PoiPriestess

This is the first (of hopefully many) serged costume I made and I didn’t use a regular sewing machine at all, though I did hand sew the rosette in the middle of the shirt onto the rest of it. The costume is designed to be worn in layers over a black shirt and pair of [...]

I was on my way to a gig and we got caught in a fire — rather there was a fire and traffic was stopped and the road was closed. We had to turn around and go back. That was fun and interesting. I’ve never seen a natural fire that big before. Beautiful experience. And [...]

I love technology! I love that I can sit in my bed naked and be on a talk show with a woman who is 2500 miles away, perhaps even sitting in her own home and that anyone on the web can listen to it! How awesome is that? Listen to the interview archive here.

On my way to Liz and Devin’s wedding. Sean will be here soon. I’m wearing the shirt the fire safety team wore for the 2007 Temple of Poi Fire Dancing Expo… well, modified a little. Should I put beads on it and make it really silly? Tamale said she won’t be seen with me wearing [...]

A grand success, even if I did set my costume on fire. Ironically, none of the beginners did it but a bunch of the pros did. . .

My second television experience!

Temple of Poi performed today in Union Square. What an honor to once again get to support the San Francisco Food Bank’s Canned Food Drive! We also sold copies of the Temple of Poi 2006 Fire Dancing Expo DVD and donated a portion of the sales proceeds to the Food Bank as part of our [...]

In preparation for the December 11 Union Square show, I’m running a fire dancing performance class with 21 students. We’re holding the class at The Palace of Fine Arts under this really beautiful dome. Seems like a good place to hold a practice, rain or shine, right? Well, it seems like it, but in reality, [...]

Hunter (isn’t he hot? that picture is amazing!), Atreyu (who wore a mask which scared the children — but it was Halloween! aren’t masks okay?) and I were off to do a gig for a 6 year old. I acquired this gig through a beautiful woman I met on the N line some months ago [...]

Nothing in particular to say about any of these… though I do enjoy them.

But only one makeup job. And yes, that necklace is painted on. It makes hooping so much easier and I had to hoop at all 3 gigs.

The lushness of flowers blooming in the spring and summer reminds me of the gift of life and how amazing the spirit of growth is. It is especially powerful with fragrant flowers, like jasmine, freesia and stargazer lilies. I am particularly fond of the stargazer lily because lily’s last a long time from the date [...]

I like how Goenka conveys this in his silent mediation retreats. I think I finally got it when I was a few days into the retreat, realizing that it is completely natural and okay for the mind to wander from the practice as long as we remember to always start again. I also enjoyed playing [...]

When we’re teaching people about fire safety at the Temple, we talk about the conditions to assess weather or not the dancer is in the proper space to spin fire in. I break down the “self check” into three questions that I call the “3 C’s”: Are you Clear? That is, do you feel mentally [...]