Yogini Hanny Chandra in Añjali Mudrā

My last days living in New Olreans were spent preparing for my big move to NYC, and getting in some final NOLA YOGA PHOTO Project portrait sessions. Many of those sessions have yet to be edited and posted, but this session with Hanny Chandra, which was the last session I did, is getting special treatment since it is a paid assignment (the rest will be coming soon!).

I got a call from Hanny’s boyfriend William a couple weeks before. He lives in Austin and she in NYC, and they were planning a rendezvous in New Orleans. She loves yoga and he thought it would be nice to surprise her with a photo session. I delayed my departure by two days to accommodate this happening, and am glad I did because it was a wonderful experience, and it turned out I needed some extra time to tie up loose ends anyway. The universe is always looking out for me. Give thanks.

Yogi Derek Goodwin photographing yogini Hanny Chandra – photo by boyfriend William Sandler

William arranged for Hanny to come to a Swan River yoga class with my teacher Keith Porteous, which I was also attending. It was a special class for me because I was saying goodbye to Keith. At the end of class William introduced me to Hanny and she was wonderfully surprised to find out about her gift. We took some initial photos at the Swan River Mid City Mandir while William took his motorcycle to bring us coffee. Not sure how he managed that but I was duly impressed.

William had the idea to have Hanny pose on his motorcycle so we tried some fun stuff with that, and then moved on to City Park to get some really wonderful images there. Hanny told me that she is not comfortable having her picture taken but she was actually one of the most fun and experimental subjects I have worked with.

The other neat aspect to this story is that Hanny lives in NYC (and practices at the Yoga Room) so I will have the opportunity to photograph her some more in the big apple. What a wonderful world!

Thanks Hanny & William, for the fun time and amazing images!

Mardi Gras is an epic time in New Orleans, no matter how much one tries to avoid getting caught up in it. This year I have been struggling with money and had no fancy costume or big plans other than to work a lot at my job with NOLA Pedicabs and make lots of money to get caught up on my bills with.

My father once said, “man plans, god laughs.” Well for sure we all get caught in the cosmic giggle. I am a bad ass on a bicycle but as it turns out my dharma is not to haul drunk people around New Orleans for a living. The 2nd Saturday before Mardi Gras was to be my first big money-making day because there were tourists and parades, but mama nature had other plans and chilled us the fuck out to about 35 degrees so that not even the drunkest of drunks were getting in my cab. After 8 hours all I had to show for my toils was the beginnings of a two-week long throat cold.

The night before that was pretty awesome though, as I got to go photograph the  Apocalypse Ball - an annual benefit for the Louisiana Himalaya Association (LHA.) (a volunteer-staffed, non-profit organization dedicated to international social work with Tibetan Refugees in the Himalayan regions of India and Nepal). This year the ball was held at Studio 3 on Toulouse Street. I danced my ass off, had my face painted like a sugar skull from the Day of the Dead, and flirted with all kinds of beautiful people. I would like to thank my friends Kate and Trishell for getting me in as photographer.

Candy Skullface Pashupa at the Apocalypse Ball

So back to this pedicab thing. I have been entertaining my yoga students with my pedicab tales for a while now, how I would go out for hours and not make any money. How the pedicab-pep talk would always turn to how much we were going to make over Mardi Gras. As my bills piled up and I ate peanut butter sandwiches to survive I wondered a lot about my karma and my dharma.

Mardi Gras means ‘Fat Tuesday’, and it is traditionally a final celebration of gluttony before Christians fast for Lent (on Ash Wednesday). The fasting traditionally lasts 40 days to honor Jesus’ time in the desert chatting with Satan. Hungry Christians are exempt on Sundays, which are mini-Easters. Easter ends the fast. (random fact: I was born on Easter in 1967, therefore I am an Easter expert). Traditionally Christians fast from meat, dairy and eggs during Lent. St. Thomas of Aquinas thought eating animal flesh gave people more nourishment and “greater surplus available for seminal matter, which when abundant becomes a great incentive to lust.” Kind of gross if it was true, but fortunately/unfortunately eating animal proteins tends to make men impotent instead. Not that anyone you will meet on Bourbon Street would know or care, but there you have it, ignorant ideas that have evolved through the ages and are still with us.

I was signed up for pedicab shifts from Thursday through Tuesday, culminating Mardi Gras night. Friday night my cold from the week before, which I considered past me, came back with a vengeance. I lost my voice and could only work for about 3 hours before my headache became unbearable, long enough to make the money I had to pay NOLA Pedicabs for using the bike for the night. I paid them off and went home to rest. Saturday it rained all day and night, and I did not work. Sunday I went back to work and did OK even though my voice sounded like a squeaky mouse. Monday (Lundi Gras) I actually made a bit of money.

