice to know that every time you go to yoga at a local studio, you support local business. Every yoga instructor at these studios is essentially an independent contractor and therefore also a local business. This is by no means a way to guilt you into coming to yoga. I'm just belaboring my point.

By supporting what you love, you give someone else the opportunity to give what they love and both benefit. This is why local business is so rewarding. This is why things like the Farmer's Market is so fun. It's a true connection with people, like everything else. This is yoga.

I invite you to notice those things around you this week and feed those things that you love.

I hope to see you in yoga this week.

Scott