Here are some photo highlights for your enjoyment

Tuesday I spent the daylight hours with the Society of St. Anne, my favorite Mardi Gras parade. It isn’t a super-organized parade with floats and all the gross excess of bead throwing, but rather a meandering gaggle of costumed freaks heading from the Bywater to the French Quarter, passing through the Marigny, stopping at bars, being joined by brass bands and psychedelic portable DJ contraptions, spontaneous dance parties, and run-on sentences disguised as journalism.

After a beautiful sunny day spent with my lovely freaks, I left to go work my night away on a pedicab. On the way to the shop I got a call from NYC, which turned out to be Ganeshadas from Jivamukti Yoga setting up a job interview with me the next day. A sure mood-lifter impeccably timed by that same universe known for cosmic giggles.

Suffice it to say that after about 4 hours of being harassed by drunks on the back of my pedicab I put enough faith in that same universe to quit my job for the night and head home for some well-deserved rest. Money seemed less and less important the more I thought about it. And I like peanut butter well enough. I will still eat it now that I have been hired to move to NYC and become the web editor for Jivamukti’s soon-to-be-released web site. Life is good and so am I.

Here are lovely slideshows of my glorious photos

The Art of Healing Magazine, June 2011

While I was away at Jivamukti yoga teacher training my photos from the NOLA Yoga Photography Project were busy getting themselves into magazines. The first was my photo of Libby Bryan, my beloved Jivamukti teacher in New Orleans (and soon moving to Austria). I was contacted by Catherine, the editor of The Art of Healing magazine in Australia, who found my photos on flickr. She said “Your photography is like a sigh of relief – finally, someone is shooting yoga in the real world!” I am honored to have my photograph featured on the cover of their June 2011 issue!

Mary Kuzmovich doing utthita trikonasana in Jefferson Square, New Orleans

The second photo from the project to make it into publication was this one of my friend Mary Kuzmovich. Mary was one of the first people I photographed for the project and we thought it would be funny to do some shots in Jackson Square, where gazillions of tourists pose for photos in front of the statue of Andrew Jackson on his horse, with the St. Louis Cathedral in the background.

This choice worked in my favor when Yoga Journal was looking for pictures of yoga in New Orleans to use in their August 2011 issue for an article called “10 unlikely cities where yoga is thriving”. The picture is pretty fun, and I am honored to have it featured in the premier yoga magazine. Mary is also very excited to be a yoga superstar. I was dissapointed that the article does not mention the studio I practice at, Swan River Yoga, which is one of the largest and best in the city.

Well, I guess my career as a yoga photographer is officially launched! Thanks everyone who has supported me, and to the magazines that found my work and featured it. I have only begun!

This is me at the New Orleans Museum of Art doing a version of Vasisthasana – side plank pose

This post is for you, my friends, family, teachers, and community. Today I paid for my Jivamukti yoga teacher training thanks to the generous donations and support I have received from you!

About a week ago today it looked like I was not going to make it. I had put all of my faith and hope in the universe providing for me, but as the rush of Mardi Gras wore off I saw that I was still quite far from having the money that I needed to pay for the training. I had my moment of doubt.

I posted an event on facebook asking for donations, and many of you came through with small and large donations. My mother, who follows me on the site, gave the biggest of all. I was not going to ask my parents for anything, they have helped me so much in my life. But there it was. Thanks mom!

The biggest relief came today as I called the Omega Institute to make a payment and was surprised that the total amount due was much less than I had expected. It turns out that the Jivamukti scholarship I was awarded by Jivamukti founders Sharon Gannon and David Life was almost four times what I thought it was! I am so grateful to them for extending this opportunity to me, and am making a vow to pass their compassion and spiritual wisdom on to everyone I can as I walk this path.

I would also like to thank everyone who participated in the NOLA Yoga Photography Project, donating money to my teacher training fund in exchange for photographs. The project will continue, and when I return to New Orleans in the fall I will be putting together an exhibit of the photographs I have made at Swan River’s Mid City studio.

To show my gratitude I am posting my favorite photos from the yoga photography sessions I have done so far (hard to narrow down, but am posting one of each), for y’all to enjoy. Blessings to you!

AcroYoga at the Fly in Audubon Park

This was not a commissioned photo shoot, but this was the first one that was exclusively yoga and going to be included in the portfolio. This is AcroYoga, a combination of acrobatics and yoga. Aaron Lind is ‘basing’ Libby Bryan, who is ‘flying’. Aaron and Libby are both teachers at Swan River Yoga and also dear friends to me. The shoot took place in Audobon Park, and the complete set of photos is here.

Mary Kuzmovich doing Hanumanasana in the French Quarter

This is my friend Mary Kuzmovich, one of the first people to take me up on the offer. We went to a building in the French Quarter and took some shots up on the roof, as well as this one on the fire escape. I love the stockings! See all the pictures here.

Dana Shamas doing Urdhva Dhanurasana in City Park, New Orleans

Dana Shamas teaches Jivamukti in Houston, TX. She contacted me after Swan River sent an email to their mailing list out about my project. We went to City Park and had a nice time trying out some different settings and poses.  love the way the curve of her body mirrors the trees behind her. See Dana’s lovely face and the rest of the photos we took here.

Aaron Lind doing Adho Mukha Vrksasana, or handstand

This is Aaron Lind doing Adho Mukha Vrksasana, or handstand, at the Swan River Marigny studio. This picture was taken for more utilitarian purpose than artistic, and I hope to do some more artistic ones with Aaron soon. He needed a picture of himself doing a handstand for his AcroYoga teacher training application and this is the one he submitted. You can see by the electric conduit going up the wall behind him how perfectly vertical he is! Aaron has been a great friend and inspiration to me. He plays in a kirtan band and teaches AcroYoga and Swan River yoga with an Anusara influence. The yoga community and my life in general is full of amazing, strong, and beautiful women so it is great to have a male friend and mentor like Aaron to balance that energy.

Another photo taken at the Swan River Marigny studio – this is Heath Stevens ‘basing’ Rachel Geffen while Ethan McElhinney looks on. Heath has been a good friend and AcroYoga partner and had me take some photos to promote a class he was teaching uptown. We have spent many hours practicing AcroYoga together and we will be doing another photo session soon, but for now I want to include this one to honor his contribution to my growth.

Keith Porteous doing Goddess pose in Audubon Park

This is my beloved Jivamukti teacher Keith Porteous. What you might not notice in this photo is that she is nine months pregnant! I took other photos that show her belly, but the expression on her face here is what really moves me. The compassion and love Keith has shown me since moving to New Orleans has had a deep influence on my life. I feel her recommendation for me to read the book The Diamond Cutter: The Buddha on Managing Your Business and Your Life” helped me come into a better relationship with my money and business, and possibly made all this possible. I love you Keith! See our entire photo shoot here.

Lily flying on my feet

When I first started the project I was not getting much response, so decided to go to the Model Mayhem website to see if there were some models who could do yoga to get the portfolio going. For this I did not receive any donation to the project, but got a chance to work with some great people and make some fun images. This is Lily, and in exchange for helping me out I gave her an AcroYoga lesson. Here she is ‘flying’ on my feet while I take the photo, which was a bit difficult for me! I love the expression on her face and the sunlight refracting in the lens. See our entire session here.

Andy Craig in Trikonasana

Andy Craig wanted some photos of himself so that an artist friend could paint him using them as references. After a yoga class we went to my house and did these in the back yard. Much of what I love about New Orleans is the old houses and peeling paint. The background is actually a shed that one of my roommates lives in. I hope to add more stuff like this to the portfolio.

Steph Smith in tree pose at City Park

I had a fun session with Swan River teacher Steph Smith. We took some photos on her back porch and then headed to City Park, where this image was captured. Steph is a wonderfully genuine person and we had nice conversations and got to know each other a little better. Here she is doing tree pose, Vrksasana, in front of some gorgeous trees.

My Jivamukti teacher Libby Bryan

One of the coolest jobs I got from the project was a chance to photograph the Lululemon Athletica ambassadors. Lululemon is a store that sells clothing and accessories for yoga and other sports. The company looks for outstanding yogis and athletes in the community to represent the brand. Lululemon is socially responsible, environmentally sensitive and community oriented. Their clothes are pricey but super comfortable, stylish and sweat-absorbing.

This photo is of my Jivamukti teacher Libby Bryan, who has been one of my main pillars of support as I move towards my teacher training. She runs the Swan River Mid City yoga studio and organized a benefit class there to raise money for my training. She also had me photograph her wedding, the very first shoot for this project. Beyond all that she has been a great friend, and an inspiration as a teacher. I love you Libby!

Cat McCarthy, lululemon ambassador and Anusara certified teacher

Cat McCarthy is another one of the Lululemon ambassadors. She teaches Anusara yoga at her own studio, NOLA Yoga. Anusara is a style that I have studied a bit at the Yoga Sanctuary in Northampton, MA. It is focused on proper alignment and celebrating the joy of life, and I will definitely be integrating it into my practice. I was blessed to have this opportunity to meet Cat, and we will be doing another photo session soon. I love how the root of the tree in this photo mirrors the arch of her back. Thanks to Lindsay Leaver and all the folks at Lululemon for hooking me up with this job! See the whole Lululemon shoot here.

Lynn Austin at City Park

One of my favorite sessions so far has been this one with Lynn Austin. We hit City Park just as the sun was setting and caught some of the beautiful golden lighting of late afternoon, and then kept going on into darkness. This image is of Lynn in the crook of a huge tree that extends out over the water (I was balancing above the water to take it). The branch over the water had partially split from the tree and created this cool clamshell, and I had Lynn pose in a way that was organic to the shape. One of the great things about the project is getting to meet the people in the yoga community, and Lynn and I hit it off over the course of the session. Lynn also took the photo of me at the top of the page! There are so many great pictures and you can see them all here.

This is the last session, with another of the Model Mayhem models, Emily. We went to the Botanical Garden at City Park and spent a nice afternoon taking photos. I have not edited them all yet, but this one is one of the ones I like best so far. Emily was very sweet and fun to work with, and we got to climb a tree together as well. I love my work!

This is my beloved teacher Michele Baker in her home. Michele is my “Jivamukti Sistah”. Those who know her do not really need much explanation, she is just a sweet, loving, dedicated and compassionate light to the yoga community and to New Orleans. When I first arrived here and took her classes the New Orleans Saints were working their way toward the Superbowl and her dharma talks often included them. I was in a sad space and this integration of sacred and mundane filled me with happiness, and taught me much about being a yogi. More recently, ss I was facing the possibility that I wouldn’t have enough money to make the teacher training, she counseled me and helped sooth my anxieties with practical and loving advice. Michele is the co-founder of Swan River Yoga, which currently has four locations in New Orleans. I love you Michele, thank you so much for being a light to us all!

I would also like to thank Sarah Quintana, Nathalie Croix of Shanti Shala Yoga, Gregory & Vincent from Deity Arts of the Orient, the mysterious Sparro, and Sean Johnson at Wild Lotus Yoga, all of whom had me take photos of events and beautiful subjects that don’t fit into the yoga asana portfolio, but contributed to my yoga fund. Thanks to all of you for helping me on my path!

I hope you have enjoyed these photos, please leave some comments for me on this post. Thank you all so much for your support! If anyone would like to set up a photo session please use the contact form on this site. Lokaha Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu – May all beings everywhere be happy and free!

Jacksun Slaughter leads class while Libby Bryan gives an adjustment

This morning I was blessed to have a yoga class at Swan River Yoga’s Mid City Center given in my honor. I do not have any words to fully express my gratitude to my teacher and mentor, Libby Bryan, for organizing the class. She has been a champion of my cause, a light who gives me hope and strength, and the example of what I aspire to be as a yoga teacher.

This class was led by Libby and her friend and fellow yoga teacher Jacksun Slaughter, who I got to meet through this process. Jacksun is an activist and gave a beautiful dharma talk before the class, about the power of giving and the emergence of a gift economy that we are all pioneers in creating. The proceeds from the class are to go to my Jivamukti yoga teacher training. I am but a monk holding out a begging bowl at this point in my life, taking a giant leap of faith and believing that the universe will catch me.

Libby Bryan demonstrates the peak balancing pose

I used to wonder about the spiritual seekers of the East, wandering with their begging bowls seeking alms. To the Western mind this seems like a selfish way to live, expecting others to support you while you follow your bliss. In the East, however, there is the wisdom that we are all connected by our karma. When we help another person on their path we receive benefit on our own. The more selfless we are, the happier we become.

We will play with a child or scratch a dog’s belly because it gives them pleasure, and also gives us pleasure. It is much the same with helping each other in more profound ways. For example, when playing music, we can become shy and nervous when we think of how other’s perceive our talent. If instead we play with the thought that the music will bring happiness to others, or that we are playing in devotion to the divine, then we lose the inhibition and our hearts open, and our music becomes beautiful. It is in selflessness that we reach our highest potential.

Jacksun Slaughter in Warrior pose

I have a gift inside of me. I am a teacher, a healer, and a visionary. I say this with an inevitable tinge of ego, certainly, but also with infinite humility and gratitude. I follow this path of a yogi to temper my qualities and teach me to be a peaceful warrior. I have found such a wellspring of love in this community, and hope to give back. To deepen and share my wisdom, to honor the sacred web of life that connects us all. To save the animals, the humans and the planet.

This morning’s class was so amazing. I hardly knew anyone that showed up. At first I felt a blue note that none of my closest friends were there to support me. Then I realized how auspicious it was that this room full of strangers had come on my behalf. My friends support me every day in my happiness. These people came to help a stranger. Between the two I am infinitely blessed.

At the start of the class I sat to the right of Libby, with Jacksun to the left, to sing kirtans. Libby said that when we help one person amongst us on their spiritual path it lifts us all up. I am humbled to be in this position, and hope that I will uplift those around me on their path. I hope I can return the support I have been given exponentially to this community. I am in love with all of you. My heart and life for you. I am your warrior and servant, your friend and companion. I bow to the light in you, and am here to help keep it burning bright in all of us. Namaste.

Om Bolo Sat Guru, Bhagavan, Qi. Jai!
(God is the only Real teacher, Alluleulia!)

Libby and Jacksun, thank you so much for all you do.

The Krewe of Eris parade marching through the Marigny

This was my second year marching with the Krewe of Eris, the unauthorized parade that marches from the Bywater through the Marigny and to the French Quarter. Last year it was lots of fun, as I hula hooped with my friends at the head of the parade. This year it started out with revelry and celebration, but in the end got broken up by the police and turned ugly. Six police officers were supposedly injured and twelve people marching got arrested, while many others were beaten, tasered, and pepper sprayed.

Two Krewe of Eris paraders before the parade started

The police reported that members of the parade were vandalizing vehicles and kicking over trash cans, among other things. I did not see anything  happening that warranted police brutality but the NOPD is known for violence. The paraders were labeled as “anarchists”, a favorite tactic used by the police state and media to justify police violence. I had many friends in the parade and I would not consider them to be anarchists, but even if they were they are peaceful people and don’t deserve to be beaten.

My friends Ethan and Tori share a sweet moment before the parade

I was walking with a couple of my friends when the helicopters flew over with their spotlights and the police cars came screaming down the street behind us. We ducked down a side street and avoided the mayhem that was soon to ensue. In the aftermath the NOPD has shut down the ARC building which houses the ‘anarchist’ Iron Rail Book Collective, as well as the non-profit bike repair shop Plan B. This is a blow to the community that lives in the Bywater and Marigny and has enjoyed these resources.

Ryan, Lenny, Ben & ? at Krewe of Eris Parade 2011 – costume is Concert in the Egg from Heironymus Bosch painting

Check out the slide show below to see more of my photos, and the video to see the some of the police misconduct caught on film.

Swan River Jivamukti teacher Keith Porteous poses in lotus position at the Marigny studio ten days before her baby is due

Today I woke up in a state of bliss. The sun was shining as I walked to the Green Project to get some hardware for my Mardi Gras costume (The Human Photo Booth). I had the new Radiohead album playing on my iPod, Thom Yorke’s sweet familiar voice soothing my soul. As I walked balanced on the railroad tracks alongside of Press Street I slowly waved my arms up and down as if they were wings, feeling the strong winds blowing on my bare skin from the Mississippi River.

This thought occurred to me; “I am exactly who I was meant to be.” I felt goosebumps move across my skin. It was a feeling of pure love, of being held in the arms of the universe. One verse, one love, one me.

The second deep blessing of the day came during my thursday Jivamukti class, held at the Swan River studio in the Marigny and taught by my dear teacher Keith Porteous. Keith is 10 days from her pregnancy due date, and it was one of the last classes she will be teaching for a while. I asked to accompany her on ukulele for the kirtan (sacred chant) before class and she happily obliged me. I suggested we sing Bhajamana Ma, a chant for the Divine Mother, in honor of her pregnancy.

The chant in Sanskrit is “Bhajamana Ma Ma Ma Ma. Ananda mayi Ma Ma. Ananda rupa Ma Ma.” ~ translated by Swan River co-owner Michele Baker, in English it means “I give all of my love to the Divine Mother. Take from me all that is not free, and allow me to experience eternal bliss, dearest Mother.”

It is beautiful that the word “Ma” means the same in modern English as in ancient Sanskrit. A sound as simple and profound as Aum. In western religions the mother is downplayed and the father is the ultimate expression of divinity. I believe that this imbalance has led us down a destructive path. We all need the compassion and nurturing nature that comes from the feminine aspect of divinity to heal the toxicity and war that we have wreaked upon the Earth.

I have been blessed in my life to be surrounded by strong and beautiful women. They are all my teachers in their various roles in my life; Some as friends, some lovers, some strangers who share a moment, some mothers and grandmothers who have brought life through their bodies into the world. They are all manifestations of the divine.

As a photographer I get to ask people to do silly things and they often do them. This makes us both happy.

As I practice yoga asanas I strengthen my connection to the Earth, the mother of all life as we experience it. Asana means “seat”, and somehow these postures that we work on day after day connect us to the Earth. The illusion of separation from the source of life slowly fades as our hearts open and we learn to “sit” in alignment with the divine.

To see my beloved teacher Keith with her mamma’s belly so big and round fills my heart with love. What a blessed child to be born with her as a mother. What a blessed soul I am to have her as a teacher. How blessed we all are to have each other. Share your gratitude with the mothers in your life, and you will find the blessings returning to you, the flowers of wisdom blossoming all around you, and your connection to the Earth becoming stronger.

Please visit my NOLA Yoga Photography Project to see more photos of I have taken of yogis and yoginis, and to find out how you can help me on my path to becoming a yoga teacher.

An iPhone photo I took this morning after the accident. Note my gold toenail polish…

This morning I woke up with a giant cat relaxing on my chest waiting for his breakfast. I looked at my phone and saw the time was 8 a.m., and decided I would try to make the 9:30 a.m. Jivamukti class uptown at Life Yoga with my dear teacher Libby. I fed my roommate’s cat (Puch) and my other roommate’s dog (Irie), made some almond milk and then a breakfast smoothie, got my shit together and was out the door by 8:40 a.m.

It was a beautiful foggy morning in New Orleans, the sun not yet burned through the clouds. I didn’t have any time to spare, as I was planning to take a bus from downtown to uptown, and would be right on time if I was lucky. As I approached Press Street on Chartres I heard the deep bellowing horn of a train coming, and raced towards the tracks to see if I could beat it. Once I got closer I saw that it was a block away and sped up and over the tracks.

As I breezed across Press street just on the other side of the tracks I saw a silver pickup truck flying towards the intersection on my right, trying to beat the train. The thought was crossing my mind that I should watch out for speeding cars while dodging trains when I heard the truck screeching to a stop. I slowed and looked back over my shoulder to see the truck half in the intersection with a woman and her bike down in the street in front of it.

For one brief moment the thought crossed my mind that I should keep going. The truck had stopped and two men were out talking to the woman. I could still make my class. That thought was quickly replaced by compassionate concern, and I turned around and went back.

Laney's mangled bike wheel, with railroad tracks in the background

The woman was still tangled in her mangled bike, but sitting upright talking. I offered to call 911 and the driver of the car became agitated, saying he did not have insurance and offering to help her outside of the law. His friend was trying to keep the woman calm, telling her not to look at her bleeding ankles. It took me a few seconds to decide what to do, with the woman getting visibly more upset, and so I took out my phone and called 911.

While I was trying to speak to the operator over the noise of the train and the friend and a security guard who had come out of an adjacent building the driver quietly disappeared from the scene in his vehicle, leaving his friend behind to deal with the aftermath.

To his credit, the passenger stayed and helped the woman and the police, swearing and angry that his friend had put him in this predicament. It turned out that the area by the tracks was under surveillance and the security guard went in to retrieve the footage for the police.

I stayed as a witness, but also to be a friend to the woman. She was taking it all very well, speaking positively about her recent acquisition of health insurance and a car, and that these things would make her recovery more bearable.

For me, there was a deep feeling of compassion for all the people involved. I once killed a pedestrian with my car, and this has of course stuck with me all of my life. I still today do not know how much I was to blame, but I remember waiting for the police to come, a white face in a completely black neighborhood in D.C., standing next to my pickup truck while the woman’s blood formed a pool around her head. It was dark out and she had been crossing a busy street outside of the crosswalk, a bottle of liquor in her purse. I had been messing with my radio and once I looked up there was no time to stop. The white cops didn’t issue me a ticket, and instead I have lived the intervening years wondering I was presumed innocent only because of racism. I am sure that the thought of fleeing the scene had crossed my mind as well.

I could feel the emotional turmoil inside the passenger’s heart, not knowing wether to be loyal to his friend “of ten years” or to do the right thing and stay until the police came. He was cursing his friend and pacing around angrily. I thought about how my yoga practice has helped me overcome extreme anger in most situations, yet still wondered if I could have done any better.

And then of course the biker, Laney. She took it all so well, not a trace of anger showing. Looking at the bright side, keeping it all in perspective. She was young and beautiful and I wanted to hug her but I kept my space, and instead just talked to her and tried to be good company until her friend showed up to take her to the hospital.

A streetlight post fell and crushed the bike locked to it. Perhaps another driver trying to beat a train?

We talked about our jobs and my yoga project and found we had a mutual connection. We compared our toenail polish, mine gold and hers a lovely turquoise. I gave her my card and carried her to her friend’s car when the time came. “I should bake you a pie”, she said as I lowered her into the passenger seat. I said that it might be challenging since I am a vegan. “I’m vegan too!”, she said. What are the odds, in New Orleans? I told her to email me but don’t know if she ever will. The universe brings people in and out of our lives in strange ways.

We were all racing to beat the train. If I had not been a few yards in front of Laney the pickup may not have slowed down. The stop sign certainly didn’t make a difference. Perhaps my being there saved her life, perhaps not. The karma of four individuals played out into the event, and all of us left as different people.

The driver is now a fugitive, and will face the repercussions of dishonesty and self-interest. What good can possibly come for him? The passenger will have to re-evaluate his friendship. The fallout from being honest and doing what was right will undoubtedly move him towards the light. Laney has come through a difficult situation, as we all do, to repay past karma. She was such a wonderful example of keeping the mind balanced in hardship, I felt inspired standing near her radiance. I hope that as she recovers she will continue to shine.

As for me, well, I will probably still race against the train.

Libby & Hermann got married on January 9, 2011 at a friend’s home in the French Quarter. The ceremony was small, with only a few close friends and family. The home, like many in New Orleans, was being remodeled and so there were plenty of interesting backgrounds inside to work with; some fully finished beautiful rooms with ornate furniture, and some rooms in various states of completion with cracked plaster patterns on the walls.

Libby sits in lotus position preparing for her wedding ceremony

Libby is my Jivamukti yoga teacher. I met her last winter as I studied yoga at Swan River Yoga. She is a true yogini with a petite frame that  is strong yet incredibly flexible. She sings kirtans with a powerful deep voice, yet speaks with sweetness and wisdom.

Upon returning to New Orleans in December I told her that I have decided to become a Jivamukti yoga teacher. Along with all of my teachers at Swan River, she has been very supportive of me in this decision. With their guidance & inspiration I started the NOLA Yoga-Photography Project to help me fund my Jivamukti teacher training. The project entails me photographing yoga practitioners doing asana (yoga postures) around New Orleans in exchange for sliding-scale donations to a fund to help me finance the course. Later in the year the project will culminate in an exhibit of the photos at the Swan River Mid-City Studio, which Libby is a part-owner of.

I am also photographing other subjects and events as part of the project, to allow for people who may not want photographs of themselves doing asana, or who may have other photographic needs. Libby graciously asked me to photograph her wedding as one of these alternate possibilities. I had been hoping to find a New Orleans wedding to photograph so this request was a blessing for me on many levels, not the least of which was being able to share this special day with my beloved teacher so intimately.

I did not meet her man Hermann until the day of the wedding. He turned out to be every bit as sweet and charming as I would have imagined. The three of us braved the cold howling winds and rainy skies to venture into the courtyard for some photos after the ceremony. Hermann proved to be quite talkative during the photo shoot, and I had to have the couple keep kissing to quiet him down. They didn’t seem to mind.

Later in the day the party opened up to a larger circle of friends, and many familiar faces from my yoga classes began to fill the house. I am sublimely astounded to be so completely surrounded by this amazing community here in the Crescent City. I hope that the images I capture will capture some of the beauty and wonder of these people, and of this place. As I move ever closer towards becoming a yoga teacher I give deep gratitude to all of you, and to the universe for opening this path for me. To Hermann and Libby, may your love grow the deepest roots to sustain you through this lifetime. May you find an abundance of heart, wealth of spirit, and may you discover all the treasures of self through loving one another.

Libby Bryan doing Natarajasana (dancer's pose) on her wedding day, with an assist from husband Hermann.

Libby and Hermann kissing by the window

Libby Bryan sitting with harmonium at Swan River Yoga

This last photo I took back in March of 2009 after I interviewed Libby about yoga and veganism for my Vegan Radio podcast. The episode turned out to be one of the best, and was also a wonderful way to get to know my teacher better! This photo brings back happy memories for me and I couldn’t resist posting it here.

These times we live in are very strange. However advanced our technologies, however much credence we lend to the power our intellects, there are still mythological undercurrents to our consensual reality that our conscious minds must accommodate. Earlier this week about 500 dead red-winged blackbirds and starlings were “found scattered along a quarter-mile portion of highway in Point Coupee Parish” in Louisiana, according to the Huffington Post. This follows an earlier incident in Arkansas where close to two thousand birds of the same species fell dead from the sky.

The cause of these deaths is still mysterious, and ‘authorities’  think they were not due to sickness or disease. Some have speculated about fireworks and clouds of lightning. Could it be Zeus?  ”It’s almost certainly a coincidence the events happened within days of each other,” Louisiana’s state wildlife veterinarian Jim LaCour said Tuesday. “I haven’t found anything to link the two at this point.”

The human mind is perhaps the place where LaCour should look first. We are hardwired to seek patterns in the nature of reality. When it comes to strange occurrences of mass animal deaths it isn’t hard to do. Earlier this week in Gaeza, Italy, thousands of dead and dying turtle doves ”were found in streets, flower beds, and hanging from trees.”

Perhaps the canaries have moved from the coal mines and into the skies. Should we be alarmed? Our rational minds will take incidents like these, search for the clues to their causes, and try to sleep a little easier at night believing in scientific explanations. Others will look to the various scriptures and prophecies our cultures have accumulated throughout history and search for signs of an apocalypse.

In our oceans we have similar recent horrors to give us pause for reflection. This past week saw an “estimated 2 million fish have been reported dead from the Bay Bridge south to Tangier Sound” in Maryland, according to an article in the Baltimore Sun. ParanaOnline reports that ”100 tons of sardines, croaker and catfish have washed up in Brazilian fishing towns since last Thursday. The cause of the deaths is unknown.” The New Zealand Herald reports that “hundreds of dead snapper fish washed up on Coromandel Peninsula beaches, many found with their eyes missing.”

When it comes to oceans and animals there are few as wise as Captain Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Watson reports that

“We are presently living in what conservation biologists refer to as the Holocene extinction event. This is the sixth global mass extinction event in last 439 million years. The symptoms are right here before our eyes. Bee diminishment is causing diminishment in plants dependent upon bee pollination. Army ants support 100 known and identified species from beetles to birds. Grey whales are returning to Mexican lagoons under-nourished. Shark and large predatory fish populations have been reduced to between 65 to 95 percent in our oceans. Entire fish species are in a state of rapid collapse, especially the commercially valued species like cod, wild salmon, swordfish, and tuna.”

“Seventy species of South American frogs have been declared extinct in the last two decades. Thousands of species of insects are going extinct in the rainforests that have not even been discovered and classified.”

“Every species removed diminishes the system and weakens the collective body of the biosphere. Humans are presently acting upon this body in the same manner as an invasive virus with the result that we are eroding the ecological immune system. A virus kills its host and that is exactly what we are doing with our planet’s life support system. We are killing our host the planet Earth.”

Are these mass die-offs of animals part of larger patterns of extinction? Are they signs from one god or another that some savior is about to return and take us on board their magical ship to the skies? Are we all doomed? Are we about to be saved?

There is a place where science and mysticism converge. We have a spiritual yearning inherent in our biological makeup. This yearning has been co-opted by those who have found their way into power over the ages. If our religious beliefs give us a self-righteousness that becomes the basis for our exploitation of nature then we should tear those beliefs from our hearts, because they are false. If our atheistic scientific worldview leads us to believe that there is nothing sacred and everything should be for sale, then we should denounce atheism as a moral disease.

There is a spiritual path that can encompass all of nature and science and it is the path we should all be searching for. Quantum physics has pointed to the truth that we are all connected. We are all vibrating waves of energy in a process of biological evolution. There does not need to be a god who used ancient desert tribes to transcribe ‘his’ words to sum up all possibilities for all ages. If there is an omniscient, omnipotent being then we are all a part of that whole and have direct access to truth. Spirituality is an evolving wave of consciousness that we are all bound together in. With open hearts and minds we can discover the path that all mystics past and future have walked, and find it to be uniquely our own.

Inevitably the cultivation of such awareness leads to an understanding that we are all connected. What we do to each other we do to ourselves. When we decide to eat animals we are part of a chain of events that leads from the grocery to the butcher to the slaughterhouse to the factory farm to the monocrops grown with pesticides that finance agricultural corporations in bed with war mongering corporations that control media corporations that control the ways in which we think. At every link in the chain we can find exploitation and suffering. Our bodies become sick from this karma, and then we pay corporations to test on animals to find ‘cures’ for our diseases, and they make more profit as we take their ‘medicines’ that toxify us further.

Today we should ask ourselves some tough questions. How do we stop these cycles that are killing us as individuals and killing the Earth systematically? What are the true meanings of these mass animal die-offs that are happening all around us? Which traditions and cultural memes are toxic to our survival? They should be tossed out. We need to realize we are not the pinnacle of evolution. We are on the verge of extinction, of which these mass die-offs are yet another sign, and it is time for us to take radical steps in our lives to save ourselves. Eating a mostly locally-grown vegan diet is one huge step we can all take. Getting around without personally-owned gas-powered vehicles is another. Having less children is yet another. May we all find the path that leads us to a compassionate and sustainable future, and walk it with reverence.